Principal Engineer, Xfinity WiFi Architecture

Make your mark at Comcast -- a Fortune 30 global media and technology company. From the connectivity and platforms we provide, to the content and experiences we create, we reach hundreds of millions of customers, viewers, and guests worldwide. Become part of our award-winning technology team that turns big ideas into cutting-edge products, platforms, and solutions that our customers love. We create space to innovate, and we recognize, reward, and invest in your ideas, while ensuring you can proudly bring your authentic self to the workplace. Join us. You’ll do the best work of your career right here at Comcast. (In most cases, Comcast prefers to have employees on-site collaborating unless the team has been designated as virtual due to the nature of their work. If a position is listed with both office locations and virtual offerings, Comcast may be willing to consider candidates who live greater than 100 miles from the office for the remote option.)

Job Summary

The Xfinity WiFi team is seeking an Engineer 6 (Principal-level) to lead the architecture, evolution, and end‑to‑end operations of Comcast’s large‑scale WiFi platforms, including a nationwide hotspot network serving millions of sessions from ~4M access points used by Xfinity Mobile customers. This leader will define the multi‑year technical roadmap, design and harden carrier‑grade platforms, and drive operational excellence across networking, WiFi, and security. The role partners closely with peer platform teams and internal business stakeholders to deliver resilient, secure, and high‑performance customer experiences at scale.

Job Description

In this role, you will own platform architecture and product development for Xfinity WiFi and adjacent connectivity services. Responsibilities include high‑availability control plane design, complex L2/L3 networking, WiFi architecture development, F5 BIG‑IP engineering, and secure platform design. You will drive technical strategy, influence cross‑team architectural decisions, and ensure end‑to‑end network performance and reliability. This role requires strong experience in large‑scale network design, WiFi technologies, platform security, and distributed systems operations. You will act as a consultative expert across Comcast, participate in testing and certification efforts, identify emerging technologies, and contribute to architectural reviews. As a principal-level leader, you will mentor senior engineers and support the growth of future technical leaders.

Core Responsibilities

• Define and own the multi‑year technical roadmap for Xfinity WiFi platforms and services.

• Lead architecture for high‑availability and geo‑resilient services leveraging F5 BIG‑IP technologies.

• Design and oversee complex L2/L3 networks, WiFi architectures (including Passpoint/Hotspot 2.0), roaming standards, and secure control planes.

• Provide technical leadership for the engineering design and operations of a nationwide hotspot network (~4M APs).

• Implement defense‑in‑depth security practices, platform hardening, mTLS/PKI, and secure API gateway patterns.

• Drive observability across systems, including metrics, logging, and distributed tracing.

• Perform load testing, capacity modeling, failure testing, and performance engineering.

• Provide consultative services to internal partners and external stakeholders.

• Recommend technology direction, long‑term solutions, and strategies aligned with product growth.

• Identify trends, services, and capabilities that benefit future product offerings.

• Participate consultatively in testing and certification processes as needed.

• Contribute to architectural and system design reviews across organizations.

• Collaborate closely with product and engineering groups such as RDK and Connected Living.

• Mentor senior engineers and foster an inclusive, supportive engineering culture.

• Lead by example with operational rigor, communication clarity, and accountability.

Required Qualifications:

• 12+ years of experience in large‑scale IP networking, WiFi, or distributed systems engineering.

• Expert-level proficiency in IP networking technologies (IPv6, BGP, OSPF, ECMP, DNS, DHCP, NAT/CGNAT).

• Deep hands‑on experience with F5 BIG‑IP (LTM, DNS/GTM, WAF/ASM, APM).

• Strong WiFi expertise including 802.11 standards, WPA3, Passpoint/Hotspot 2.0, roaming protocols, RADIUS, and EAP.

• Proven experience designing and operating carrier‑grade, highly available, and secure platforms.

• Demonstrated ability to drive long‑term technical strategy and influence across multiple organizations.

• Strong background in platform security (mTLS, PKI, WAF tuning, API security).

• Bachelor's degree required; Master's degree preferred.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with Kubernetes, multi‑cluster environments, service mesh, Terraform, and CI/CD.

• Hands‑on experience with observability tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, and OpenTelemetry.

• Performance engineering experience (capacity planning, load testing, traffic shaping).

• Strong cross‑functional collaboration skills and experience working with partner teams.

• Experience contributing to patents, open-source projects, or industry standards.

• Excellent communication skills for both technical and executive audiences.

Employees at all levels are expected to:

• Understand our Operating Principles; make them the guidelines for how you do your job.
• Own the customer experience - think and act in ways that put our customers first, give them seamless digital options at every touchpoint, and make them promoters of our products and services.
• Know your stuff - be enthusiastic learners, users and advocates of our game-changing technology, products and services, especially our digital tools and experiences.
• Win as a team - make big things happen by working together and being open to new ideas.
• Be an active part of the Net Promoter System - a way of working that brings more employee and customer feedback into the company - by joining huddles, making call backs and helping us elevate opportunities to do better for our customers.
• Drive results and growth.
• Support a culture of inclusion in how you work and lead.
• Do what's right for each other, our customers, investors and our communities.

Disclaimer:

• This information has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees in this role. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities and qualifications.

Skills

Cross-Team Collaboration, IP Network Engineering, Network Architecture Design, Network Security, Wireless

We believe that benefits should connect you to the support you need when it matters most, and should help you care for those who matter most. That's why we provide an array of options, expert guidance and always-on tools that are personalized to meet the needs of your reality—to help support you physically, financially and emotionally through the big milestones and in your everyday life.

Please visit the benefits summary on our careers site for more details.

Education

Bachelor's Degree

While possessing the stated degree is preferred, Comcast also may consider applicants who hold some combination of coursework and experience, or who have extensive related professional experience.

Certifications (if applicable)

Relevant Work Experience

15 Years +

Comcast is an equal opportunity workplace. We will consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable law.