Secure Every Identity, from AI to Human
Identity is the key to unlocking the potential of AI. Okta secures AI by building the trusted, neutral infrastructure that enables organizations to safely embrace this new era. This work requires a relentless drive to solve complex challenges with real-world stakes. We are looking for builders and owners who operate with speed and urgency and execute with excellence.
This is an opportunity to do career-defining work. We're all in on this mission. If you are too, let's talk.
The PAM Team
Ever wonder how large organizations make sure the right people can access their most critical systems? That's the problem the Okta Privileged Access Management (PAM) team solves.
Our solution controls who can reach sensitive servers, databases and cloud resources and grants access only when it's needed. It is the security layer between people (and non-human-identities) and the systems they need to do their jobs.
The Staff Backend Engineer Opportunity
We are seeking a world-class Staff Engineer to help us architect and build the high-performance core of our non-human identity platform.
Your work, in close collaboration with our principal engineers and architects, will be the foundation of our strategy for managing privileged access in the modern enterprise. If you are a systems programmer who thrives on influencing the design of high-performance, concurrent, and resilient security software, this is the role for you.
What you’ll be doing
- Contribute to Core Architecture: Partner with principal engineers and architects to design and implement a low-latency, high-throughput secrets engine for non-human identities
- Solve for Massive Scale: Write highly concurrent, performance-critical code capable of handling millions of machine-to-machine authentication and authorization requests
- Shape Technical Strategy: Play a key role in defining the long-term technical roadmap for scalability and performance, ensuring our platform can meet the demands of the largest enterprises
- Mentor and Elevate: As a senior engineer on the team, you will work with junior engineers to help them advance their SDLC expertise.
- On-Call: Participate in the rotational on-call activities with SRE and product development team
What you’ll bring to the role
- Required Experience:
- 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a heavy focus on backend or systems-level development
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, or equivalent practical experience
- Core Technical Expertise:
- Deep, hands-on expertise in multi-platform Go development and building high-performance, concurrent applications
- Experience designing or operating distributed systems
- Experience with secure systems (authn/authz, encryption, TLS, token handling, PKI, CAs, diagnosing TLS issues)
- Deep expertise in distributed storage systems, with a focus on replication, backup, and restore, and data management. (Postgres, etc.)
- Direct experience designing, building, or contributing to a secrets management, service mesh, or machine identity platform
- Expert-level at ergonomic API design (gRPC/openAPI), and building for reliability at scale
- Deep knowledge of cloud-native infrastructure
And extra credit if you have experience in any of the following!
- Experience at a leading Cybersecurity or Infrastructure-as-Code company
- Contributions to open-source projects in the identity, security, or infrastructure space
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#LI-Hybrid
#BB-1
Below is the annual base salary range for candidates located in San Francisco Bay Area. Your actual base salary will depend on factors such as your skills, qualifications, experience, and work location. In addition, Okta offers equity (where applicable), bonus, and benefits, including health, dental and vision insurance, 401(k), flexible spending account, and paid leave (including PTO and parental leave) in accordance with our applicable plans and policies. To learn more about our Total Rewards program please visit: https://rewards.okta.com/us.
The Okta Experience
- Supporting Your Well-Being
- Driving Social Impact
- Developing Talent and Fostering Connection + Community
We are intentional about connection. Our global community, spanning over 20 offices worldwide, is united by a drive to innovate. Your journey begins with an immersive, in-person onboarding experience designed to accelerate your impact and connect you to our mission and team from day one.
Okta is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ancestry, marital status, age, physical or mental disability, or status as a protected veteran. We also consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and convictions records, consistent with applicable laws.
If reasonable accommodation is needed to complete any part of the job application, interview process, or onboarding please use this Form to request an accommodation.
Notice for New York City Applicants & Employees: Okta may use Automated Employment Decision Tools (AEDT), as defined by New York City Local Law 144, that use artificial intelligence, machine learning, or other automated processes to assist in our recruitment and hiring process. In accordance with NYC Local Law 144, if you are an applicant or employee residing in New York City, please click here to view our full NYC AEDT Notice.
Okta is committed to complying with applicable data privacy and security laws and regulations. For more information, please see our Personnel and Job Candidate Privacy Notice at https://www.okta.com/legal/personnel-policy/.
Skills Required
- 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, focusing on backend or systems-level development
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience
- Hands-on expertise in multi-platform Go development and building high-performance applications
- Experience designing or operating distributed systems
- Experience with secure systems including authentication, authorization, encryption, and token handling
- Experience with distributed storage systems like Postgres focusing on replication and data management
- Direct experience designing or contributing to a secrets management or machine identity platform
- Expert-level at ergonomic API design and building for reliability at scale
- Deep knowledge of cloud-native infrastructure
Okta Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Okta and has not been reviewed or approved by Okta.
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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage spans medical, dental, vision, mental-health support, and income protection, complemented by preventive care options and wellness resources. These elements indicate robust coverage for both routine needs and more complex situations.
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Parental & Family Support — Policies include paid parental leave, adoption and surrogacy assistance, and fertility and family‑building benefits. Caregiving resources and flexible arrangements help employees navigate family responsibilities.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Flexible or unlimited PTO, separate sick time, paid holidays, and a company Wellbeing Week provide multiple avenues for time away. This breadth supports rest, recovery, and work‑life balance.
Okta Insights
What We Do
Okta is the leading independent identity provider. The Okta Identity Cloud enables organizations to securely connect the right people to the right technologies at the right time. With more than 7,000 pre-built integrations to applications and infrastructure providers, Okta provides simple and secure access to people and organizations everywhere, giving them the confidence to reach their full potential. More than 10,000 organizations, including JetBlue, Nordstrom, Siemens, Slack, T-Mobile, Takeda, Teach for America, and Twilio, trust Okta to help protect the identities of their workforces and customers.
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