Director of Engineering, AI Takeoff Team

Okta; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 246,000 - 337,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Bonus

Health/dental/vision insurance

401(k)

Paid leave

Job summary

Okta is seeking a driven engineering leader for the AI Takeoff team to accelerate roadmap delivery and translate customer needs into differentiated AI capabilities. You will mentor a small, autonomous team, partner with engineering, product and design to ensure security, reliability and scalability, and own the technical strategy for scalable identity and AI solutions.

The role emphasizes leadership in high-growth environments, direct enterprise engagement, and a strong product/customer

Qualifications

• 8+ years building and shipping identity, security, infrastructure or developer-focused products in a high-growth organization.
• Proven engineering leadership and team management experience, including hiring, developing and motivating high-performing teams.
• Strong executive communication and influencing skills, with a track record of driving outcomes across organizational boundaries.
• Proven experience working directly with enterprise customers and translating customer problems into technical solutions.
• Deep identity domain expertise - knowledge of identity protocols, standards, architectures and patterns.
• Experience operating in high-ambiguity, high-velocity environments where priorities evolve quickly and execution matters.
• Strong product and customer orientation, balancing customer urgency, technical quality and long-term scalability.
• Experience with AI/agentic systems, AI security or emerging identity patterns is a strong plus.

Responsibilities

• Work closely with our top customers and AI Forward Deployed Engineering to rapidly translate customer needs into differentiated AI capabilities and deliver them to production.
• Partner closely with broader Okta Engineering, Product and Design to ensure capabilities are production-ready and meet Okta standards for security, reliability, scalability and quality.
• Build, grow and mentor a small, highly focused team of AI Takeoff engineers operating with high autonomy and urgency.
• Serve as a senior technical SME in customer engagements, technical evaluations and complex sales processes.
• Lead complex customer escalations with a bias toward rapidly identifying root causes and delivering durable solutions.
• Own the technical strategy, architecture, and execution for the AI Takeoff engineering roadmap, balancing customer urgency with long-term scalability and production quality.

Skills

Identity security

Engineering leadership

Executive communication

Enterprise customer experience

AI security awareness

Job description

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.

Director of Engineering, AI takeoff team

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.

Job Description

The AI Takeoff Team at Okta is the tip of the spear, creating a rapid, high-bandwidth feedback loop from our customers to product and engineering. We are customer-first by design: working directly with customers to understand real-world problems, rapidly build and validate solutions, and accelerate the capabilities that ultimately become part of the Okta platform.

We move at startup speed, operate with intensity, obsess about customer outcomes, and own our numbers - from pipeline generation to sales, adoption and retention. You'll operate like an engineering leader at a startup within a larger enterprise: moving quickly, staying close to customers, and delivering with urgency while bringing the broader Okta organization with you.

In this context, we are seeking a driven, customer-focused engineering leader to accelerate our roadmap delivery. This is a career-defining role for the right leader looking to directly impact the growth trajectory of the industry leader in identity and AI security.

Responsibilities

• Work closely with our top customers and AI Forward Deployed Engineering to rapidly translate customer needs into differentiated AI capabilities and deliver them to production.
• Partner closely with broader Okta Engineering, Product and Design to ensure capabilities are production-ready and meet Okta standards for security, reliability, scalability and quality.
• Build, grow and mentor a small, highly focused team of AI Takeoff engineers operating with high autonomy and urgency.
• Serve as a senior technical SME in customer engagements, technical evaluations and complex sales processes.
• Lead complex customer escalations with a bias toward rapidly identifying root causes and delivering durable solutions.
• Own the technical strategy, architecture, and execution for the AI Takeoff engineering roadmap, balancing customer urgency with long-term scalability and production quality.

Qualifications

• 8+ years building and shipping identity, security, infrastructure or developer-focused products in a high-growth organization.
• Proven engineering leadership and team management experience, including hiring, developing and motivating high-performing teams.
• Strong executive communication and influencing skills, with a track record of driving outcomes across organizational boundaries and bringing cross-functional teams together.
• Proven experience working directly with enterprise customers and translating customer problems into technical solutions.
• Deep identity domain expertise - you know, or can quickly get up to speed on, the latest identity protocols, standards, architectures and patterns.
• Experience operating in high-ambiguity, high-velocity environments where priorities evolve quickly and execution matters.
• Strong product and customer orientation, with the ability to balance customer urgency, technical quality and long-term scalability.
• Experience with AI/agentic systems, AI security or emerging identity patterns is a strong plus.

P25966

The annual base salary range for this position for candidates located in the San Francisco Bay area is between: $275,000—$378,000 USD

Below is the annual base salary range for candidates located in California (excluding San Francisco Bay Area), Colorado, Illinois, New York and Washington. 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 annual base salary range for this position for candidates located in California (excluding San Francisco Bay Area), Colorado, Illinois, New York, and Washington is between: $246,000—$337,000 USD

Below is the annual salary range for candidates located in Canada. Your actual salary will depend on factors such as your skills, qualifications, and experience. In addition, Okta offers equity (where applicable), bonus, and benefits, including health, dental, and vision insurance, RRSP with a match, healthcare spending, telemedicine, 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/can.

The annual base salary range for this position for candidates located in Canada is between: $224,000—$308,000 CAD

The Okta Experience

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