Chief Authentication & Identity Platform Leader

Synchrony; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 155,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work options

Hybrid/Office hubs

Job summary

Synchrony seeks a seasoned VP of Authentication Services to lead the Identity and Access Management program. You will own enterprise authentication architecture, drive modernization of SSO, MFA, and passwordless pipelines, and supervise a high-velocity engineering organization across critical applications.

You will shape strategic direction for workforce and B2B identity, collaborate with security and product teams, and ensure 24/7 availability and compliance across environments.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a technical STEM discipline.
• HS Diploma / GED with 15+ years of enterprise IT engineering experience.
• Total enterprise IT engineering experience of 10+ years.
• Minimum 5 years designing, scaling, and operating Okta Identity Cloud solutions.
• Minimum 5 years leading and scaling distributed, cross-functional engineering teams.
• Expert-level mastery of SAML 2.0, OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, WS-Fed, and SCIM.
• Willingness to travel as required.

Responsibilities

• Own workforce authentication strategy and communicate buy-in to key stakeholders.
• Identify trends to improve authentication security and user experience.
• Direct product roadmaps for core authentication tech using Jira.
• Partner with senior leadership to justify high-value initiatives.
• Architect secure, production-grade authentication patterns and zero-trust models.
• Lead a 24/7 engineering and operations team for high availability.
• Oversee app integration while maintaining hands-on knowledge of infrastructure.
• Enforce authentication policies, compliance standards and risk metrics.

Skills

Leadership

Product ownership

Strategic thinking

Cloud architecture

Security expertise

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/Engineering

HS diploma + 15+ years enterprise IT

Tools

Okta Identity Cloud

YubiKeys

FIDO2/WebAuthn

Mighty ID Authentication Services

Jira

ServiceNow

SailPoint IdentityIQ

Active Directory

Entra ID

Job description

Synchrony seeks a seasoned VP of Authentication Services to lead the Identity and Access Management program. You will own enterprise authentication architecture, drive modernization of SSO, MFA, and passwordless pipelines, and supervise a high-velocity engineering organization across critical applications.

You will shape strategic direction for workforce and B2B identity, collaborate with security and product teams, and ensure 24/7 availability and compliance across environments.