Principal Cloud Engineer

About WGU

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.

Salary Range

• Grade: Technical 412
• Pay Range: $157,000.00 – $243,400.00

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 provided above.

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.

Western Governors University (WGU) is reimagining higher education through technology and innovation. We’re seeking a Principal Cloud Engineer to help design and build the next generation of cloud infrastructure that powers accessible, high‑quality education for hundreds of thousands of students nationwide. This is a hands‑on engineering and leadership role — ideal for someone who can both architect and implement cloud‑native solutions, drive Kubernetes platform innovation, and lead DevOps automation at scale.

What You’ll Do (Responsibilities)

• Design, build, and optimize AWS‑based infrastructure for scalability, performance, and reliability.
• Serve as WGU’s Kubernetes expert, leading cluster design, deployment automation, monitoring, and continuous improvement.
• Implement and manage Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and CI/CD pipelines using tools like Terraform, Ansible, and CloudFormation.
• Define and maintain High Availability (HA) and Disaster Recovery (DR) strategies to meet RTO/RPO targets.
• Partner with engineering, product, and architecture teams to ensure cloud infrastructure supports academic and business objectives.
• Automate provisioning, monitoring, and deployments to accelerate delivery and reduce operational overhead.
• Mentor engineers and promote DevOps, security, and cloud architecture best practices across teams.

What You Bring (Qualifications)

• Expert‑level hands‑on experience with AWS services and distributed systems design.
• Deep Kubernetes expertise, including cluster configuration, scaling, networking, and observability.
• Strong proficiency with automation and configuration management tools such as Terraform, Ansible, and CloudFormation.
• Scripting and programming skills in Python, Bash, or Node.js.
• Solid knowledge of cloud networking, security, and monitoring.
• Experience with observability tools like CloudWatch, New Relic, or Prometheus.
• Proven success implementing CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure automation at scale.
• Excellent communication, documentation, and collaboration skills.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology or related field (or equivalent relevant experience).
• AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional and AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional (both required).
• 6+ years of experience managing production cloud or IT workloads.
• 3+ years of hands‑on experience with core AWS services (VPC, IAM, EC2, ELB, RDS, Route53, S3).
• 3+ years of experience building CI/CD pipelines using CodeBuild, CodePipeline, and/or CodeDeploy.
• 3+ years of experience automating infrastructure with Terraform, Ansible, and CloudFormation.
• 3+ years using AWS governance and compliance tools such as Config, Inspector, and Lambda.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience integrating AWS with on‑prem or hybrid enterprise technologies.
• Expertise with serverless computing (Lambda, Step Functions) and cloud cost optimization.
• Familiarity with compliance frameworks (HIPAA, FERPA, PCI, SOX).
• JSON/YAML fluency and API integration experience.
• Experience mentoring engineers and leading cross‑functional technical initiatives.

Why Join WGU

At WGU, you’ll help shape the future of education through cloud innovation. You’ll join a mission‑driven team that values collaboration, autonomy, and purpose — working on systems that truly make a difference in learners’ lives.

#LI-GB1

Position & Application Details (Benefits)

• Full‑Time Regular Position (classified as regular and working 40 standard weekly hours)
• 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: 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.

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.

In 1997, a coalition of 19 U.S. governors founded Western Governors University with a singular vision: to make higher education more accessible by offering full degree programs online. Starting small, we quickly expanded. Today, we’re one of the largest accredited online universities in the U.S.

Links to learn more:

• Enrollment Counselor
• Evaluator
• Field Experience Roles (Part‑time & Intermittent)
• Program Mentor
• Service Desk Technician
• Mexico