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. We welcome emerging Technology professionals to our upcoming January, June, or August 2026 cohorts.   

All of Southwest’s People come together to deliver on our Purpose; Connecting People to what’s important in their lives through friendly, reliable, and low-cost air travel. These Associate Software Engineers deliver on our Purpose by designing, coding, testing, documenting, and implementing well-integrated application systems in accordance with Customer requirements and standards. These roles are involved in an agile environment with continuous deployment to ensure technology operates as expected. Each Associate Software Engineer and the Team(s) they support play a vital role in supporting Southwest’s mission, and all roles offer opportunities to grow your technical skills while contributing to meaningful, high-impact work. We’re hiring for multiple Associate Software Engineer roles across several Teams, each supporting a unique area of our business:

• Digital & Customer: Supports Southwest’s ability to attract, engage, and retain Customers throughout their travel journey. This Team builds and enhances digital experiences that make travel seamless and enjoyable.

• Air Operations: Partners with Operations Customers, including Network Operations Control (NOC) and Crew Scheduling, to deliver high-quality technical solutions that enable a world-class airline operation.

• Technical & Ground Operations: Collaborates with Tech Ops and Ground Ops to modernize operational processes and products. This Team supports Southwest Turn capabilities, strategic cross-departmental initiatives, and systems that ensure a safe, secure, and compliant operation.

• People & Finance: Delivers technology solutions that empower Southwest’s internal departments, including Human Resources and Finance, to support our People and business operations effectively.

• Data & Architecture: Provides enterprise cloud, architecture, and data capabilities that enable scalable, secure, and data-driven decision-making across the organization.

Additional details

• Please forward any questions regarding this role to TechnologyRecruitingInformation@wnco.com.

• This role allows for voluntary remote work for the majority of your working time within the Dallas-Fort Worth area, with occasional on-site presence at our Corporate Campus for training, meetings, and business needs. This role may also require limited travel for business purposes. 

• U.S. citizenship or current authorization to work in the U.S. required and no current or future work authorization sponsorship available. 

• Preferred experience, knowledge, and skills will vary per role and may include, but are not limited to:

• Preferred knowledge and/or experience with AWS Fundamentals, including Lambda, Fargate, DynamoDB, and/or SQS

• Preferred skills with Java Programming, including OOP principles and Java 8+ features (e.g. Streams, Lambda Expressions)

• Preferred knowledge of Salesforce

• Preferred JavaScript Programmi