Director, Software Engineering

Western Governors University•Salt Lake, UT

1d•Remote

About The Position

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: Executive Technical 716 Pay Range: $190,100.00 - $342,200.00 Want to make an incredible impact and lead the development of innovative technology products used by hundreds of thousands of students? We are looking for a seasoned software engineering leader who knows how to deliver software effectively in a large enterprise or higher-ed institution and to harness the power of AI to improve software quality and velocity dramatically. The Director, Software Engineering, provides technical leadership, strategic direction, and people leadership for software engineering teams responsible for designing, developing, and supporting business-critical applications. This role oversees product and feature roadmaps, guides agile delivery practices, manages resource planning and project schedules, mentors software development professionals, and boldly employs AI to deliver high-quality solutions that meet business needs.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in a related field.
Minimum of 8 years of software engineering experience.
Minimum of 3 years of experience leading a team, including at least 2 years at the Senior Manager or Director level.
Experience driving team adoption of AI-native coding and/or AI coding agents.
Strong people leadership and management skills, with the ability to engage effectively with staff, colleagues, cross-functional teams, and external partners.
Ability to drive a culture of quality, ownership, and accountability across development and delivery teams.
Demonstrated ability to translate complex technical requirements into functional software using industry best practices.
Expertise in vendor contract management and the management of distributed development teams and resources.
Expertise in Agile methodologies, including Scrum and test-driven development.
Experience with application architecture and informed buy-versus-build and interface decision-making.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to work effectively in both self-managed and team-based Agile/Scrum environments.
Deep technical knowledge of web applications and web services.
Solid understanding of cloud services and modern cloud architecture.
Fluency in multiple AI development tools and frameworks such as Claude Code, Amazon Q, Cursor, GitHub CoPilot.

Nice To Haves

Experience in the higher education technology domain

Responsibilities

Ensure software development teams consistently deliver quality solutions on time, within budget, and within scope.
Drive the full software development life cycle, including requirements analysis, feasibility estimates, design, coding, documentation, testing, implementation, and support.
Develop project plans, manage resource planning, oversee scheduling, and monitor development timelines.
Build, lead, and manage multidisciplinary software engineering teams and AI coding/testing agents, ensuring development processes adhere to industry best practices.
Oversee the quality and process of design reviews, code reviews, and mentoring efforts to support team growth and technical excellence.
Support change management processes related to software releases, application patching, and production configuration changes.
Manage multiple priorities in high-pressure environments while identifying and resolving issues early to reduce project risk, cost, and timeline impacts.
Provide oversight and management of department expenses, budget planning, and resource allocation.