Staff IT Systems Engineer, Identity

Lilasciences; Cambridge; On-site; GBP 122,000 - 149,000; Full time

Job summary

Lila Sciences is looking for a Staff IT Systems Engineer, Identity to own the architecture and roadmap for identity and access management across the company. You will join the IT & Security team, mentor engineers, and drive security-focused identity engineering at scale.

The role requires deep experience in IT systems engineering or identity engineering with strong Okta expertise and cloud IAM knowledge. You will work on automating identity workflows, enabling secure access for employees,

Qualifications

• Deep IT systems engineering or identity engineering experience with ownership of IAM systems.
• Strong Okta experience: SSO, SAML, OIDC, SCIM, policies, workflow automation.
• Experience designing and scaling IAM/Zero Trust programs in complex environments.
• Solid understanding of cloud IAM across AWS, GCP, Entra ID or similar.
• Ability to build/operate automation with Python/Go, APIs, event-driven workflows, IaC.

Responsibilities

• Own architecture and roadmap for identity platform across major providers.
• Drive Zero Trust roadmap including MFA, continuous access evaluation, device trust.
• Build machine and AI-agent identity programs for service accounts and workloads.
• Design identity governance: access reviews, joiner/mover/leaver workflows.
• Set standards for SaaS identity integrations (G Workspace, Slack, Microsoft 365).
• Develop production-grade automation using Python/Go, Terraform, and AI tools.
• Partner with Security on threat modeling, incident response, and audits.
• Mentor engineers and act as escalation point for complex identity issues.
• Document architecture decisions, processes, and runbooks.

Skills

Okta

Zero Trust

Cloud IAM

Python/Go

Automation

Machine identity

Mentoring

Architecture

Tools

Terraform

Python

Job description

Your Impact at LILA

Lila is hiring a Staff IT Systems Engineer, Identity to own the architecture and roadmap for identity and access management across the company. This is a senior individual-contributor role with company-wide scope, focused on how employees, services, and AI agents authenticate, receive access, and operate securely.

You’ll join the IT & Security team and partner closely with Security, People, Engineering, and Lab Operations. You’ll modernize Lila’s identity foundation across cloud IAM, SSO, SaaS administration, machine identity, and identity governance while mentoring engineers and raising the bar for identity engineering practice.

This role is especially important as Lila scales its workforce, physical footprint, autonomous labs, and AI-native operating model. The right person will make identity systems more secure, automated, auditable, and easier for employees to use.

What You'll Be Building

• Own the architecture and roadmap for Lila’s identity platform across Okta, Entra ID, AWS IAM, GCP IAM, SSO, and directory services.
• Drive Lila’s Zero Trust roadmap, including phishing-resistant MFA, continuous access evaluation, device trust, and endpoint integration.
• Build a machine identity and AI-agent identity program for service accounts, API keys, workload identities, OAuth/OIDC grants, MCP servers, and autonomous lab systems.
• Design identity governance capabilities, including access certification, entitlement reviews, and automated joiner, mover, and leaver workflows.
• Set standards for SaaS identity integrations across Google Workspace, Slack, Atlassian, Microsoft 365, and the broader application portfolio.
• Build production-grade automation using Python or Go, Terraform, workflow platforms, and AI-assisted engineering tools.
• Partner with Security on identity threat modeling, incident response, access audits, and compliance readiness.
• Serve as the technical escalation point for complex identity issues and mentor engineers across IT and Security.
• Document architecture decisions, processes, and runbooks that improve identity operations at scale.

What You’ll Need to Succeed

• Deep experience in IT systems engineering, infrastructure, or identity engineering, with significant ownership of identity and access management systems.
• Strong Okta experience, including SSO, SAML, OIDC, SCIM, authorization policies, and workflow automation.
• Experience designing and scaling IAM, Zero Trust, or identity governance programs in a complex technical environment.
• Strong understanding of cloud IAM concepts across providers such as AWS, GCP, Entra ID, or similar platforms.
• Ability to build and operate automation using Python or Go, APIs, event-driven workflows, and infrastructure-as-code.
• Working knowledge of machine identity concepts, including workload identity federation, secrets management, and service account governance.
• Strong technical judgment, troubleshooting ability, and written communication skills.
• Track record mentoring engineers and leading cross-functional technical initiatives without relying on formal authority.

Bonus Points For

• Experience in biotech, pharma, life sciences, R&D, or another regulated technical environment.
• Familiarity with SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, GxP, or similar compliance frameworks.
• Experience securing lab instrumentation, robotics, IoT, scientific computing, or autonomous systems.
• Experience designing or operating identity systems for AI agents or agentic workflows.
• Experience with endpoint management or MDM platforms such as Jamf, JumpCloud, or Kandji.
• Experience building Slack apps, Slackbots, internal developer tooling, or identity self-service workflows.
• Experience supporting M&A integration or rapid headcount scaling from an identity perspective.

Compensation

We offer competitive base compensation with bonus potential and generous early-stage equity. Your final offer will reflect your background, expertise, and expected impact.

U.S. Benefits.

Full-time U.S. employees receive a comprehensive benefits program including medical, dental, and vision coverage; employer-paid life and disability insurance; flexible time off with generous company wide holidays; paid parental leave; an educational assistance program; commuter benefits, including bike share memberships for office based employees; and a company subsidized lunch program.

International Benefits.

Full-time employees outside the U.S. receive a comprehensive benefits program tailored to their region. USD salary ranges apply only to U.S.-based positions; international salaries are set to local market.

Expected Base Salary Range

$163,400 — $199,500 USD

About LILA

Lila Sciences is building Scientific Superintelligence to solve humankind's greatest challenges. We believe science is the most inspiring frontier for AI. Rather than hard-coding expert knowledge into tools, LILA builds systems that can learn for themselves.

LILA combines advanced AI models with proprietary AI Science Factory instruments into an operating system for science that executes the entire scientific method autonomously, accelerating discovery at unprecedented speed, scale, and impact across medicine, materials, and energy. Learn more at www.lila.ai.

Guided by our core values of truth, trust, curiosity, grit, and velocity, we move with startup speed while tackling problems of historic importance. If this sounds like an environment you’d love to work in, even if you don’t meet every qualification listed above, we encourage you to apply.

We’re All In

Lila Sciences iscommitted to equal employment opportunityregardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.

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