Senior Software Engineer

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.

About the role

The Senior Software Engineer is responsible for the research, design, development, analysis, testing, and implementation of software operating or application systems. They communicate project information to client, project manager, or other design personnel working on projects. They maintain good working relationships with clients and staff. They write and maintain complete documentation. They support team members and ensure established goals and deadlines are met. They keep management informed of status and significant problems. This is an on-site position located at our headquarters, 4001 South 700 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84107.

About the company

At Western Governors University, our ambition is to be the world’s most student-centric university; everything we do begins and ends with our students, our alumni, and their families. The success and wellbeing of individuals is at our core. It’s why we exist. It’s why we are committed to changing higher education. This is what it looks like to create pathways of opportunity for everyone: one by one. Our innovative approach and passionate team drive us to deliver exceptional solutions in education. With a commitment to excellence and a culture of collaboration, we strive to be leaders in education technology.

About the team and project

This engineering team is focused on open-source software, particularly the Open edX software. Open edX is a learning management system, content management system, course authoring tool, and more which provides a platform to over 55 million learners across the world. Our team aims to improve the performance and accessibility of this platform and its peripheral functions. We are looking for highly skilled engineers who are willing to contribute advanced innovation to online education.

Responsibilities

• Write code that is understandable and extensible for other organizations and engineers to implement and reuse.
• Provide documentation that breaks down complex architecture or software concepts.
• Present ideas and concepts with clear communication in a way that helps others learn.
• Demonstrate both leadership and performance principles in alignment with our company mission.
• Engage respectfully to create an environment inclusive for diverse individuals and perspectives.
• Adaptability to turn obstacles into opportunities, embracing unforeseen circumstances or changing priorities.

Qualifications

• Strong communication skills and enthusiasm for engaging with a global community through pull requests, events, forums participation, and working groups.
• Produces clear, easy-to-follow documentation in pull request descriptions, GitHub issues, official documentation, etc.
• Effectively solves business problems, with minimal oversight, from technical discovery to community consensus to development to merging—and ultimately, community adoption.
• Understands and makes well-reasoned design decisions, considering tradeoffs and priorities. Considers community need and solicits community input as part of the decision-making process.
• Can reflect on community interactions and adjust behavior in order to create a welcoming and inclusive environment.
• Provides mentorship within team and community.
• Focus: TypeScript / React and/or Python / Django

Skills

• 7+ years of professional experience in either TypeScript / React or Python / Django, including building enterprise-grade applications.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field (Master’s preferred).
• Extensive front-end development experience with JavaScript/TypeScript libraries or frameworks (React preferred) for building dynamic and responsive web interfaces.
• Proven leadership in developing and scaling full-stack applications.
• Experience with modern infrastructure technologies, including AWS, Docker, and containerization.
• Expertise in authentication protocols like OAuth 2.0 and SAML, and experience in server-to-server integrations.
• Strong relational database experience with MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.
• Hands-on experience with test automation frameworks such as Playwright, React Testing Library, or pytest.
• Proficiency in Git/GitHub, pipenv, and related development tools.
• Experience integrating third-party platforms and building custom API endpoints.
• Familiarity with open-source platforms like Open edX is a plus.

Benefits

• 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
• 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
• Up to 12 weeks of parental leave

Pay

A reasonable estimate of the current range is $143,700.00 - $222,700.00.

Schedule

• Full-time, regular position (40 standard weekly hours)
• Occasional travel of up to 20%, including required attendance at designated company summits (typically one to two per year)
• Additional travel may include conferences, visits to company locations, and other business-related events as needed