Senior Software Engineer

WGU; Salt Lake City (UT); On-site; USD 144,000 - 223,000; Full time

Job summary

WGU in Utah seeks a Senior Software Engineer to research, design, develop, and implement software for the university’s education platform. You will mentor engineers, lead technical initiatives, and collaborate across teams to ensure timely delivery and high quality.

Expect Java, REST, ServiceNow, and cloud-based services, with databases like Oracle/MySQL/Aurora. Strong SDLC, security, and cost-conscious design are essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field.
• 6 years of software development experience.
• Experience with web-based applications and services using Java, REST, ServiceNow, and related technologies.
• Experience with relational databases (Oracle, MySQL, Aurora) and NoSQL databases.
• Strong understanding of SDLC, security, algorithms, and software design patterns.
• Experience designing scalable, cost-conscious software systems in SaaS/cloud environments.
• Strong communication, problem-solving, and technical leadership skills.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a technical expert and mentor for engineers and teams.
• Lead or consult on engineering projects, translating requirements into designs and high-quality code.
• Ensure service quality and on-time project delivery within scope and budget.
• Identify risks, dependencies, and potential solutions early in projects.
• Collaborate across Engineering, Operations, and other disciplines to troubleshoot complex systems.
• Share knowledge through mentoring, presentations, and documentation.

Skills

Java

REST

ServiceNow

Web services

Databases

Software architecture

Team mentoring

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

IntelliJ/VS Code

JIRA

Git

AWS

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.

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.

Ready to make a meaningful impact through technology? As a Senior Software Engineer, you'll bring deep technical expertise, strong engineering judgment, and a collaborative mindset to building and improving scalable software solutions. You'll serve as a technical leader and mentor while partnering across teams to solve complex problems, manage technical risk, and strengthen the systems that support the university education platform.

What You'll Do

• Serve as a technical expert and trusted resource in assigned areas of software engineering, mentoring junior engineers and helping the team grow its capabilities.
• Lead or consult for engineering teams, translating functional, non-functional, and implied requirements into thoughtful designs and high-quality code.
• Take accountability for service quality and successful project delivery, balancing scope, budget, timelines, reliability, and cost.
• Identify technical risks, dependencies, gaps, and potential solutions early, while helping other engineers strengthen their approach to risk management.
• Partner effectively across engineering, Operations, and other disciplines to troubleshoot complex system issues, minimize time to restore services, and improve system performance.
• Share technical knowledge through mentoring, presentations, documentation, and collaborative problem-solving while helping identify opportunities for team improvement.
• Design and execute pragmatic testing strategies that balance quality, delivery speed, cost, security, scale, reliability, and fault tolerance.

What You'll Bring

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field.
• 6 years of experience in software development; pioneering new approaches and technologies in engineering.
• Experience in web-based applications and web services using Java, REST, ServiceNow, and other web technologies, including experience interfacing with databases, and integrating third party products with existing infrastructure.
• Experience with relational databases such as Oracle, MySQL, and Aurora, along with non-SQL databases.
• Strong understanding of software development practices, including planning, coding, testing, security, algorithms and complexity, abstraction, reuse, and software development lifecycle models.
• Experience designing scalable, reliable, and cost-conscious software systems, including SaaS and public cloud environments.
• Strong communication, problem-solving, and technical leadership skills, with the ability to identify risks, propose solutions, mentor others, and collaborate effectively across teams.

Bonus Points

• Master's Degree or PhD in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field.
• Experience with IntelliJ/VS Code, JIRA, Git, Agile/Scrum development, Java or a similar object-oriented language, J2EE, Java EE, JavaScript, and SQL.
• Experience with IDM/OSSO, Hibernate/Seam, Banner, legacy-system integration, cloud-native development, or porting/refactoring on-site applications to the cloud, preferably AWS, and/or relevant technical certifications.

Equivalent relevant experience performing the essential functions of