Senior Software Engineer

About the role

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: $143,700.00 - $222,700.00

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 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 designs, builds, and delivers scalable, high-quality software systems across the full stack. This role contributes to modern web applications and services, working across frontend, backend, and APIs to deliver end-to-end solutions. This engineer partners closely with product, design, and engineering teams to solve complex problems, drive technical direction, and improve system performance, reliability, and user experience. They are comfortable working across multiple languages and frameworks — primarily Java/Spring Boot and TypeScript/Node.js with Angular on the frontend — building cloud-native, event-driven services on AWS. They own the operational health of student-facing systems, handle student data responsibly (FERPA), mentor engineers, and contribute to a strong engineering culture.

Job Description

Job Duties:

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

Strong foundation in software development, system design, and scalable architecture.

Experience building full-stack applications (frontend, backend, and APIs).

Proficiency in modern languages such as Java, TypeScript/Node.js, and JavaScript (Python a plus).

Experience with frontend frameworks such as Angular (or similar frameworks).

Strong understanding of API design and system integration (e.g., RESTful services).

Ability to work across multiple languages and frameworks, selecting the right tools for the problem.

Strong cloud-native development skills on AWS (Fargate/ECS, Lambda, API Gateway, RDS, S3), including containerized microservices." (Note: AWS moves from "a plus" to a stated requirement — see Minimum Quals below.)

Ability to design for scalability, performance, and reliability.

Strong understanding of SDLC and modern development practices.

Experience with observability practices (logging, monitoring, distributed tracing) using tools such as Dynatrace and CloudWatch.

Ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams and influence technical direction.

Strong communication skills across technical and non-technical audiences.

Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers and improve team performance.

Strong ownership mindset with the ability to manage risk and dependencies.

Ability to operate in ambiguous environments and adapt quickly to new challenges.

Participates in on-call rotation and acts as the escalation point for complex production incidents; owns availability, MTTR, and change-success outcomes for the team's services.

Leads migrations and modernization within the domain (framework/library upgrades, service re-platforming, database changes) and manages the team's technical-debt landscape.

Challenges incomplete, conflicting, or infeasible requirements and drives root-cause analysis rather than fixing symptoms.

Uses AI-assisted development tools effectively and responsibly, within data-handling and security policies.

Leads troubleshooting and resolution of production incidents, including on-call response, and drives post-incident improvements that prevent recurrence

Owns the quality, performance, reliability, and accessibility (WCAG/ADA) of student-facing systems within their domain.

Experience building event-driven, message-based services (Kafka/Confluent or similar).

Experience with containerized microservices (Docker, Kubernetes) and Blue/Green deployment practices.

Applies secure-coding practices (OWASP), authentication/authorization (OAuth2/OIDC, JWT), and FERPA/student-data handling.

Ensures accessibility (WCAG/ADA) in student-facing applications.

Owns operational health: on-call participation, incident response, and ownership of availability/MTTR/change-success metrics.

​Job Qualifications:

Minimum Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field

6+ years of experience building and delivering full-stack applications

Experience developing web applications and APIs using modern languages (e.g., Java, TypeScript/Node.js, JavaScript)

Experience with frontend frameworks (e.g., Angular or similar)

Experience working with service-based or modular architectures

Experience contributing to or leading system design decisions

Equivalent experience may substitute for formal education

Hands-on experience building and operating services on AWS (Fargate/ECS, Lambda, API Gateway, RDS, S3).

Experience with containerized microservices (Docker, Kubernetes).

Experience with event-driven architecture or messaging (Kafka or similar).

Preferred Qualifications:

Experience working across multiple programming languages and frameworks in a full-stack environment

Experience with AWS or other cloud platforms

Experience with backend frameworks such as Spring Boot or Node.js

Experience with CI/CD pipelines and modern deployment practices

Experience with observability and incident response using Dynatrace and CloudWatch.

Experience working in Agile/Scrum environments

Experience mentoring engineers or acting as a technical lead

Experience with API design and system integration

Familiarity with tools such as GitHub, JIRA, VS Code, IntelliJ

Experience with SQL and data modeling

Experience with NestJS and the Angular ecosystem (NgRx, Nx).

Experience with Kubernetes/Argo and Infrastructure as Code (Terraform).

Experience with event streaming (Kafka/Confluent, schema registry).

Experience with content/forms platforms such as Adobe Experience Manager (AEM), Form.io, or FormAssembly (for the Marketing/Pre-Enrollment team).

Experience with accessibility testing (axe-core, Playwright/Cypress).

Experience with trunk-based development and modern branching/release strategies.

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.