Software Developer IV for Information Services

About this role

A Software Developer is responsible for contributing to the design, development, and maintenance of high-quality software solutions. This role supports a range of diverse and technically challenging projects. Opportunities and responsibilities will expand over time, with increasing technical scope and ownership. Collaboration with cross-functional teams is expected to ensure effective delivery and alignment with business goals.ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

This Software Developer IV position will serve as the Student Information Services (SIS) Team Lead within IT Development. This individual will lead a dedicated development team responsible for delivering and supporting strategic SIS initiatives that will advance the university’s long-term student systems roadmap. Anticipated areas of focus include Identity Management (IDM) and core SIS application capabilities.

• Lead the design, development, and delivery of Liberty’s SIS and related product suite, making key technical decisions that ensure scalable, secure, maintainable, and high-quality solutions aligned with business and architectural goals.

• Collaborate with Tech Leads, Project Managers, and cross-functional stakeholders to establish technical direction, align priorities, shape long-term strategy, and ensure timely delivery of high-impact outcomes.

• Serve as the primary technical authority for the team, owning architectural governance, code quality, testing standards, technical risk management, compliance, security, and development best practices.

• Drive innovation by evaluating, recommending, and implementing emerging technologies, methodologies, and development approaches that improve team effectiveness and product quality.

• Lead the structure and evolution of complex systems, codebases, and development workflows, balancing priorities, reducing technical debt, mitigating risk, and enabling sustainable team productivity.

• Communicate technical vision, strategy, tradeoffs, and progress effectively to executives, stakeholders, and non-technical audiences while serving as a trusted liaison across teams and leadership.

• Develop technical talent and organizational capability by mentoring team members, supporting training and personnel initiatives, resolving technical challenges, and partnering with leadership to shape department direction and engineering culture.

• Ensure appropriate team coverage is available to investigate and respond to incidents, including potential High or Critical incidents that are reported outside normal business hours, using a coverage approach appropriate for the team and its supported products. Take ownership of deliverables for projects and requests, and high-impact incidents, working with the team to resolve technical challenges swiftly, minimizing disruption.

• Adhere to Liberty University policies, representing the University in an exemplary and professional manner.

• Work effectively as a team member, embracing and fostering LU’s Christian model and Mission – Training Champions for Christ.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES
May supervise a team of 3 or more developers.

QUALIFICATIONS AND CREDENTIALS
Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science or related field is required.

• 8+ years of experience in software development, with a deep understanding of architecture and design patterns, is required.

• Architectural Knowledge: Expertise in software architecture and design principles, including microservices and service-oriented architecture (SOA).

• Technology Stack: Comprehensive knowledge of multiple programming languages, frameworks, and tools across the full stack.

• Performance Optimization: Ability to analyze and optimize application performance at all levels (front-end, back-end, and database).

• Leadership and Influence: Proven ability to lead teams, manage complex projects, and drive technology adoption.

• Cloud Architecture: Experience designing and implementing solutions in containerized environments.

• System Design: Strong skills in designing scalable and maintainable systems and understanding design patterns.

• Advanced Testing Skills: Proficiency in unit, integration, and end-to-end testing frameworks.

ABILITIES AND COMPETENCIES ESSENTIAL TO THE FUNCTION OF THE JOB
Communication and Comprehension

• Ability to communicate clearly and professionally, both verbally and in writing.

• Proficiency in understanding, speaking, reading, and writing English to support professional correspondence and collaboration.

• Strong sense of ownership and personal accountability for technical outcomes.

• Strong communicator who can explain technical decisions clearly and build alignment across developers, technical teams, and leadership.

• Collaborative leader who can mentor developers, share knowledge, establish standards, and raise the technical capability of the team.

• Able to balance technical excellence with practical delivery and make appropriate decisions when requirements, priorities, or constraints evolve.

• Comfortable establishing patterns and standards for a new product and team rather than inheriting a fully defined technical environment.

• Able to work effectively across teams and departments on shared architecture, APIs, integrations, security, data, testing, and deployment concerns.

• Adaptable and comfortable operating in a large, complex, multi-year effort where the solution will evolve as we learn.

Problem Solving

• Able to think beyond individual features and make sound architectural decisions with long-term maintainability in mind.

• Strong analytical and critical-thinking skills; comfortable challenging assumptions, evaluating trade-offs, and driving technical decisions toward resolution.

• Able to design and guide scalable, reliable, secure, and high-quality solutions across complex systems.

Physical and Sensory Abilities

• Frequently required to perform desk-based work, including computer use and data…