Principal Software EngineerIf 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 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 DutiesPartner with engineering and product leadership to define technical strategy and delivery roadmaps that improve the student experience at scaleBuild and ship production-grade software while establishing engineering standards others followLead Agile delivery practices that balance rigorous planning with rapid execution and predictable outcomesDesign and evolve cloud-native architectures with strong emphasis on scalability, observability, reliability, security, and operational supportabilityEvaluate technical decisions through a build, buy, borrow, or bot lens with focus on speed-to-value, sustainability, and fiscal responsibilityMentor engineers on modern software engineering practices, AI-assisted development workflows, and emerging technologiesPrototype new tools, frameworks, and architectural patterns through proof-of-value initiativesDrive engineering excellence across multiple teams by establishing repeatable delivery patterns and operational standardsPartner closely with infrastructure, cloud, security, architecture, and product teams as a peer technical leaderIdentify architectural inefficiencies and technical debt, proposing practical and cost-effective solutions grounded in dataCommunicate technical strategy, dependencies, tradeoffs, and risks clearly to executive leadershipSupport operational readiness, incident response, and day-2 supportability across enterprise systemsLead through accountability, urgency, ownership, and attention to detailParticipate in critical operational events and provide leadership during high-impact incidents when neededMinimum QualificationsBachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Software Engineering, or related field12+ years of progressive software engineering experience including architecture, delivery leadership, and technical mentorship across multiple teamsExperience building and operating web applications using Java, REST APIs, SQL, and Git in enterprise environmentsExperience designing and delivering system integrations with third-party and internal platformsTrack record in large-scale enterprise IT organizations with established operational processesEquivalent relevant experience may substitute for education (1 year experience per 1 year education, at hiring manager discretion)Preferred QualificationsMaster's Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related fieldExperience with Kafka/Confluent and integration middleware (Apache Camel, MuleSoft, or similar)Hands-on AWS experience: ECS/EKS, Lambda, SNS/SQS, API Gateway, TerraformSpring Boot, Kubernetes, and container orchestration in productionObservability stacks (Dynatrace, Datadog, or similar) including custom metrics and SLO managementFamiliarity with AI/ML platforms, LLM integration, and agentic frameworksHigher education, EdTech, or regulated industry experienceITIL v4 Foundation or higher; AWS Solutions Architect or CKA certificationExperience across multiple industry verticalsAt WGU, you'll help shape technology that directly impacts student success at national scale. You'll 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.