In digital working life, the individual must take increasingly more responsibility for constructing their way forward. It is up to the individual, in general, to seek knowledge and to learn - to learn for work and life (Eteläpelto, Vähäsantanen, Hökkä, & Paloniemi, 2013; Roumbanis Viberg, Forslund Frykedal, & Hashemi Sofkova, 2019). The aim of this study was to investigate professional agency in the context of higher education as manifested in Swedish teacher educators’ perceptions regarding their working life in a digital pre-Covid society, and to seek to obtain insights on salient factors influencing professional agency and identity. Eighteen semi-structured interviews with teacher educators working at four different universities were analyzed using directed content analysis.The theoretical perspective taken is a subject-centered socio-cultural approach to professional agency (Eteläpelto et al., 2013). This is an approach in which the social context (the socio-cultural conditions) and individuals’ agency (professional subjects) are mutually constitutive but analytically separate. Agency is something that is exercised, and in this study professional agency was explored in the work context, in teaching practice and in relation to professional identity. The results of this study not only confirm the complexity of being a professional TE in these times of digitalization, but more importantly demonstrate a paradox in the TEs perceived high agency that both enables and hinders self-development (the individual) as well as the development of the working community, the organization, and the university. The TEs feel they have professional autonomy and space, which in this study gave rise to exercising agency mainly to keep their current teacher identity and manage their practice. The study implies that considerations and understandings of the TE’s autonomy and perceived agency are significant for the professional and work development.