If you’re passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country—and you’re committed to working hard to play your part in building that future—consider WGU as the next step in your career.

Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.

The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.

At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:

Grade: Technical 410
Pay Range: $140,200.00 - $217,200.00

Job Description

The Senior Software Engineer is responsible for the research, design, development, analysis, testing, and implementation of software operating or application systems. They communicate project information to client, project manager, or other design personnel working on projects. They maintain good working relationships with clients and staff. They write and maintain complete documentation. They support team members and ensure established goals and deadlines are met. They keep management informed of status and significant problems.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as a subject matter expert within assigned areas of software engineering, providing technical leadership and mentoring engineers across the organization.
• Maintain accountability for the quality, reliability, and performance of services and applications within assigned areas of ownership.
• Lead or serve as a technical consultant for engineering teams, acting as a trusted resource within a specific application, platform, or technical discipline.
• Strengthen team effectiveness through formal and informal coaching, technical guidance, and collaborative problem-solving.
• Partner effectively with engineering, product, operations, and other cross-functional stakeholders to identify challenges and deliver solutions.
• Lead knowledge-sharing initiatives through presentations, technical documentation, architecture reviews, and internal best-practice discussions.
• Identify technical risks, dependencies, and potential obstacles early in the development lifecycle and recommend mitigation strategies.
• Provide authoritative guidance regarding platform architecture, system capabilities, and technical direction.
• Lead incident response efforts and support rapid diagnosis and resolution of system issues to minimize service disruptions.
• Partner with engineering leadership to identify opportunities for continuous improvement, including training needs, technical debt reduction, process improvements, and emerging technology adoption.
• Develop and execute pragmatic testing strategies that balance quality, delivery timelines, and business value.
• Translate functional, non-functional, and business requirements into scalable, maintainable technical designs and solutions.
• Identify gaps, ambiguities, and risks within requirements and guide engineering teams toward successful implementation.
• Perform additional duties and responsibilities as assigned.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Deep understanding of software engineering principles, including system design, architecture, coding standards, testing, security, performance optimization, algorithms, complexity, and software lifecycle management.
• Strong experience applying engineering tools and technologies related to modern software development, including databases, APIs, integrations, distributed systems, and user interface development.
• Ability to design and implement solutions that meet both functional and non-functional requirements, including scalability, maintainability, reliability, security, and fault tolerance.
• Demonstrated proficiency in software design methodologies such as object-oriented, functional, and data-centered design.
• Strong understanding of Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) methodologies and Agile development practices.
• Understanding of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) architecture and cloud-native development principles.
• Ability to design systems that optimize scalability, reliability, resiliency, performance, and cost in public cloud environments.
• Experience using data, metrics, and key performance indicators (KPIs) to evaluate and improve system performance.
• Ability to explain complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong partnership skills when collaborating with operations teams and stakeholders to resolve system-level issues.
• Proven ability to mentor engineers, strengthen team cohesion, and elevate overall technical capabilities.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to influence decisions, manage expectations, and present solutions effectively.
• Ability to proactively identify, assess, and mitigate technical risks while ensuring appropriate planning and stakeholder alignment.
• Ability to identify emerging technologies and innovative approaches that improve platform capabilities, operational efficiency, or student experiences.
• Experience supporting organizational change and driving adoption of new technologies and processes.
• Demonstrates urgency, ownership, and accountability when solving complex technical challenges.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Software Engineering, or a related field.
• Equivalent professional experience may be substituted for educational requirements. Generally, one year of directly related experience may be considered equivalent to one year of required education, at the discretion of the hiring manager.
• 6+ years of progressive software engineering experience, including experience evaluating, implementing, and advancing modern engineering practices and technologies.
• Experience developing web-based applications and web services using Java, REST APIs, ServiceNow, and related web technologies.
• Experience with AWS - CI/CD Pipelines.
• Experience with Docker.
• Experience working with relational databases and integrating third-party products and services into enterprise environments.
• Experience designing, developing, and supporting scalable software solutions in complex environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Information Technology, Software Engineering, or a related field.
• Experience with IntelliJ IDEA, VS Code, Git, Jira, and modern software development toolchains.
• Experience working in Agile and Scrum environments.
• Experience with identity and access management technologies, including IDM and OSSO.
• Experience with Hibernate, Seam, Banner, or similar enterprise applications.
• Experience integrating with legacy enterprise systems.
• Experience developing cloud-native applications and modernizing on-premises applications through cloud migration or refactoring efforts, preferably within AWS.
• Experience with J2EE, Java EE, JavaScript, SQL, and enterprise application architecture.

Job Description Disclaimer: This position description provides the major duties/responsibilities, requirements and working conditions for the position. It is intended to be an accurate reflection of the current position, however management reserves the right to revise or change as necessary to meet organizational needs. Other responsibilities may be assigned when circumstances require.

This position requires occasional travel of up to 20%, including required attendance at designated company summits (typically one to two per year). Additional travel may include conferences, visits to company locations, and other business-related events as needed. Additional travel may be assigned as needed to support business requirements.

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Position & Application Details

Full-Time Regular Positions (classified as regular and working 40 standard weekly hours): This is a full-time, regular position (classified for 40 standard weekly hours) that is eligible for bonuses; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savings plan; wellbeing program; discounted WGU tuition; and flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual, flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual, 11 paid holidays, and other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave.

How to Apply: If interested, an application will need to be submitted online. Internal WGU employees will need to apply through the internal job board in Workday.

Additional Information

Disclaimer: The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. It’s not all-inclusive.

Accommodations: Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process should contact our Talent Acquisition team at recruiting@wgu.edu.

Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic as required by law.