Senior Software Engineer

Western Governors University•Salt Lake, UT

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Senior Software Engineer researches, designs, develops, analyzes, tests, and implements software operating or application systems. The role communicates project information to clients, project managers, and other design personnel; maintains productive relationships with clients and staff; writes and maintains documentation; supports teammates in meeting goals and deadlines; and keeps management informed about status and significant problems. The engineer brings technical expertise, sound engineering judgment, and a collaborative mindset to building and improving scalable software solutions for WGU. They serve as a technical leader and mentor, partner across teams to solve complex problems, manage technical risk, and strengthen the systems supporting the university’s education platform. The position is full-time and in-office five days per week at WGU’s Salt Lake City, Utah office, with occasional travel of up to 20%.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field; equivalent relevant experience may substitute for education at the hiring manager’s discretion, generally at a rate of one year of experience for one year of education.
Six years of software development experience, including pioneering new engineering approaches and technologies.
Experience with web-based applications and web services using Java, REST, ServiceNow, and other web technologies.
Experience interfacing with databases and integrating third-party products with existing infrastructure.
Experience with relational databases such as Oracle, MySQL, and Aurora, as well as 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, including the ability to identify risks, propose solutions, mentor others, and collaborate across teams.
Ability to work in-office five days per week in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Availability for occasional travel of up to 20%, including designated company summits and other business-related travel as needed.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree or PhD in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field.
Experience with IntelliJ or 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 or refactoring on-site applications to the cloud, preferably AWS.
Relevant technical certifications.

Responsibilities

Serve as a technical expert and trusted resource in assigned software engineering areas, mentoring junior engineers and helping build team capabilities.
Lead or consult with engineering teams, translating functional, non-functional, and implied requirements into designs and high-quality code.
Take accountability for service quality and successful project delivery while balancing scope, budget, timelines, reliability, and cost.
Identify technical risks, dependencies, gaps, and potential solutions early, and help other engineers strengthen their risk-management approach.
Partner across engineering, Operations, and other disciplines to troubleshoot complex system issues, minimize service-restoration time, and improve system performance.
Share technical knowledge through mentoring, presentations, documentation, and collaborative problem-solving, and help identify opportunities for team improvement.
Design and execute pragmatic testing strategies that balance quality, delivery speed, cost, security, scale, reliability, and fault tolerance.
Research, design, develop, analyze, test, and implement software operating or application systems.
Communicate project information to clients, project managers, and other design personnel; maintain working relationships with clients and staff.
Write and maintain complete documentation, support team members in meeting goals and deadlines, and keep management informed of status and significant problems.