The Distinguished Software Engineer is a hands-on leadership position, driving the foundational software architecture for WGU. This position leads the efforts of our Principal and Senior Principal Software Engineers, partnering with them and business leaders to driving a balance between business needs and leading-edge software engineering practices. They are responsible for balancing priorities between security, performance, manageability, quality, consistency, student experience, and general business needs. They are thought-leaders and leaders in innovating new practices in engineering; including researching, testing, and implementing solutions to meet WGU’s current and future needs. They are responsible for setting the tone for coding standards and quality. This position will be required to work in a space of solving critical issues and initiatives across multiple departments. It will require an extensive and deep understanding of cutting-edge practices and innovative approaches to problems. Distinguished Software Engineers are also tasked with establishing and maintaining a positive and productive culture based on the WGU Leadership Principles.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

• Pioneer new technological approaches to the online, higher-education realm

• Provide innovative and new approaches to software architecture within the online-education industry; lead and participate in the marketing of those efforts within external communities

• Provide Solution Architecture vision to define and ensure application, data and infrastructure architecture is achieved cohesively

• Partner with business leaders and the Product Management team in planning and the careful commitment to technology deliverables within WGU’s overall planning efforts

• Lead the efforts and activities of the Principal and Senior Principal Software Engineering teams

• Coordinate with executive team on strategy and long-term road map for cutting-edge applications and services to increase and improve the student experience

• Help achieve higher levels of maturity and delivery of business value via improved communication across the idea intake process

• Develop and groom the idea and product prioritization process and foster a culture of accountability for on time product delivery, product quality, cost and operations

• Foster and utilize innovative approaches to problems and functionality that focuses on students and all key stakeholders

• Own technologies focusing on student success and scalability while supporting student-focused user experience

• Mentor/advise engineering teams on new languages and technologies; act as a resident expert when needed

• Directly intake ideas originating from WGU leadership and manage those relationships

• Provide leadership and direction for the software engineering group across the University.

• Clearly communicate the product strategy to the executive team exposing risks and tradeoffs.

• Act as a key stakeholder in the evaluation of potential technologies for use within the enterprise.

• Evaluate new tools and technologies, create prototypes and proofs of concept, and share your result with your peers

• Work with internal customers to gather business processes and project requirements

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, information technology, or related field

• 10+ years of Enterprise Technical Experience
• Hands-on experience in Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's degree or higher in related field

• Technical Experience in any of the following: GIT, Oracle, SQL, Spring, Spring boot, Java, Angular 2 or later and Amazon web services.