Principal Cloud Architect

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 a position of technical expertise, influence, and leadership in the technology realm. The position will be required to apply their expert knowledge to ensure best practices and well-engineered architecture across the department. They will also be a key stakeholder and initiator of major changes to processes, engineering practices, and system administration. This position will be required to work in a space of solving critical issues and initiatives across all of Ed Tech. It will require an extensive and deep understanding of cutting-edge practices and innovative approaches to problems. Principal Software Engineers are also tasked with establishing and maintaining a positive and productive culture based on the WGU Leadership Principles.
Job Profile Summary:
The Principal Cloud Architect role demands expertise, influence, and leadership in technology. They will ensure best practices and robust architecture across the department, drive significant changes in processes, engineering practices, and system administration, and address critical issues and initiatives in EdTech.
Their role demands a comprehensive understanding of cloud architecture, design principles, and the intricate details of implementing scalable, secure, and efficient cloud solutions. They must exhibit proficiency in evaluating and selecting appropriate cloud services, managing cloud resources effectively, and ensuring optimal performance of cloud-based systems. Their insights will drive the strategic direction of technology initiatives, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and industry trends.
Principal Cloud Architects will have an extensive and deep understanding of innovative practices and innovative approaches to problems.
Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

Demonstrates big picture thinking and can not only design but more importantly implement.
Approaches customer issues strategically, understanding different business requirements and challenges with implementations.
Participates in new systems architectural reviews from a governance perspective and provides analysis feedback in post deployment critiques.
Plans and manages hardware platform design, such as identifying components, standardized infrastructure components, serviceability, and creating systems solutions and frameworks.
Performs analysis of systems and identifies problem areas, identifies ways to enhance existing systems, and develops viable solutions.
Develops and trains Engineers on DevOps, AiDevOps, and CI/CD methodologies and tools for automated infrastructure code test, integration, deployment, and assurance.
Provides technical support to education segment product teams for various activities such as with testing, validation, sustaining, value engineering, and DevOps required for the products we support.
Publishes white papers, how-to articles, training materials, and presents at our internal summits annually.
Ensures our systems are built on HA (High Availability) Architecture that provides native Backup/DR and Active/Active support within our defined RTO/RPO requirements.
Mentors one or more Associate Level Engineers within our Platform Services group and motivates them to produce innovative solutions to the University’s architectural obstacles.
Performs other job-related duties as assigned.
Knowledge, Skill and Abilities:

Extensive hands-on experience engineering, architecting, and administering in a multi-Cloud (AWS, Azure, OCI) environment using virtualized operating systems
Deep knowledge of utilizing GenAI/AgenticAI tooling to automate and expedite engineering delivery
Experience with highly available and fault-tolerant enterprise software deployments.
Expertise in infrastructure automation through DevOps scripting (e.g. shell, Python, Node, Ruby, Powershell) and programming (Java, Node.js).
Strong practical Linux and Windows-based systems administration skills in a Cloud (AWS, Azure) or Virtualized environment.
Experience leading cloud operations, including assurance, monitoring, alerting, and notifications.
Understanding of DevOps, Scrum, and ITIL concepts.
Understanding of GitFlow or Trunking methodologies and Continuous Integration with Travis or Jenkins.
Experience using Configuration Management Tools such as Chef and SaltStack.
Experience using observability tooling like Dynatrace, Prometheus/Grafana, CloudWatch, or New Relic
Experience and ability to work directly with customers creating cloud infrastructure solutions, leading conversations with key business stakeholders reviewing pros and cons, risks, and best practices.
Ability to lead the design, development, and deployment of business software at scale or current hands-on technology infrastructure, network, compute, storage, and virtualization experience.
Effective communication and documentation skills.
Self-starter with a drive to work autonomously as a member of a collaborative team.
Strong service-oriented focus with a customer service attitude.
Strong analytical skills.
Job Qualifications:
Minimum Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree in information technology or related field or equivalent experience.
4 years of experience using fundamental AWS services: VPC, IAM, LB, RDS, DynamoDB, Route53, and S3
4 years focusing on container management using Kubernetes at enterprise scale.
3 years of combined experience in CI/CD pipelines using Octopus, Jenkins, and Argo CD.
3 years of experience in Configuration Management using CloudFormation, Ansible, Terraform, Chef, and Puppet.
3 years of experience using automation tools such as, Terraform, Ansible, and CloudFormation.
3 years of experience using governance tools such as AWS Config, Inspector, and Lambda.
AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional or Solutions Architect Professional.
Certified Kubernetes Administrator and/or Certified Kubernetes Application Developer
Expertise with the standard software development life cycle (SDLC) and Agile/iterative methodologies.
Preferred Qualifications:

Strong experience with distance education and distance learning students.
Expertise in at least one programming language.
Expertise in cloud spend optimizations and serverless technology such as AWS Lambda
Expertise with the integration of cloud services with on-premises technologies from Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, HP, SAP, etc.
Expertise with compliance and risk management requirements related to PII, PCI, SOX, HIPAA, FTI, and FERPA
Extensive expertise in JSON and YAML based configuration
Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist
Physical Requirements:

Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds at times.
Job Description Disclaimer: This position description provides the major duties/responsibilities, requirements and working conditions for the position. It is intended to be an accurate reflection of the current position, however management reserves the right to revise or change as necessary to meet organizational needs. Other responsibilities may be assigned when circumstances require.
Position & Application Details
Full-Time Regular Positions (classified as regular and working 40 standard weekly hours): This is a full-time, regular position (classified for 40 standard weekly hours) that is eligible for bonuses; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savings plan; wellbeing program; discounted WGU tuition; and flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual, flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual, 11 paid holidays, and other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave.
How to Apply: If interested, an application will need to be submitted online. Internal WGU employees will need to apply through the internal job board in Workday.
Additional Information
Disclaimer: The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. It’s not all-inclusive.
Accommodations: Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process should contact our Talent Acquisition team at recruiting@wgu.edu.
Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic as required by law.