Associate Director, AI Connect Solutions Architecture

Responsibilities: Lead the end-to-end customer design ownership for AI Connect, Dark Fiber, Lit Fiber/Wave and Edge Data Centers Guide and coach architects and sales engineers supporting Verizon's top strategic customers Own the customer design lifecycle from discovery through order, hand-off, build tracking and turn-up Set design and hand-off standards to align scope, schedule, and cost and minimize rework Maintain customer health and readiness cadence across Sales, Network Planning, Construction, Right-of-Way and Operations Build stakeholder alignment through holistic opportunity teams and executive-level messaging Develop competitive positioning and multi-stakeholder account strategy Create business cases, ROI and cost models to ensure design feasibility and profitability Introduce automation to reduce low-value work and focus on customer outcomes Develop talent through coaching, certifications, and representation at events and advisory boards Foster a culture of empowerment, collaboration, innovation, and integrity

Key requirements: Bachelor's degree in a technical discipline or equivalent experience 10+ years in engineering and architecting telecom, IT or network infrastructure with deep dark fiber expertise 3+ years leading senior architects or sales engineers, including coaching and performance management Experience owning complex customer solutions from design through delivery including scope, change and contract management Experience engaging senior executives and delivering effective customer presentations Demonstrated financial analysis skills: P&L, ROI, cost analysis, business-case development leadership and people management strategic influencing and executive communication stakeholder alignment and collaboration dark fiber and physical assets integration with AI/ML digital transformation end-to-end design and delivery of large-scale telecom solutions P&L, forecasting, KPI/SLA management