Senior Software Engineer - Salesforce

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 410 Pay Range: $143,700.00 - $222,700.00 Job Description We're looking for a Senior Software Engineer - Salesforce to join the Student Lifecycle Services engineering team at WGU. You'll work on a large, complex Salesforce org that directly supports the student journey — from enrollment through graduation. This isn't a simple CRM. It's an enterprise platform with 300+ flows, 2000+ Apex classes, deep integrations with Banner (SIS), ServiceNow, Kafka, and other university systems, and serves thousands of internal users daily. You'll build and maintain the automation, integrations, and platform capabilities that enable WGU to serve 150,000+ students. The work matters — every flow you build, every integration you design, every performance problem you solve has a direct line to whether a student enrolls on time, gets their financial aid processed, or connects with their mentor. We use Copado for CI/CD, follow a trigger framework pattern, and deploy through a structured promotion pipeline. We value code that's readable, testable, and built with the next engineer in mind. The Salesforce engineering team operates within WGU's broader Ed Tech Engineering organization. We work closely with Product, Marketing, Operations, Enrollment, and Student Services stakeholders. The team practices Agile (Scrum).   This is a full-time, in-office position requiring 5 days per week in Salt Lake City , designed to foster the collaboration and connection that fuel our best work. ​ What You'll Do   Design systems that span multiple Salesforce capabilities and external systems —   expertise in when and how to deploy   Platform Events, CDC, async Apex, and integration callouts , and how these can   work together as a coherent architecture   Make architectural decisions for the portfolio — not just your team's code, but how it fits with everything else   Lead technical design for complex cross-system features (Salesforce ,   Banne r,   ServiceNow ,   Kafka)   Solve the hardest platform problems — the ones that cross transaction boundaries, involve multiple async handoffs, or require understanding the full order of execution   Mentor SE I and SE II engineers through design guidance, architecture reviews, and pairing on complex problems   Drive technical direction for Salesforce development practices (async patterns, integration standards, testing strategy)   Own and reduce technical debt — identify what needs to change, build the case, and execute the plan   Partner with engineering leadership on platform strategy (migration plans, org health, governance limit forecasting)   Represent the technical perspective to non-technical stakeholders (Product, Operations, Academic leadership)   Design CI/CD improvements and release strategy for the portfolio   What You Bring   6+ years of software development experience, with at least 3 years on the Salesforce platform ​ Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field Experience designing multi-system integrations (not just building them — designing the approach, error handling strategy, and data reconciliation pattern)   Mastery of async Apex patterns — you choose between Batch, Queueable, Platform Events, and CDC based on the problem, not habit   Deep understanding of Salesforce order of execution and how it impacts complex automation   Track record of solving problems that span multiple systems and nobody else could figure out   Experience mentoring engineers and elevating team capability   Ability to communicate technical architecture to both engineers and non-technical leadership   Experience with CI/CD pipeline design   and management   (Copado or equivalent)   Preferred:   Salesforce Platform Developer II certification   One or more Architect-level certifications (Integration Architect, Data Architect, Application Architect)   Experience with Copado at the pipeline/strategy level (not just as a user)   Experience with Kafka or event streaming platforms   Experience in higher education technology (SIS integration, FERPA-aware systems)   Experience with large-scale Salesforce orgs (complex sharing models, 100+ objects, 300+ automation components)   Experience migrating legacy automation (Process Builder/Workflow Rules → Flow/Apex) What Success Looks Like (First 6 Months)   Leading the technical design for at least one cross-system feature   Identifying and driving resolution of a systemic platform issue (performance, reliability, or architectural)   Becoming the go-to person for hard problems that cross system boundaries   Establishing or improving at least one technical stand