Principal Software Engineer-Student LifeCycle Services

Western Governors University; Salt Lake City (UT); On-site; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonuses

Medical, dental, vision

Tuition benefits

Retirement savings plan

Flexible paid time off

Job summary

Western Governors University seeks a Principal Software Engineer to lead enterprise architecture and shape scalable, reliable cloud-based systems for hundreds of thousands of students. You will drive architectural strategy, mentor senior engineers, and partner with product and business leaders to align technology with university goals.

This role emphasizes engineering excellence, security, and performance while guiding multi-team initiatives.

Qualifications

• Deep technical expertise in designing and building large-scale software systems balancing scalability, resilience, security, and business value.
• Experience with distributed systems and cloud-native architectures for SaaS platforms.
• Strong knowledge of microservices, API design, and system integration.
• Proven track record in driving architecture and engineering excellence across teams.

Responsibilities

• Serve as Principal-level technical authority across several engineering domains.
• Define and lead enterprise architecture initiatives and roadmaps.
• Drive platform quality, reliability, scalability, and operational excellence.
• Mentor engineers and technical leaders to foster engineering excellence.
• Partner with product and business leaders to align technology investments with goals.

Skills

Distributed systems

Cloud-native architectures

Microservices

API design

Security

Performance optimization

DevOps

Software architecture

Leadership

Job description

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 412 Pay Range: $180,300.00 - $279,500.00

Job Description The Principal Software Engineer is a position of technical expertise, influence, and leadership in the technology realm. The position will be required to apply their expert knowledge to ensure best practices and well-engineered architecture across the University. They will also be a key stakeholder and initiator of major changes to processes, engineering practices, and system administration. This position will be required to work in a space of solving critical issues and initiatives across multiple departments. It will require an extensive and deep understanding of cutting‑edge practices and innovative approaches to problems. Principal Software Engineers are also tasked with establishing and maintaining a positive and productive culture based on the WGU Leadership Principles.

Principal Software Engineer Shape the Future of Education Through Technology At WGU, technology is at the heart of transforming higher education. As a Principal Software Engineer, you will serve as one of the organization’s foremost technical leaders, influencing the architecture, scalability, reliability, and future direction of a platform that empowers hundreds of thousands of students on their educational journey. This is not a role focused on day‑to‑day feature delivery. It is an opportunity to solve complex, organization‑wide engineering challenges, define technical strategy across multiple product and engineering domains, and elevate the capabilities of an entire engineering organization. You will partner with senior engineering leaders, product executives, and business stakeholders to drive innovation, establish architectural direction, and create technology solutions that scale for the future. If you are passionate about distributed systems, modern cloud architecture, technical leadership, engineering excellence, and mentoring the next generation of technical talent, we’d love to meet you.

What You’ll Do

• Lead Architecture Across the Enterprise
• Define and evolve architecture strategies that span multiple engineering teams, products, and technology domains.
• Drive the design of scalable, resilient, secure, and maintainable systems that support WGU’s mission‑critical education platform.
• Identify opportunities to simplify and modernize existing systems while reducing operational complexity and technical debt.
• Establish architectural standards, design patterns, and engineering best practices that improve consistency and quality across the organization.
• Influence Technology Strategy
• Serve as a trusted technical advisor to engineering leadership, product management, and executive stakeholders.
• Translate business objectives into long‑term technical strategies and architectural roadmaps.
• Evaluate emerging technologies, frameworks, and industry trends to identify innovations that create meaningful value for WGU and its students.
• Lead critical technical decision‑making for initiatives with enterprise‑wide impact.
• Drive Engineering Excellence
• Champion software craftsmanship, maintainability, security, observability, reliability, and performance across engineering teams.
• Influence engineering practices around code quality, testing strategies, system design reviews, and operational readiness.
• Guide teams in balancing speed, quality, scalability, and long‑term sustainability.
• Use data, metrics, and system insights to improve platform health and operational performance.
• Mentor and Develop Technical Talent
• Coach and mentor Staff Engineers, Senior Engineers, and emerging technical leaders.
• Foster a culture of continuous learning, technical curiosity, and engineering excellence.
• Lead architecture reviews and design discussions that help elevate engineering capabilities across the organization.
• Multiply organizational impact through influence rather than authority.
• Solve the Most Challenging Problems
• Identify systemic challenges that cross organizational boundaries and drive solutions from concept through execution.
• Anticipate future scaling needs, architectural risks, and platform constraints before they become business problems.
• Lead complex initiatives requiring coordination across multiple teams, technologies, and business functions.
• Serve as a technical escalation point for the organization’s most critical engineering challenges.

What Makes You Successful

• Deep Technical Expertise You bring extensive experience designing and building large‑scale software systems and have a proven track record of delivering architecture that balances scalability, resilience, security, and business value.
• Distributed systems and cloud-native architectures
• Modern SaaS platforms
• Microservices and event-driven systems
• API design and system integration
• Security, fault tolerance, and high-availability architectures
• Software design patterns and architectural principles
• Performance optimization and observability
• Modern software development practices and DevOps principles
• Strategic Thinker You see beyond individual projects and understand how technology decisions impact the broader organization.
• Technical Leader You lead through expertise, vision, mentorship, and influence.
• Customer and Student Focused You understand that great technology exists to solve real problems. You are passionate about creating exceptional experiences for students, faculty, and staff, and you consistently advocate for solutions that deliver meaningful value.

Why Join WGU

• Mission with Meaning The systems you build directly impact students pursuing life‑changing educational opportunities.
• Your work helps increase access to education at scale.
• Enterprise-Level Technical Challenges Work on highly available, cloud‑based platforms serving a large and growing user population while tackling complex architectural and organizational challenges.
• Organization‑Wide Influence Your decisions will shape engineering strategy, platform evolution, and technology investments across the company.
• Invest in the Future of Engineering Help define engineering standards, develop technical leaders, and create the technology foundation that powers the next generation of online education.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as a Principal-level technical authority across multiple engineering domains.
• Define and lead enterprise architecture initiatives.
• Drive platform quality, reliability, scalability, and operational excellence.
• Identify and address cross‑functional technical challenges and dependencies.
• Guide long‑term technology strategy and architectural roadmaps.
• Partner with product and business leaders to align technology investments with organizational goals.
• Mentor engineers and technical leaders throughout the organization.
• Champion innovation and adoption of modern engineering practices.
• Improve platform availability, performance, and user experience through data‑driven decision making.
• Lead technical risk assessment, mitigation planning, and strategic solution design.

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.

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.

Additional Information 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.

Accommodations

Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process should contact our Talent Acquisition team at [e-mail].

Equal Employment Opportunity

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

In 1997, a coalition of 19 U.S. governors founded Western Governors University with a singular vision: to make higher education more accessible by offering full degree programs online. Starting small, we quickly expanded. Today, we’re one of the largest accredited online universities in the U.S.