Senior Lead Program Manager, Modernization & Simplification Coach

Lumen is the trusted network for AI. We’re transforming how businesses connect, secure, and scale in an AI-driven world.

By connecting people, data, and applications quickly, securely, and effortlessly, we help organizations move faster and unlock what’s next.

At Lumen, people power progress. Our culture is built on teamwork, trust, and transparency, giving you the flexibility, support, and opportunity to make a lasting impact. We’re looking for top-tier talent ready to take on the challenge. Join us in building the future.

The Role

The Program Manager, Modernization & Simplification (M&S) Coach partners with leaders and cross functional teams to drive execution rigor, accountability, and measurable business outcomes across enterprise transformation initiatives. This role is not a traditional project management position.  Instead, it focuses on coaching leaders and teams for effective execution, strengthening business and financial discipline, and ensuring initiatives translate strategy into results.    The M&S Coach operates as a trusted advisor and execution partner, helping leaders clarify priorities, navigate complexity, and drive progress through influence, strong business acumen, and executivelevel communication. 

Work Location

This is a work from home position within the U.S.

The Main Responsibilities

• Coach initiative owners and workstream leaders to strengthen execution discipline, ownership, and followthrough on commitments 
• Reinforce accountability for outcomes by setting clear expectations, reviewing progress, and challenging plans and assumptions when needed 
• Develop and lead executivelevel presentations that clearly communicate progress, risks, tradeoffs, and decisions required 
• Plan and facilitate executive and crossfunctional meetings, ensuring discussions are focused, decisions are clear, and actions are owned 
• Apply strong business and financial acumen to evaluate initiative readiness, value assumptions, execution risks, and tradeoffs 
• Partner with Finance and business leaders to ensure initiatives are grounded in sound business cases and realistic value delivery plans 
• Identify execution gaps, decision bottlenecks, and crossfunctional dependencies; work with leaders to resolve issues and maintain momentum 
• Influence and align stakeholders across Product, Technology, Operations, Finance, Marketing, and other functions around shared priorities 
• Promote consistent ways of working, transparency, and outcomefocused execution across the M&S portfolio 

What We Look For in a Candidate

Required Qualifications: 

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Operations, or a related field 
• 5–7 years of experience in transformation, strategy execution, operations, consulting, or similar roles 
• Demonstrated ability to influence leaders and teams without direct authority 
• Strong executive communication skills, including experience creating leadershipready presentations and leading seniorlevel discussions 
• Proven business acumen with the ability to assess value, risk, and execution tradeoffs 
• Experience working in complex, fastpaced, and highly matrixed environments 

  Preferred Qualifications: 

• Experience supporting enterprisescale transformation, modernization, or costreduction efforts 
• Comfort partnering closely with Finance on business cases, value tracking, or financial tradeoff discussions 
• Experience in technology, telecommunications, or large enterprise environments 

  Key Attributes 

• Execution focused coach with strong business judgment 
• Confident executive presence and clear, concise communicator 
• Comfortable challenging leaders constructively to improve outcomes 
• Collaborative, adaptable, and outcomeoriented 

Compensation

This information reflects the anticipated base salary range for this position based on current national data. Minimums and maximums may vary based on location. Individual pay is based on skills, experience and other relevant factors.

 

Location Based Pay Ranges:

 

$103,711 - $138,281 in these states: AL, AR, AZ, FL, GA, IA, ID, IN, KS, KY, LA, ME, MO, MS, MT, ND, NE, NM, OH, OK, PA, SC, SD, TN, UT, VT, WI, WV, and WY.
$108,896 - $145,195 in these states: CO, HI, MI, MN, NC, NH, NV, OR, and RI.
$114,082 - $152,109 in these states: AK, CA, CT, DC, DE, IL, MA, MD, NJ, NY, TX, VA, and WA.

 

Lumen offers a comprehensive package featuring a broad range of Health, Life, Voluntary Lifestyle benefits and other perks that enhance your physical, mental, emotional and financial wellbeing. We're able t