Associate Software Engineer - Direct College Hire

Department:

Our Company Promise

We are committed to provide our Employees a stable work environment with equal opportunity for learning and personal growth. Creativity and innovation are encouraged for improving the effectiveness of Southwest Airlines. Above all, Employees will be provided the same concern, respect, and caring attitude within the organization that they are expected to share externally with every Southwest Customer.

Job Description:

Our Technology Direct College Hire Program is a pathway for recent college graduates and individuals who are early in their technology careers to begin their professional growth journey. Through this program, we aim to help you develop lasting relationships while creating a meaningful career through on-the-job mentorship, professional development, and networking opportunities. Candidates will be selected to join one of the following Teams:

• Data & Governance: As an Associate Software Engineer on the Data & Governance Team at Southwest Airlines, you'll ensure enterprise data is secure, compliant, and accessible for business and technology partners. You'll configure governance tools, automate processes, and create dashboards to provide visibility into compliance and usage. The role requires collaboration across teams to optimize data governance strategies and accelerate delivery while protecting sensitive information.
  • Preferred: Experience with AWS services such as Data Lake, Redshift, S3, Lambda, VPC, and API Gateway; familiarity with SaaS solutions.
  • Preferred: Knowledge of security/privacy scanning and access control configuration.
  • Preferred: Proficiency with Tableau and Alteryx for data analysis and reporting.
  • Preferred: Strong coding knowledge in Java, Python, and SQL.

• Technical Operation: As an Associate Software Engineer on the Technical Operations Team at Southwest Airlines, you'll build and modernizes software tools that support aircraft maintenance operations, moving legacy applications from on-prem to cloud-native solutions. The role is 100% software development with a full-stack focus-designing, coding, testing, deploying, and monitoring applications that enable predictive maintenance and operational efficiency. Candidates should be passionate about coding, adaptable to new technologies, and eager to work on AI-enabled systems in a highly collaborative environment.
  • Preferred: Experience with AWS, cloud-native development, and CI/CD pipelines (including one-click deployments).
  • Preferred: Proficiency in Java, Python, Node.js, and TypeScript.
  • Preferred: Familiarity with Angular (current) and React (future) front-end frameworks.
  • Preferred: Knowledge of Bedrock and AI-centric approaches for predictive solutions.

• Air Ops - Crew Scheduling & Application Support: As an Associate Software Engineer on the Crew Scheduling & Application Team at Southwest Airlines, you'll support and modernize applications that manage crew scheduling for Pilots and Flight Attendants, ensuring operational continuity and recovery. The role combines analytical skills with engineering capabilities to troubleshoot incidents, restore services, and contribute to planned development work. You should be comfortable working in a high-visibility production support environment, collaborating across agile Teams, and leveraging modern tools and technologies.
  • Preferred: Proficiency in Java, JavaScript, and Python.
  • Preferred: Experience with SQL and NoSQL databases (e.g., DynamoDB, MongoDB).
  • Preferred: Strong knowledge of Git (clone, commit, push, pull, branching) and GitLab workflows.
  • Preferred: Understanding of pipeline functionality, preferably using GitLab.
  • Preferred: Familiarity with AWS fundamentals.
  • Preferred: Experience with Spring Boot for REST API development and Kafka for messaging.

• Airline Products - Revenue Management: As an Associate Software Engineer on the Airline Products - Revenue Management Team at Southwest Airlines, you'll support revenue management technology by transforming legacy fare data into cloud-native solutions using AI. This role focuses on digesting and migrating data to AWS, ensuring code accuracy during transformation, and contributing to projects that optimize fare strategies and profitability. You should be passionate about software development, eager to learn AI-driven processes, and comfortable collaborating in an agile environment.
  • Preferred: Proficiency in Python and Java.
  • Preferred: Experience with AWS, including migration and development.
  • Preferred: Knowledge of coding, QA, regression testing, and familiarity with SAFe methodology.

• Crew Scheduling & Recovery: Join Southwest Airlines as an Associate Software Engineer on our Crew Scheduling & Recovery Team, where you'll design, code, test, and implement solutions that keep our operations running smoothly. You'll troubleshoot issues, contribute to Agile team discussions, and ensure high-quality code that meets business needs. With opportunities to learn new technologies and support critical scheduling systems, no two days look the same as you help keep Crews and flights moving efficiently.
  • Preferred: Knowledge of Crew Scheduling & Recovery processes.
  • Preferred: Proficiency in Java and Node.js.
  • Preferred: Front-End Development experience with React.
  • Preferred: Familiarity with AWS services and cloud development.
  • Preferred: Strong foundation in backend development and full-stack concepts.

• Integrated Data Foundation: As an Associate Software Engineer on the Integrated Data Foundation Team at Southwest Airlines, you'll build real-time and near-real-time data pipelines to support operational and analytical needs, leveraging AWS cloud-based solutions. The role focuses on backend development, data movement, and creating scalable solutions for data warehousing and analytics.
  • Preferred: Experience with AWS services, including Lambda, S3, Redshift, Glue, Iceberg, and Data Lake.
  • Preferred: Strong knowledge of ETL processes, Kafka, and real-time streaming.
  • Preferred: Proficiency in Python
  • Preferred: Understanding of cloud migration and exposure to generative AI solutions.

Additional Details

• This Dallas-based role is offered as a remote workplace position, which may require onsite presence/travel for training, meetings, conferences, etc. Outside of those required visits, the majority of your working time may be spent in an approved remote location within the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Applicants must reside in the Dallas-Fort Worth area by their first day of employment. Relocation assistance is not provided for this position.
• U.S. citizenship or current authorization to work in the U.S. required and no current or future work authorization sponsorship available.

We're committed to fair hiring practices and to making employment decisions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, military or veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other legally protected characteristics.

Responsibilities

• Apply knowledge and skills of software development and testing to solve a range of problems
• Leverage knowledge to inform technical and non-technical requirements to apply to Business domain fundamentals
• Maintain understanding of current technologies or programming practices through continuing education, reading, or participation in professional conferences, workshops, or groups
• Troubleshoot program and system malfunctions to restore normal functioning across environments, including production
• Evaluate code to ensure that it is valid, is properly structured, and meets industry standards
• Analyze user needs and software requirements to determine feasibility of design within time and cost constraints
• Contribute to Team-level technical discussion and decisions and identify opportunities for Team improvement
• Follow agile delivery processes to drive work and has a sense of urgency about getting work completed
• May perform other job duties as directed by Employee's Leaders

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Proficient knowledge of software development methodologies, practices, concepts, and technologies
• Ability to apply knowledge and skills of software development and testing to solve a range of problems
• Proficient knowledge of at least one required programming language
• Ability to communicate and negotiate with various Technology or partner Teams
• Ability to analyze large, complex, and vague Business or technical problems, articulating the problem or root cause, and translating the analysis into viable solution recommendations
• Ability to take on multiple assignments, whether administrative or project related, while maintaining a successful level of completion in all responsible work
• Ability to develop, present and effectively communicate ideas and strategies to a variety of audiences

Education

• Required: High School Diploma or GED
• Required: Bachelor's Degree in Business, Engineering, Computer Science, or Information Systems, or related field; or equivalent formal training

Experience

• Required: Entry level experience, developing skills and knowledge in software engineering

Licensing/Certification

• N/A

Physical Abilities

• Ability to perform work duties from [limited space work station/desk/office area] for extended periods of time
• Ability to communicate and interact with others in the English language to meet the demands of the job
• Ability to use a computer and other office productivity tools with sufficient speed and accuracy to meet the demands of the job

Other Qualifications

• Must maintain a well-groomed appearance per Company appearance standards as described in established guidelines
• Must be a U.S. citizen or have authorization to work in the United States as defined by the Immigration Reform Act of 1986
• Must be at least 18 years of age
• Must be able to comply with Company attendance standards as described in established guidelines

Pay & Benefits

• Competitive market salary from $89,450 - $99,400 per year* depending on qualifications and experience. For eligible Leadership and individual contributor roles, additional bonus opportunities are available and awarded at the discretion of the company.

Benefits you'll love

• Fly for free, as a privilege, on any open seat on all Southwest flights (your eligibledependents too)

• Southwest will help fund your 401(k) retirement savings with Companycontributions up to 9.3% of your eligible earnings**

• Potential for annualProfitSharingcontribution in the Southwest RetirementSavings Plan- when Southwest profits, you profit***

• Competitive health insurance for you and your eligible dependents (includingpets)

• Southwest offers health plan coverage options that start from the very first day ofemployment. You will have 30 days to select and enroll in your health plan withcoverage retroactively available to your first day of employment.

• Explore more Benefits you'll love:https://careers.southwestair.com/benefits

*Pay amount does not guarantee employment for any particular period of time.

**401(k) match contributions are subject to Retirement Savings Plan vesting scheduleand applicable IRS limits

***ProfitSharingcontributions are subject to Retirement Savings Plan vesting scheduleand are made at the discretion of the Company

Southwest Airlines is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
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