Additional Information
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 412
Pay Range: $175,900.00 - $272,600.00
Job Description
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 Duties
Partner with engineering and product leadership to define technical strategy and delivery roadmaps that improve the student experience at scale
Build and ship production-grade software while establishing engineering standards others follow
Lead Agile delivery practices that balance rigorous planning with rapid execution and predictable outcomes
Design and evolve cloud-native architectures with strong emphasis on scalability, observability, reliability, security, and operational supportability
Evaluate technical decisions through a build, buy, borrow, or bot lens with focus on speed-to-value, sustainability, and fiscal responsibility
Mentor engineers on modern software engineering practices, AI-assisted development workflows, and emerging technologies
Prototype new tools, frameworks, and architectural patterns through proof-of-value initiatives
Drive engineering excellence across multiple teams by establishing repeatable delivery patterns and operational standards
Partner closely with infrastructure, cloud, security, architecture, and product teams as a peer technical leader
Identify architectural inefficiencies and technical debt, proposing practical and cost-effective solutions grounded in data
Communicate technical strategy, dependencies, tradeoffs, and risks clearly to executive leadership
Support operational readiness, incident response, and day-2 supportability across enterprise systems
Lead through accountability, urgency, ownership, and attention to detail
Participate in critical operational events and provide leadership during high-impact incidents when needed
Wgu · Salt Lake City, UT