Principal Software Engineer-Student LifeCycle Services

If youre passionate about building a better future for individuals communities and our countryand youre committed to working hard to play your part in building that futureconsider 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: $180300.00 - $279500.00

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.

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: $180300.00 - $279500.00

Job Description

The Principal Software Engineer is the primary technical leader of the department. This is a practitioner who ships production software earns credibility through results and sets the standard others follow. The Principal works inside the systems they influence understands their limitations from firsthand experience and translates that into action that resolves problems rather than merely identifying them.

This role demands expertise in AI-assisted development agentic engineering cloud-native architecture and platform thinking. The Principal evaluates every technical decision through the build buy borrow or bot lens understanding what is fiscally responsible operationally sustainable and fastest to value.

The Principal holds the trust of engineering teams product partners and executive leadership. They influence through example: building prototypes delivering working software and taking ownership when critical issues arise. This person must be fluent in business fundamentals (P&L cost of delay unit economics) and connect engineering decisions to business results. The ideal candidate brings a track record of delivering at scale within large enterprise environments ideally across more than one industry vertical. They maintain a culture of accountability velocity and quality grounded in the WGU Leadership Principles. Success in this role is defined by delivery: what ships what improves and what problems get solved.

Job Duties

• Partner with engineering and product leadership to define technical strategy and delivery roadmaps that improve the student experience at scale
• Build and ship production-grade software while establishing engineering standards others follow
• Lead Agile delivery practices that balance rigorous planning with rapid execution and predictable outcomes
• Design and evolve cloud-native architectures with strong emphasis on scalability observability reliability security and operational supportability
• Evaluate technical decisions through a build buy borrow or bot lens with focus on speed-to-value sustainability and fiscal responsibility
• Mentor engineers on modern software engineering practices AI-assisted development workflows and emerging technologies
• Prototype new tools frameworks and architectural patterns through proof-of-value initiatives
• Drive engineering excellence across multiple teams by establishing repeatable delivery patterns and operational standards
• Partner closely with infrastructure cloud security architecture and product teams as a peer technical leader
• Identify architectural inefficiencies and technical debt proposing practical and cost-effective solutions grounded in data
• Communicate technical strategy dependencies tradeoffs and risks clearly to executive leadership
• Support operational readiness incident response and day-2 supportability across enterprise systems
• Lead through accountability urgency ownership and attention to detail
• Participate in critical operational events and provide leadership during high-impact incidents when needed

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelors Degree in Computer Science Information Technology Software Engineering or related field

• 12 years of progressive software engineering experience including architecture delivery leadership and technical mentorship across multiple teams

• Experience building and operating web applications using Java REST APIs SQL and Git in enterprise environments

• Experience designing and delivering system integrations with third-party and internal platforms

• Track record in large-scale enterprise IT organizations with established operational processes

• Equivalent relevant experience may substitute for education (1 year experience per 1 year education at hiring manager discretion)

Preferred Qualifications

• Masters Degree in Computer Science Software Engineering or related field

• Experience with Kafka/Confluent and integration middleware (Apache Camel MuleSoft or similar)

• Hands-on AWS experience: ECS/EKS Lambda SNS/SQS API Gateway Terraform

• Spring Boot Kubernetes and container orchestration in production

• Observability stacks (Dynatrace Datadog or similar) including custom metrics and SLO management

• Familiarity with AI/ML platforms LLM integration and agentic frameworks

• Higher education EdTech or regulated industry experience

• ITIL v4 Foundation or higher; AWS Solutions Architect or CKA certification

• Experience across multiple industry verticals

Why Join WGU

At WGU youll help shape technology that directly impacts student success at national scale. Youll join an organization that values innovation accountability engineering excellence and mission-driven work. This role offers the opportunity to influence enterprise architecture modernize delivery practices and help define how AI-enabled software engineering evolves within a leading online university.

Disclaimer

This position description outlines the primary duties responsibilities requirements and working conditions of the role. Management reserves the right to modify responsibilities as needed to meet organizational needs.

This position requires occasional travel of up to 20% including attendance at designated company summits typically one to two times per year.

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. Its 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

Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteris

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. Its 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

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