Fast Facts

WGU is seeking a passionate Staff Software Engineer for Site Reliability to design, develop, and optimize enterprise-grade applications, ensuring reliability and performance while mentoring junior engineers.

Responsibilities: Key responsibilities include leading and mentoring engineers, designing scalable applications, improving system reliability, advocating for best practices, and collaborating across teams to enhance educational access.

Skills: Candidates should have strong experience in software development, knowledge of cloud-native environments, and proficiency in languages like Java, along with excellent collaboration and communication skills.

Qualifications: Minimum of a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related field; 10+ years of relevant experience, with preferred qualifications including a Master's or Ph.D., and experience with various development tools and methodologies.

Location: Position is based at the Salt Lake City Office, Utah, USA with standard 40 hours work schedule.

Compensation: $157000 - $243400 / Annually

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 411Pay Range: $157,000.00 - $243,400.00

Job Description

About WGU

At Western Governors University (WGU), we’re transforming higher education through innovation, technology, and purpose-driven design. Our engineering teams build systems that empower learners across the nation — creating scalable, reliable, and high-performing platforms that make education more accessible than ever.

We’re seeking a Staff Software Engineer who’s ready to shape the future of online education by architecting resilient, modern systems and mentoring the next generation of engineering talent.

Our Mission

At WGU, we are dedicated to changing lives by creating pathways to opportunity. Every system, application, and solution we build is designed to empower students, remove barriers, and support success at scale.

The Role

As a Staff Software Engineer at WGU, you’ll play a key role in designing, developing, testing, and deploying enterprise-grade applications that support our mission. You’ll collaborate across disciplines, contribute code that drives measurable impact, and champion engineering best practices that elevate quality, reliability, and user experience.

This role also blends elements of Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) by ensuring systems are scalable, observable, and built for resilience. You’ll automate key processes, improve system-level objectives, and help teams adopt strong operational excellence practices.

What You’ll Do

• Lead and Mentor: Serve as a technical expert and guide for junior engineers — raising the bar for code quality, performance, and innovation.
• Design and Build: Research, architect, and implement scalable applications and services that power WGU’s digital ecosystem.
• Improve Systems: Eliminate redundant or low-value processes and prioritize work that improves reliability, software delivery speed, and the student experience.
• Champion Resilience: Advocate for distributed-system best practices by including graceful degradation, stateless design, and fault tolerance.
• Enhance Reliability: Guide teams in defining and achieving SLIs/SLOs and managing error budgets to balance speed and stability.
• Collaborate Effectively: Partner with cross-functional teams to solve complex challenges, identify risks early, and deliver sustainable solutions.
• Innovate for Impact: Identify emerging technologies and creative solutions that advance WGU’s mission, improve platform performance, and scale educational access.
• Drive Continuous Improvement: Contribute to incident resolution, system monitoring, and proactive enhancements that minimize downtime and optimize service restoration.
• Test with Purpose: Use modern tools and strategies to balance quality assurance and delivery efficiency by finding the “sweet spot” between speed and stability.
• Contribute to Culture: Foster a culture of accountability, empathy, and technical excellence through collaboration, feedback, and shared success.

What You Bring (Knowledge, Skills & Abilities)

• Deep understanding of modern software development practices, including design patterns, system decomposition, fault tolerance, and secure coding.
• Strong proficiency with object-oriented or functional design principles and methodologies (e.g., OO design, data-centered design).
• Proven experience in full SDLC processes — planning, coding, testing, and release management — with a focus on quality and scalability.
• Ability to design for cloud-native environments and understand implications of SaaS architectures, including cost, scalability, and reliability.
• Strong collaboration and communication skills, with the ability to influence and align teams without formal authority.
• Sharp analytical mindset with the ability to identify risks, manage dependencies, and deliver thoughtful solutions.
• Understanding of the higher education technology landscape is a plus — particularly challenges and opportunities in online learning platforms.
• A mindset of urgency, ownership, and curiosity — eager to solve problems and elevate both systems and people.

Qualifications

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
• 10+ years of experience in software development, with a track record of technical leadership and innovation.
• Hands-on experience developing web-based applications and RESTful services using technologies such as Java, ServiceNow, and web integrations.
• Strong knowledge of databases, API integrations, and enterprise software architecture.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s or Ph.D. in Computer Science, IT, or related field.
• Experience with tools like IntelliJ/VS Code, JIRA, and Git.
• Background in Agile/Scrum methodologies.
• Proficiency with Java EE / J2EE, JavaScript, SQL, and frameworks such as Hibernate, Seam, or Banner.
• Familiarity with Identity Management (IDM/OSSO) and cloud migration or refactoring (preferably AWS).
• Relevant technical certifications are a plus.

Why Join WGU?

• Be part of a mission-driven organization changing the landscape of education.
• Work with cutting-edge cloud and enterprise technologies.
• Collaborate with a passionate, diverse, and forward-thinking engineering community.
• Enjoy a flexible, remote-friendly culture that values balance, innovation, and growth.

Physical Requirements:

• Prolonged period

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 [email protected].

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