Senior Manager, SWE Student Life Cycle Products

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:
Management Technical 715

Pay Range: $ - $

The Senior Manager, Software Engineer role leads engineers on product development and integration teams. They will provide vision, training, technical standards, and direction to engineers who are required to know multiple languages for front-end, back-end, QA and cloud engineering responsibilities. They will work closely with leadership to strengthen a culture of collaboration and innovation within highly effective teams. They will contribute to cross-functional teams as a lead engineer mentoring or pairing with team members in technical and development tasks.

Western Governors University is revolutionizing higher education by making quality degrees accessible to working adults nationwide. As a Software Engineering Manager, you'll lead the teams building the platforms that empower over 150,000 students to change their lives through education.

You’ll lead a high-performing engineering team that directly impacts how students learn, how faculty teach, and how WGU scales its mission. This isn't about maintaining legacy systems—it's about architecting the future of competency-based education technology.

• Put students first in every decision—deliver projects on time and on budget while maintaining operational excellence (low incident rates, fast recovery times)
• Build and inspire a team of 6-12 talented engineers, providing training, technical standards, and meaningful career guidance through 1:1s and performance management
• Own the full people lifecycle—hiring decisions, performance reviews, salary recommendations, corrective and reinforcing feedback, and when necessary, difficult personnel decisions
• Develop your people—grow engineers from mid-level to senior, understand development paths, and accurately convey both accomplishments and areas for growth

• Establish technical vision by collaborating with leadership, designers, and subject matter experts to analyze trade-offs between usability and performance
• Ensure 24x7 operational stability—defect-free releases, accessibility (ADA compliance), scalability, and secure handling of student data in compliance with applicable laws
• Improve processes at the team level—challenge the status quo, identify beneficial innovations, and share learnings across the organization
• Navigate complexity—from implementation plans to risk mitigation, technical debt to quality drivers

• Plan and execute with precision—track progress at the task/team level, maintain project plans within team capabilities, and elevate with data when needed
• Manage resources strategically—ensure the right skill sets are on your team and coordinate releases across multiple areas
• Identify and mitigate risks early—escalate to the right people at the right time with clear communication and reasonable…