Qualifications
Responsibilities
Benefits
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:
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 maintains complete documentation. They support team members and ensures established goals and deadlines are met. They keep management informed of status and significant problems. The Senior Software Engineer is expected to operate as a technical leader — driving quality, mentoring peers, and contributing to the engineering culture and capability of their team.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.
Acts as a recognized domain expert and go-to resource; takes ownership of team-level quality outcomes without requiring direction.
Demonstrates thought leadership by recommending process improvements, emerging technologies, and architecture patterns relevant to evolving platform needs.
Contributes to knowledge transfer through documentation, formal presentations, and mentoring, and actively supports engineering recruitment efforts.
Understands how comparable organizations solve similar technical challenges and applies that awareness to improve engineering practices.
Experience designing and working with event-driven or asynchronous system architectures. (generic — not Kafka-specific)
Comfort with production support responsibilities, including on-call participation, incident triage, and root-cause analysis.
Understanding of accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG) in the context of user-facing application development.
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, Angular, REST APIs, enterprise ITSM or backlog management platforms (e.g., ServiceNow, Jira, or equivalent), and related web technologies.
Experience with AWS - CI/CD Pipelines
Experience deploying and managing containerized applications (Docker, Kubernetes, or equivalent
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.
AWS Associate-level certification or higher.
Experience with infrastructure-as-code tools (Terraform, CloudFormation, or equivalent).
Experience with application observability, performance monitoring, or logging platforms.
Experience in higher education, EdTech, or other mission-driven industries.
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.
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