Senior Software Engineer (AI-First, Full-Stack, AWS, Kubernetes)

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 410Pay Range: $140,200.00 - $217,200.00Job Description Role OverviewWe are seeking a Senior Software Engineer who thrives in ambiguous problem spaces and excels at technical research, discovery, and analysis. This role requires strong end‑to‑end engineering skills across frontend and backend systems, along with hands‑on experience designing and delivering AI‑powered applications using Large Language Models (LLMs) deployed on AWS and Kubernetes.In this role, you will lead technical discovery efforts, explore emerging approaches, and translate loosely defined problems into scalable, production‑ready solutions. You will work closely with product, design, and engineering partners to shape user‑facing experiences and cloud‑native, containerized platform capabilities.This is a hands‑on senior individual contributor role with strong ownership of architecture, delivery, and mentoring.What You’ll DoTechnical Discovery & ResearchLead research and discovery for complex, ambiguous problem spaces through architectural spikes, prototypes, and proof‑of‑conceptsEvaluate new technologies, AWS services, Kubernetes patterns, and AI capabilitiesPerform build‑vs‑buy and managed‑service vs. self‑managed tradeoff analysesTranslate findings into clear architectural direction and implementation plansAI & Large Language ModelsDesign, implement, and evaluate AI‑powered features using Large Language ModelsApply prompt engineering, retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG), and agent‑based workflowsDesign AI systems that account for latency, cost, reliability, observability, and safetyDeploy AI services in containerized environments and integrate them with cloud‑native infrastructureStay current with applied AI/LLM advancements and production best practicesFull‑Stack EngineeringOwn features end‑to‑end, from frontend experiences to backend services and data layersBuild modern, responsive user interfaces using Angular, or similar frameworksDesign and implement scalable backend services and APIsEnsure solutions meet high standards for performance, reliability, security, and maintainabilityAWS, Kubernetes & Cloud‑Native ArchitectureDesign, deploy, and operate cloud‑native systems on AWS using KubernetesBuild and operate containerized workloads using Docker and Kubernetes (EKS or equivalent)Design Kubernetes deployments, services, ingress, autoscaling, and resource management strategiesImplement secure, highly available architectures using AWS and Kubernetes best practicesApply Infrastructure as Code using tools such as Terraform and HelmMonitor, troubleshoot, and optimize distributed systems using cloud and Kubernetes observability toolsDevOps & ReliabilityDesign and maintain CI/CD pipelines that build, test, and deploy containerized applicationsSupport zero‑downtime deployments and safe rollout strategies (e.g., blue/green, canary)Participate in on‑call rotations and incident response for production systemsDrive improvements in reliability, scalability, and developer experienceLeadership & CollaborationProvide technical leadership on projects and guide architectural decisionsMentor engineers through design reviews, code reviews, and hands‑on collaborationPartner with product managers and designers to align technical solutions with user needsCommunicate clearly about technical tradeoffs, risks, and system behaviorWhat We’re Looking ForRequired Qualifications6+ years of professional software engineering experienceBachelor's Degree - equivalent relevant experience performing the essential functions of this job may substitute for education degree requirementsStrong proficiency in a modern backend language (e.g., Java, Kotlin, Python, or similar)Strong frontend experience with Angular, or equivalent frameworksSignificant experience building and operating production systems on AWSHands‑on experience deploying and managing applications on KubernetesProven ability to work in ambiguous problem spaces and drive clarity via research and experimentationExperience building or integrating AI‑powered features using Large Language ModelsKubernetes & Cloud‑Native ExperienceExperience with Kubernetes fundamentals: pods, deployments, services, ingress, and autoscalingExperience running production workloads on EKS or comparable Kubernetes platformsFamiliarity with container security, resource optimization, and operational best practicesExperience debugging and operating distributed systems in containerized environmentsAI & Discovery ExperienceExperience with prompt design, evaluation, and iterative experimentationFamiliarity with RAG architectures, tool‑using agents, or workflow orchestrationAbility to reason critically about AI behavior rather than treating models as black boxesPreferred Q