Senior Software Engineer | Developer

Position: Senior Software Engineer | Developer Experience
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:
Technical 410

Pay Range: $ - $Job Description At Western Governors University, we are investing heavily in modern engineering platforms and internal tooling that improve how software is built, tested, deployed, and operated. We’re seeking a highly skilled Senior Backend-Focused Full Stack Software Engineer to help design and scale the internal systems, developer platforms, and automation that power our engineering organization.

This role is ideal for an engineer who enjoys building backend systems and APIs—but is especially energized by improving developer experience, internal tooling, and platform capabilities. You’ll work across Java and Python backend services while partnering closely with platform engineers, Dev Ops, and product teams to streamline the software delivery lifecycle.

You will help shape the internal “paved roads” that engineering teams rely on: CI/CD automation, service scaffolding, developer portals, observability systems, internal APIs, and shared platform services. Your work will directly improve engineering velocity, reliability, and consistency across the organization.

What You’ll DoDesign, build, and maintain scalable backend services that power internal developer platforms and tooling

Develop APIs, automation services, and platform components using Java and Python Improve and evolve internal developer experience (Dev Ex) systems, including build, test, and deployment pipelines

Build and maintain internal tooling for service provisioning, environment management, and release automation

Partner with Dev Ops and platform teams to enhance CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure automation

Develop internal APIs and service frameworks that enable teams to build and ship software faster

Improve observability, logging, tracing, and monitoring systems for engineering teams

Collaborate with frontend engineers working in Angular and Flutter on internal dashboards and tooling interfaces

Reduce operational friction by identifying bottlenecks in the SDLC and building scalable solutions

Lead technical design discussions for platform architecture and internal systems

Mentor engineers and help drive best practices in Dev Ex, automation, and platform engineering

Support and improve reliability of internal systems used by engineering teams across the organization

Required Qualifications 5+ years of professional software engineering experience

Strong backend development experience with Java and Python Experience building internal tools, platforms, or developer-facing systems

Experience with Spring Boot, FastAPI, Flask, Django, or similar frameworks

Solid understanding of distributed systems and service-oriented architecture

Experience building APIs and automation services at scale

Familiarity with frontend integration using Angular and Type Script Experience  with CI/CD systems and software delivery pipelines

Strong understanding of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP)

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