Staff Identity Engineer

Okta; Ashington; On-site; GBP 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Work from home

Health Wellness

Financial Benefits

Pay Incentives

Time Off

Everyday Living

Resources

Job summary

Okta seeks a Staff Engineer to act as a technical authority within our internal IAM team, owning architecture and execution of the identity fabric. You will champion Customer Zero by deploying Okta’s newest features internally before global release, mentoring engineers, and shaping platform direction.

You will oversee lifecycle design, adaptive MFA, SAML/OIDC federation, and guardrails across AWS, GCP, and Azure, with a focus on automation, security governance, and cross-functional collaboration.

Qualifications

• Deep hands-on architectural experience across identity and cloud infrastructure lifecycle.
• Expertise in modern identity standards: SAML, OIDC, OAuth 2.0, MFA, and federation patterns.
• Experience designing and enforcing IAM guardrails across multi-cloud environments (AWS, GCP, Azure).

Responsibilities

• Mentor engineers and set engineering standards for IAM, architecture reviews, and implementation oversight.
• Lead early adoption and internal validation of Okta features through the internal IAM platform (Customer Zero).
• Drive automation-first initiatives and ensure identity controls meet audit requirements (SOC 2, ISO 27001, FedRAMP).

Job description

• As a Staff Engineer at Okta, you will be a technical authority within our internal IAM team, driving the architecture and execution of our identity fabric
• You will champion our “Customer Zero” philosophy, partnering with product engineering to deploy Okta’s newest features internally before they reach global markets
• This role requires a technical leader who acts with ownership and urgency, turning action into traction and ruthlessly simplifying complex problems
• You will serve as a mentor, influence architectural decisions, and help determine the future of the platform
• Drive Customer Zero Execution: Act as a key technical bridge between internal stakeholders, the Okta on Okta team, and core Product teams. Lead the early adoption of cutting-edge internal capabilities, providing rigorous technical feedback to mature products before global release
• Architecture & Hands-On Implementation: Own the lifecycle, policy design, adaptive MFA, and federation (SAML, OIDC) for enterprise Okta tenants. Architect and enforce cloud IAM guardrails across AWS, GCP, and Azure, building API-based pipelines to automate complex workflows
• Technical Leadership & Mentorship: Serve as a core technical anchor for the engineering team. Mentor engineers, act as a primary review authority for IAM designs, and set technical standards across the organization
• Operational & Security Governance: Drive automation-first initiatives to eliminate systemic inefficiencies. Partner directly with Security, Audit, and Compliance teams to ensure identity controls natively meet audit requirements (SOC 2, ISO 27001, FedRAMP)
• AI Security Integration: Drive the secure adoption of AI technologies by governing AI agents, machine identities, and service-to-service authentication within the enterprise identity layer
• Cross-Functional Partnering & Metrics: Collaborate with cross-functional partners to advance identity security, establish operational KPIs, and translate complex technical milestones into actionable leadership updates

Benefits

• Work from home opportunities
• Health + Wellness
• Financial Benefits
• Pay + Incentives
• Time Off
• Everyday Living
• Resources

To be successful in this role, you should have deep, hands-on architectural experience across the modern identity and cloud infrastructure lifecycle. We are looking for a practitioner who understands both theory and real-world implementationSession & Zero Trust Security: Solid background in session lifecycle security, token management/revocation strategies, and continuous access evaluations (CAEP/eSSO) to mitigate session hijackingCompliance & Automation Mindset: Strong orientation toward automation-first design, with practical experience building identity controls that align with enterprise frameworks (SOC 2, ISO 27001, FedRAMP)Okta Platform Mastery: Deep expertise in managing complex enterprise Okta environments, including hands-on proficiency with Okta Identity Engine (OIE), Directory Integrations, Advanced Policies, Workflows, and Platform APIsCore Identity Protocols: Advanced expertise in modern authentication and authorization standards (OIDC, OAuth 2.0, SAML 2.0) and phishing-resistant MFA paradigms (FIDO2/WebAuthn, Passkeys)Cloud & Infrastructure as Code: Proven experience defining identity controls as code using Terraform and Okta Workflows. Practical experience designing cloud IAM guardrails across multi-cloud environments (AWS, GCP, Azure) and M2M/service-to-service authenticationTechnical Leadership & Mentorship: Demonstrated experience mentoring engineers, driving design reviews, and establishing engineering best practices across teamsDomain Experience: 4+ years of hands-on experience designing, implementing, and maintaining enterprise-scale IAM solutionsTravel: Occasional travel required as needed

U.S. soil status - the employee must be on U.S. soil, which means the 50 states, the District of Columbia, or outlying areas of the United States, as defined in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 2.101, and be a U.S. personU.S. person status - the employee must be either a U.S. citizen as defined in 42 U.S. Code § 9102; a natural person who is a lawful permanent resident as defined in 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(20) or who is a protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3); or a U.S. national (i.e. includes citizens and non-citizens born in outlying possessions such as American Samoa and Swains Island), green card holders, refugees, and asylees. Working on a U.S. visa does NOT qualify as a U.S. person