Summary
Temporal is hiring a Staff Software Engineer for Identity to design, build, and operate the identity and access platform behind Temporal Cloud — a multi-tenant SaaS serving high-throughput workloads. You'll own the systems that authenticate humans and workloads, authorize fine-grained access to namespaces and APIs, federate with customer IdPs, and distribute auth material to clients and workers at scale. This role partners closely with Security, Product, and platform teams to deliver "secure by default" capabilities without compromising developer or operator experience.
What You'll Do
- Design and build Temporal Cloud's identity platform end-to-end — authentication (OAuth 2.0/2.1, OIDC, SAML, token exchange), authorization (RBAC/ReBAC/policy engines), and workload identity federation — so customers and workloads authenticate without long-lived secrets
- Scale the auth hot path to meet Temporal Cloud's SLOs: in-memory auth bundles, JWKS caching, decision caching, and revocation strategies that keep latency low and eliminate single points of failure
- Integrate with enterprise IdPs (Okta, Entra ID, Google Workspace, SAML/OIDC), own SCIM 2.0 provisioning, and threat-model identity flows against token replay, confused deputy, scope escalation, and mix-up attacks
- Partner with Security, Product, and platform teams to ship secure-by-default patterns, define IAM lifecycle and audit strategies, and shape the technical roadmap by tracking emerging standards (IETF OAuth WG, OpenID Foundation)
- Mentor engineers, maintain clear architecture docs, and engage directly with customers to understand requirements and unblock adoption
What You'll Bring
- Deep hands-on experience building and operating production identity systems — OAuth 2.0/2.1, OIDC, SAML, JWT/JOSE, JWKS rotation, SCIM, and at least some exposure to workload identity (SPIFFE/SPIRE, WIF, mTLS, or short-lived federated credentials)
- Strong grasp of authorization at scale (RBAC, ABAC, ReBAC/Zanzibar) and familiarity with policy engines like OPA, Cedar, or OpenFGA
- Track record operating latency-sensitive distributed systems in production, including on-call ownership and operational excellence
- Proficiency in Go; experience with Python, Java, or Kotlin is a plus
- Strong communication skills with the ability to align stakeholders across security, product, and engineering and drive execution end-to-end
Nice to Have
- Contributions to identity OSS projects (Keycloak, Ory, Dex, OpenFGA, SPIRE) or standards bodies (IETF OAuth WG, OpenID Foundation)
- Experience with compliance frameworks (FedRAMP, SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA) as they apply to IAM
- Familiarity with Temporal or other durable-execution engines, especially auth implications around workers and task queues
- Experience designing customer-facing API auth (scoped tokens, API keys, rotation UX) and building well-structured APIs
Compensation
- Base Salary Range - $212,000 to $286,000, depending on qualifications and location
- Equity Options - Eligible for stock options as part of Temporal's equity plan
- Unlimited PTO, 12 Holidays + 2 Floating Holidays
- 100% Premiums Coverage for Medical, Dental, and Vision
- AD&D, LT & ST Disability, and Life Insurance (Standard & Supplemental Available)
- Empower 401K Plan
- Additional Perks for Learning & Development, Lifestyle Spending, In-Home Office Setup, Professional Memberships, WFH Meals, Internet Stipend and more!
Paid Time Off (PTO) and Benefits outside the United States vary by country, and are issued in partnership with Remote.com. Additionally, Temporal offers perks to all international employees for learning & career development, a lifestyle spending account, in-home office setup (in addition to company-issued hardware), professional memberships, work-from-home meals, and access to the Calm app for mental wellness.
Travel
Temporal is a globally distributed, collaborative team that values opportunities for in-person connection. Occasional travel may be required for company events, team offsites, and other meaningful moments that bring us together.
- $3,600 / Year Work from Home Meals
- $1,800 / Year Professional Enrichment (Career Development & Professional Memberships)
- $1,200 / Year Lifestyle Spending Account
- $1,000 / Year In-Home Office Setup (In addition to Temporal issued equipment - laptop, monitor, keyboard, mouse, trackpad, and extension power cable at no cost to you)
- $74 / Month Reimbursement for Internet
- Calm App Subscription for Mental Health & Wellness
Skills Required
- Deep hands-on experience building and operating production identity systems
- Strong grasp of authorization at scale
- Proficiency in Go; experience with Python, Java, or Kotlin is a plus
- Track record operating latency-sensitive distributed systems in production
- Strong communication skills with the ability to align stakeholders
Temporal Technologies Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Temporal Technologies and has not been reviewed or approved by Temporal Technologies.
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Healthcare Strength — Healthcare coverage is described as 100% employer-paid for medical, dental, and vision, with AD&D, short- and long-term disability, and life insurance included. Feedback suggests this breadth and cost coverage is a strong differentiator for a remote-first employer.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time off includes unlimited PTO alongside 12 standard holidays and 2 floating holidays. Feedback suggests this structure supports rest and recharge across teams.
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Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — Wellbeing and remote-work support include a home office stipend, internet reimbursement, WFH meals, Calm app access, a lifestyle spending account, and learning/professional membership budgets. Feedback suggests these perks enhance overall total rewards beyond base pay.
Temporal Technologies Insights
What We Do
Temporal develops and distributes the world's leading open source durable execution system. We make code fault tolerant, durable and simple. Innovative companies like Datadog, Glovo, Indeed, Netflix, Qualtrics, Remitly, Snap and Yum! Brands build their services and applications with Temporal to make them reliable to run, productive to enhance and easy to troubleshoot and repair. More than a decade in the making, Temporal is powered by veterans behind some of the industry's most loved systems technologies, programming frameworks and open source communities as well as investors like Amplify Partners, Sequoia Capital and Index Ventures.
