Principal Applied AI Scientist — Identity & Security

Okta; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 244,000 - 336,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental & vision insurance

401(k)

Paid leave

Job summary

Okta is seeking a Principal Applied AI Scientist to transform product ideas from 0 to 1 and define how we innovate in AI. You’ll set the technical direction, move fast with minimal process, and own the first AI/ML efforts in the team. Publishing papers or open sourcing may occur, but not as the main goal.

You’ll join Auth0Lab, explore security, developer products, and future AI agents, shaping a huge identity industry through hands-on work and collaboration.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in ML / applied research roles.
• Led multiple 0 to 1 AI/ML projects and shipped practical ML/AI systems.
• Strong Python, ML frameworks, and software engineering skills.
• Able to learn quickly and adapt to new problems.
• Understands how computers work and applies that to hard problems.
• Balances simplicity and flexibility in solutions.
• Gleans customer needs and iterates based on feedback and trends.
• Works well in a team with strong communication.
• Nice to have: experience with security-related products.

Responsibilities

• Model and solve auth and security related problems using AI/ML, through deep understanding of the inner workings and customer challenges.
• Lead end-to-end model development, choosing the right paradigm for the problem.
• Create and maintain evaluation and training datasets and workflows.
• Take ideas from research through prototype and product recommendation.
• Evaluate outcomes across quality, security, latency, and cost.

Skills

ML experience

0-to-1 projects

Python / ML

Fast learner

Computers fundamentals

Simplicity vs flexibility

Customer understanding

Team collaboration

Security product experience

Job description

Okta is seeking a Principal Applied AI Scientist to transform product ideas from 0 to 1 and define how we innovate in AI. You’ll set the technical direction, move fast with minimal process, and own the first AI/ML efforts in the team. Publishing papers or open sourcing may occur, but not as the main goal.

You’ll join Auth0Lab, explore security, developer products, and future AI agents, shaping a huge identity industry through hands-on work and collaboration.