AI Product Strategy & Experience Director

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: AI Product Strategy & Experience Director

Company: Lumen Technologies

Location: United States

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: AI Product Strategy & Management

Date Posted: 2026-06-05T18:34:02

Experience Level: 10+ years

Remote Status: Remote OK

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the definition and execution of Lumen's enterprise-wide AI product strategy and experience vision, driving strategic alignment across business units.

• Identify and prioritize AI initiatives that deliver significant customer and business value, ensuring a cohesive and compounding return on investment.

• Establish high standards for AI product discipline, guiding teams on value hypothesis testing, learning loops, and evidence-based decision-making for AI investments.

• Shape AI-native products and experiences that leverage new interaction models, driving consistency and trust across all AI-enabled customer and employee journeys.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is critical for Lumen's positioning as a leader in the AI-powered world. It requires a strategic thinker who can translate complex AI capabilities into tangible business outcomes and user experiences, bridging the gap between technical innovation and market value. The emphasis on "AI-native" experiences suggests a focus on designing solutions from the ground up with AI at their core, rather than augmenting existing processes.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Define and drive the enterprise AI product strategy and experience direction, ensuring alignment with Lumen's overall business objectives.

• Translate the AI vision into a clear, actionable, and prioritized roadmap across all relevant business units.

• Ensure AI initiatives contribute to a cohesive enterprise strategy and generate compounding value over time.

• Identify specific areas where AI can deliver the highest customer and business impact, focusing on differentiation and competitive advantage.

• Partner closely with enterprise leaders to shape strategic prioritization decisions and guide investment focus for AI initiatives.

• Develop and implement frameworks that define what AI capabilities should be built, when to scale them, and where to avoid fragmented or redundant efforts.

• Elevate the enterprise bar for AI product discipline by guiding teams in defining clear outcomes, robust value hypotheses, efficient learning loops, and data-driven scale/pivot/stop decisions.

• Establish enterprise-wide frameworks and guiding principles to ensure consistent development of high-quality AI-enabled products and experiences.

• Shape AI-enabled products and experiences that are inherently designed for new interaction models, moving beyond retrofitting AI onto existing processes.

• Drive consistency and coherence across all AI-enabled customer journeys, products, and user interactions.

• Establish clear principles for developing trusted, usable, and high-quality AI experiences that foster user confidence and adoption.

• Define comprehensive evaluation frameworks to measure AI performance, adoption rates, and overall experience quality.

• Influence the development and integration of AI-native capabilities and emerging agentic experiences to enhance product offerings.

• Align product, engineering, design, and business leaders around shared priorities, strategic outcomes, and key performance indicators.

• Translate complex AI strategies into clear, value-driven messaging and compelling narratives for executive stakeholders.

• Build enterprise-wide alignment and consensus around differentiated customer and business experiences enabled by advanced AI capabilities.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a blend of strategic vision setting and tactical execution oversight. The emphasis on "compounding value," "AI-native," and "agentic experiences" indicates a forward-thinking approach to AI product development. The role requires strong influence and collaboration skills to navigate a matrixed organization and ensure a unified AI strategy.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

• While no specific degree is mandated, a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Business, Product Management, or a related field is typically expected for roles of this caliber. Advanced degrees or specialized certifications in AI/ML are highly advantageous. Experience:

• Proven track record of leading enterprise-level product, platform, or strategy initiatives within complex, large-scale organizations.

• Demonstrated success in defining and executing product roadmaps that have driven significant business outcomes.

• Extensive experience in the AI domain, with a deep understanding of Generative AI, Large Language Models (LLMs), and their practical applications.

• Experience in driving product strategy and experience design for AI-powered products or services. Required Skills:

• AI Product Strategy: Expertise in formulating long-term AI product visions and translating them into actionable strategies.

• Generative AI & LLM Fluency: Deep technical and strategic understanding of current and emerging Generative AI and LLM capabilities, limitations, and opportunities.

• Product Roadmap Development: Skill in creating and managing prioritized product roadmaps aligned with business goals and market opportunities.

• Senior Stakeholder Management: Proven ability to influence, engage, and align senior executives and cross-functional leaders in a matrixed environment.

• Business Acumen: Strong understanding of business drivers, financial metrics, and how technology investments translate into measurable value.

• Experience Design Principles: Knowledge of user-centered design principles, with a focus on creating intuitive and effective AI-driven experiences.

• Strategic Planning: Ability to develop and articulate comprehensive strategic plans that address complex market dynamics and technological shifts.

• Value Hypothesis Testing: Proficiency in defining and testing value hypotheses to ensure AI investments deliver intended outcomes and ROI.

• Performance Evaluation Frameworks: Experience in establishing metrics and frameworks to assess the performance, adoption, and impact of AI products.

• AI-Native Design: Understanding of designing products and experiences from the ground up with AI as a core component.

Preferred Skills:

• Agentic Experiences: Familiarity with designing and implementing agentic AI systems that can autonomously perform tasks.

• Cross-functional Leadership: Experience leading or influencing teams across product, engineering, design, marketing, and sales.

• Change Management: Ability to drive organizational change and adoption of new AI strategies and technologies.

• Market Analysis: Skills in analyzing market trends, competitive landscapes, and identifying opportunities for AI differentiation.

• Agile Methodologies: Experience working within Agile or hybrid development frameworks.

📝 Enhancement Note: The qualifications emphasize a blend of deep AI technical understanding, strategic product leadership, and strong executive influence. The "10+ years" experience level suggests this role is for a seasoned professional capable of operating at a strategic enterprise level. The inclusion of "AI-native," "agentic experiences," and "value hypothesis testing" points to a sophisticated approach to AI product management.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Strategic Frameworks: Examples of strategic frameworks developed for product planning, AI investment prioritization, or go-to-market strategies.

• Roadmap Examples: Demonstrations of how product roadmaps were developed, communicated, and managed, ideally showing evolution based on data or strategic shifts.

• AI Initiative Case Studies: Detailed case studies of AI product initiatives led, highlighting the problem, AI solution, value hypothesis, development process, outcomes, and lessons learned.

• Cross-functional Alignment Artifacts: Evidence of how alignment was achieved across diverse teams (e.g., strategy documents, decision logs, executive presentations).

• Experience Design Principles: Documentation or examples of principles established for designing AI-driven user experiences that are trustworthy and effective.

Process Documentation:

• AI Strategy Development: Clearly documented processes for identifying AI opportunities, defining product strategy, and translating it into a roadmap.

• Value Hypothesis Testing & Iteration: Structured approaches for formulating, testing, and iterating on value hypotheses for AI products, emphasizing rapid learning loops.

• AI Investment Prioritization: Frameworks and processes used to evaluate and prioritize AI investments, ensuring alignment with enterprise goals and ROI potential.

• Performance Measurement & Reporting: Systems and processes for defining KPIs, tracking performance, and reporting on the impact of AI products and experiences.

• Cross-functional Collaboration Workflows: Documented workflows for seamless collaboration between product, engineering, design, and business stakeholders on AI initiatives.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a role focused on strategy and experience, the portfolio should emphasize strategic thinking, process design, and demonstrable impact, rather than solely on individual product execution. Case studies should focus on the strategic rationale, the process of decision-making, and the resulting business value derived from AI initiatives.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

• National Average Estimate: $152,066 - $278,789 USD per year.

• Methodology: This range is derived from the provided location-based pay ranges, reflecting the high end of the company's stated compensation for this role across different US regions. The minimum is based on the lowest stated range ($152,066), and the maximum is based on the highest stated range ($278,789).

• Factors: Actual compensation will be determined by specific location, candidate experience, skills, and other relevant factors, as indicated by Lumen.

Benefits:

• Health, Life, and Voluntary Lifestyle Benefits: Comprehensive coverage designed to support physical, mental, emotional, and financial well-being.

• Bonus Structure: Potential for short-term incentives, long-term incentives, and/or sales compensation, details to be discussed during the interview process.

• Retirement Savings: (Likely includes a 401(k) plan with potential company match, though not explicitly stated, it's a standard offering for full-time roles of this level).

• Paid Time Off: (Likely includes vacation, sick leave, and holidays, standard for full-time positions).

• Professional Development: Opportunities for learning and growth, as suggested by the career growth analysis section.

Working Hours:

• Standard full-time hours are typically 40 hours per week.

• Given the remote nature and senior level of this role, flexibility may be offered, but consistent availability for key meetings and deliverables is expected.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary ranges provided are specific to US locations and reflect a competitive offering for a senior AI leadership role. The benefits package is described as comprehensive, with specific mentions of health, life, and voluntary lifestyle benefits, alongside potential incentive bonuses.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Telecommunications, Networking, Cloud Services, AI Infrastructure. Lumen is a critical infrastructure provider for the digital world, specializing in high-performance network connectivity essential for AI workloads.

Company Size: Large enterprise (likely 40,000+ employees as per historical data for Lumen Technologies/CenturyLink, fitting the description of a complex, matrixed organization). This size implies established processes, a broad range of internal stakeholders, and significant resources for AI initiatives.

Founded: Lumen Technologies (formerly CenturyLink) has a long history in the telecommunications sector, with its current form and strategic focus on advanced networking and AI emerging more recently. This history suggests a company undergoing significant transformation to meet future technology demands.

Team Structure:

• AI Organization: This role reports to the Chief AI Officer, indicating a dedicated and senior leadership focus on AI within Lumen.

• Reporting Hierarchy: The Director will likely lead a team of product managers, strategists, or experience designers focused on AI, or operate as a key individual contributor influencing multiple product teams.

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Expected to work extensively with Product Management, Engineering, Design, Marketing, Sales, and other business unit leaders across the enterprise.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Decision Making: Lumen emphasizes clear expectations and data-backed decisions, integral to its "high accountability environment."

• Agile & Lean Principles: The focus on "fast learning loops," "testing ideas," and "evidence-based decisions" suggests an adoption of Agile and Lean methodologies for product development and strategy.

• Customer-Centricity: The role is tasked with creating customer value, aligning with a focus on user experience and meeting market needs.

• Strategic Alignment: A core methodology involves ensuring all AI investments and initiatives are tightly aligned with the overarching enterprise AI strategy.

Company Website: https://www.lumen.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: Lumen presents itself as a company at the forefront of the AI-powered world, leveraging its network infrastructure. The culture is described as high-accountability, focused on innovation, and built on trust. The organizational structure is likely complex, requiring strong influence and collaboration skills from this Director.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This is a Director-level role, signifying a senior leadership position responsible for strategic direction and significant influence across the enterprise. It sits high within the product and strategy functions, reporting directly to the Chief AI Officer.

Reporting Structure: The Director reports directly to the Chief AI Officer (CAIO), indicating high visibility and direct access to executive leadership. This structure allows for significant influence on enterprise-wide AI strategy and investment.

Operations Impact: The role's primary impact is on shaping Lumen's strategic direction in AI, ensuring its products and experiences are differentiated, valuable, and competitive. This directly affects Lumen's market positioning, customer acquisition/retention, and overall revenue growth in the evolving AI landscape. By defining the "AI strategy and experience bar," this role ensures that AI investments are focused, impactful, and create compounding value.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership Expansion: Potential to grow into a VP-level role overseeing broader AI product portfolios or an entire AI product organization as Lumen's AI initiatives mature.

• Strategic Influence: Deeper involvement in corporate strategy, M&A evaluation related to AI technologies, or leading new AI business ventures.

• Specialization: Opportunity to become a recognized industry expert in AI product strategy and experience design, particularly within the telecommunications and AI infrastructure sectors.

• Mentorship: Potential to mentor and develop a team of rising AI product leaders and strategists within Lumen.

• Broadening Scope: Transitioning to lead other strategic product areas or transformation initiatives leveraging AI expertise.

📝 Enhancement Note: This Director role offers a significant opportunity for impact and career advancement within a company positioning itself as a leader in AI. The direct reporting line to the CAIO provides a platform for substantial influence and visibility, paving the way for future leadership roles.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: This is a remote role, allowing for flexibility in work location within the United States.

Office Location(s): While the role is remote, Lumen has a significant physical presence across the United States. Specific office locations are not detailed for this role, but the company operates nationwide.

• Remote Work Context: As a remote role, it requires self-discipline, strong communication skills, and the ability to collaborate effectively through digital channels. Success will depend on proactive engagement and clear communication with distributed teams.

• Workspace Context: Candidates should have a dedicated, professional workspace conducive to focused work and virtual meetings. Access to reliable high-speed internet is essential. The role will involve extensive use of digital collaboration tools.

• Operations Team Interaction: Interaction will primarily be through virtual meetings, collaborative platforms (e.g., Slack, Teams), and project management tools. Opportunities for in-person interaction may arise for key strategic meetings or team offsites, though not explicitly stated.

Work Schedule:

• Standard 40-hour work week is expected.

• Given the senior nature of the role and the fast-paced AI field, some flexibility in hours may be available, but responsiveness and availability during core business hours and for critical deadlines are paramount. The ability to adapt to varying time zones for collaboration with distributed teams is beneficial.

📝 Enhancement Note: The remote aspect of this role requires a candidate who is highly self-motivated and proficient in virtual collaboration. The company's emphasis on clear expectations and trust suggests that performance will be measured by outcomes rather than strict adherence to office hours.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A recruiter or HR representative will conduct an initial review of applications, focusing on alignment with the core requirements (AI strategy, product leadership, enterprise experience).

• Hiring Manager/CAIO Interview: A deep dive into your experience, strategic thinking, understanding of AI trends, and leadership capabilities. This stage will likely assess your ability to articulate vision and influence.

• Cross-functional Stakeholder Interviews: Interviews with leaders from Product, Engineering, Design, and Business units to assess collaboration style, ability to influence, and strategic alignment.

• Portfolio Presentation/Case Study: A critical stage where candidates will be asked to present examples of their strategic work, roadmap development, or AI initiative impact. This is where your "AI Product Strategy & Experience" portfolio will be crucial.

• Final Executive Interview: Potentially a conversation with a senior executive (e.g., C-suite) to confirm strategic fit and overall leadership potential.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Focus on Strategy & Impact: Showcase strategic frameworks you've developed, how you've translated vision into roadmaps, and the measurable business/customer value derived from AI initiatives.

• Highlight AI Fluency: Clearly demonstrate your understanding of Generative AI and LLMs, and how you've applied this knowledge to product strategy and experience design.

• Showcase Influence: Include examples where you successfully influenced senior stakeholders and aligned complex organizations around a shared AI vision.

• Structure Case Studies: For any AI product initiative presented, clearly outline: the problem/opportunity, your strategic approach, the AI solution, how you defined and tested value hypotheses, the development/launch process, key outcomes (metrics), and lessons learned.

• Emphasize "AI-Native" Thinking: If possible, include examples where you've advocated for or designed solutions that are inherently AI-driven, rather than simply augmenting existing systems.

• Visual Aids: Use clear, concise visuals in your presentation to illustrate complex strategies, roadmaps, or impact metrics.

Challenge Preparation:

• Strategic Scenario: Be prepared for a hypothetical scenario where you need to define an AI product strategy for a specific Lumen business unit or address a competitive threat using AI.

• Roadmap Prioritization: Expect questions about how you would prioritize a backlog of AI initiatives with competing demands and limited resources.

• AI Ethics & Trust: Given the role, be ready to discuss considerations for responsible AI development, data privacy, and building trust in AI-generated outputs.

• Measuring AI Success: Prepare to articulate how you would define and measure the success of AI products beyond simple adoption metrics, focusing on business value and ROI.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process is designed to rigorously assess strategic thinking, AI expertise, and influence. A well-curated portfolio demonstrating past success in AI product strategy and experience design will be essential for advancing.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools (Expected):

• AI/ML Platforms: Familiarity with cloud-based AI/ML platforms (e.g., AWS SageMaker, Google AI Platform, Azure ML) and potentially internal Lumen AI/ML infrastructure.

• Generative AI Tools: Experience with or understanding of tools and frameworks for Generative AI (e.g., OpenAI API, Hugging Face, LangChain) and LLM integration.

• Product Management Software: Proficiency in tools like Jira, Confluence, Asana, or similar for roadmap planning, backlog management, and documentation.

• Collaboration Suites: Extensive use of Microsoft Teams, Slack, Zoom, Google Workspace for communication and collaboration.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Business Intelligence Tools: Experience with BI platforms like Tableau, Power BI, or Looker for data analysis and visualization.

• Web/Product Analytics: Tools such as Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, Mixpanel, or Amplitude for tracking user behavior and product adoption.

• Data Warehousing/Lake: Familiarity with data infrastructure concepts (e.g., Snowflake, Redshift, BigQuery) that support AI data needs.

CRM & Automation:

• CRM Systems: Experience with Salesforce or similar CRM platforms for understanding customer data and sales processes, which AI products may interact with.

• Workflow Automation Tools: Understanding of how AI can integrate with or be managed by workflow automation platforms.

📝 Enhancement Note: While specific tools aren't listed, a candidate for this role must demonstrate broad familiarity with the AI/ML ecosystem, product management tools, and data analytics platforms. The emphasis on AI and LLMs suggests a need for hands-on understanding of related technologies and platforms.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Innovation & Bold Ideas: Lumen encourages bold ideas that drive real innovation for customers and the industry. This role is expected to push boundaries with AI.

• Accountability & Ownership: The environment is described as "high accountability," meaning individuals are expected to take ownership of their work and deliver meaningful impact.

• Trust & Collaboration: Trust is foundational to how Lumen operates, fostering collaboration even in a fast-moving, AI-focused organization.

• Performance & Results: The culture is "built to perform and win," emphasizing clear expectations and the delivery of tangible outcomes.

• Customer Focus: A commitment to understanding and addressing customer needs, leveraging AI to create value.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Integration: The role demands strong collaboration across diverse departments (Product, Engineering, Design, Business, Sales, Marketing) to align on AI strategy and execution.

• Influence without Authority: A key aspect will be influencing priorities and decisions across teams where direct reporting lines may not exist.

• Open Communication: Encouragement of clear communication, feedback exchange, and transparency, especially in a remote and distributed setting.

• Data-Informed Dialogue: Discussions and decision-making are expected to be grounded in data and evidence, facilitating productive collaboration.

📝 Enhancement Note: Lumen's "Lumen 8" behaviors likely define the core values and collaboration style. The emphasis on accountability, innovation, and trust suggests a culture where strategic thinkers can thrive and make a significant impact.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Navigating a Matrixed Organization: Influencing priorities and driving alignment across numerous business units and functions can be complex.

• Pace of AI Evolution: The rapid advancement of AI means strategies must be adaptable and continuously updated to remain relevant.

• Defining Measurable AI Value: Quantifying the ROI and business impact of AI initiatives can be challenging, requiring robust measurement frameworks.

• Building Trust in AI: Ensuring AI products are perceived as trustworthy, ethical, and reliable by customers and employees.

• Balancing Innovation with Pragmatism: Identifying truly differentiating AI opportunities versus implementing standard AI features.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Cutting-Edge AI Exposure: Direct involvement in shaping the AI strategy for a major connectivity and AI infrastructure provider.

• Executive Visibility: Opportunity to work closely with senior leadership, including the Chief AI Officer, gaining insights into corporate strategy.

• Cross-functional Expertise: Deepening understanding of various business functions and how AI can transform them.

• Industry Leadership: Potential to contribute to industry thought leadership in AI product strategy and experience design for enterprise solutions.

• Mentorship Programs: Access to potential mentorship from senior leaders within Lumen or through external industry networks.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges are typical for a senior strategic role in a large, evolving company, particularly in the AI space. The growth opportunities are substantial, offering significant career development and the chance to shape the future of AI at Lumen.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe your process for developing an enterprise AI product strategy. How do you ensure alignment across different business units?"

• "How would you identify and prioritize AI opportunities at Lumen that would create the most significant customer and business value?"

• "Imagine we want to develop a new AI-native customer service experience. What would be your strategic approach, and how would you define its success?"

• "What are the key principles you would establish for building trust and ensuring the responsible use of AI within Lumen's products?" Company & Culture Questions:

• "Based on your understanding of Lumen, where do you see the biggest opportunities for AI to drive differentiation and value?"

• "How have you influenced senior stakeholders in previous roles, particularly when advocating for new technological strategies like AI?"

• "Describe a time you had to make a difficult prioritization decision for product investments. What was your rationale, and what was the outcome?"

• "How do you foster a culture of innovation and accountability within a team or across functions?" Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Start with the "Why": Clearly articulate the business problem or opportunity your strategic work addressed.

• Showcase Your Process: Detail your methodology for strategy development, roadmap creation, or AI initiative planning. Emphasize data-driven decision-making and value hypothesis testing.

• Quantify Impact: Use concrete metrics to demonstrate the business value (e.g., revenue growth, cost savings, customer satisfaction improvements, adoption rates) and customer experience enhancements achieved.

• Highlight AI Fluency: Explicitly connect your strategic decisions to your understanding of AI capabilities (e.g., Generative AI, LLMs) and their potential applications.

• Address Challenges & Learnings: Be prepared to discuss any challenges encountered and what you learned, demonstrating resilience and continuous improvement.

📝 Enhancement Note: Preparation should focus on articulating strategic thinking, demonstrating AI expertise, and providing concrete examples of impact. The portfolio presentation is a key opportunity to showcase these capabilities.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this AI Product Strategy & Experience Director position:

• Submit your application through the Lumen Technologies careers portal via the provided link.

• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight experience in enterprise AI product strategy, Generative AI/LLM knowledge, roadmap development, and senior stakeholder management. Use keywords from the job description.

• Prepare Your Portfolio: Curate 2-3 key examples of your strategic work, focusing on AI initiatives, product roadmaps, or experience design frameworks. Be ready to present these, emphasizing strategy, process, and measurable impact.

• Research Lumen: Understand Lumen's business, its position in the AI-powered world, its network infrastructure, and its stated company values (e.g., Lumen 8 behaviors).

• Practice Your Narrative: Be ready to clearly articulate your career trajectory, your strategic approach to AI, and why you are the ideal candidate to shape Lumen's AI product strategy and experience.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.

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