Staff Security Engineer, Identity Defense Operations

Okta; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 161,000 - 241,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a forward-thinking company as a Staff Security Engineer in Identity Defense Operations, where you'll play a crucial role in protecting customers from cyber threats. This dynamic position involves analyzing product telemetry to identify attacks, developing best practices for security configurations, and collaborating with various teams to enhance security measures. You'll be part of an innovative team that values unique perspectives and is dedicated to improving the security posture of millions of users. If you're passionate about online identity protection and eager to make a significant impact, this opportunity is for you!

Benefits

Vision Insurance

Flexible Benefit Account

Parental Leave

401(k) Plan

Qualifications

• Strong understanding of identity federation and access control models.
• Experience in leading technology-focused teams.

Responsibilities

• Identify and respond to attacks targeting customers on the Okta platform.
• Develop dashboards and detection logic for security patterns.
• Collaborate with product teams to enhance security controls.

Skills

Incident Response

Security Best Practices

Identity and Access Management

Data Analytics

Problem Solving

Automation

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related field

Certifications in Security (CISSP, CISM, etc.)

Tools

SAML 2.0

OAuth

OpenID

Job description

Staff Security Engineer, Identity Defense Operations

vision insurance, flexible benefit account, parental leave, 401(k)

United States, D.C., Washington

May 05, 2025

Get to know Okta

Okta is The World's Identity Company. We free everyone to safely use any technology-anywhere, on any device or app. Our Workforce and Customer Identity Clouds enable secure yet flexible access, authentication, and automation that transforms how people move through the digital world, putting Identity at the heart of business security and growth.

At Okta, we celebrate a variety of perspectives and experiences. We are not looking for someone who checks every single box - we're looking for lifelong learners and people who can make us better with their unique experiences.

Join our team! We're building a world where Identity belongs to you.

Staff Security Engineer, Identity Defense

Information Security is a top business imperative at Okta. In addition to driving security in our Corporate environment and Okta service, the Security team is deeply entrenched in the Okta business. As such, we contribute to product roadmaps, branding, research and other strategic aspects of our operations. We work across multiple functions, business partners and the research community. We are an engineering-focused team that seeks to stay on the cutting edge of security technology and the threat landscape.

Okta's Identity Defense Operations (IDO) organization is expanding our team dedicated to identifying attacks against our customers, developing best practices for security configurations to protect against attack, and working closely with Okta's product teams to ensure additional security controls are implemented in order to better protect our customers. Working in close collaboration with other parts of the organization, this team will have the opportunity to improve the security posture of millions of users.

We are seeking builders who are excited about establishing a new team and helping shape Okta's customer focused security operations.

Job Duties and Responsibilities

• Identify and respond to attacks targeting customers on the Okta platform through detailed analysis of Okta's product telemetry.
• Assist customer Security teams during times of crisis by participating in their incident bridges and representing Okta Security.
• Develop dashboards and detection logic to identify known patterns of attack that may succeed should customers not implement best practice security controls.
• Develop and maintain security best practices that put Okta's security features to use and enable customer facing teams to better communicate how these controls mitigate real world attacks.
• Identify gaps in Okta's security features or secure by default settings that enable attackers to exploit our customers and collaborate with Okta's product teams to design and implement additional controls.
• Work closely with Okta's data scientists in order to test and train new machine learning models by validating real world data and providing known good and bad datasets.
• Collaborate with Okta's Cyber Threat Research team to share details of threat actor activity and prioritize analytics based on the current cyber threat landscape as it applies to Okta's customers.

What does it take?

You're a team player with a thirst for knowledge. You may or may not currently be in a security role, but you are passionate about defending people's online identities from malicious actors. You're curious about systems and how they interact, knowing that to properly defend a system you must first understand how it works. You enjoy automating tasks and if you can't find a tool for the job you create one. You're calm under pressure and have a good internal compass for taking calculated risks.

Your experience probably includes:

• Learning the ins and outs of new SaaS products: you will be required to quickly become proficient in current and future Okta offerings
• Leading, or contributing to, technology focused teams large or small
• Working on identity and access management, security or data analytics projects.
• Participating or leading complex time-sensitive investigations involving customer account compromise, service abuse, inauthentic behavior or other types of threats an identity service provider would be responsible for helping customers address
• Identifying and solving problems related to complex technology stacks and following through to ensure long term solutions are effectively deployed
• Technologies and protocols to support identity federation and robust access control models (e.g., SAML 2.0, XACML, WS-Federation, WS-Trust, OAuth, OpenID).

Additional requirements:

• This position requires the ability to access federal environments and/or have access to protected federal data. As a condition of employment for this position, the successful candidate must be able to submit documentation establishing U.S. Person status (e.g. a U.S. Citizen, National, Lawful Permanent Resident, Refugee, or Asylee. 22 CFR 120.15) upon hire.

Below is the annual base salary range for candidates located in California, Colorado, 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, New York, and Washington is between:

$161,000 — $241,000 USD

What you can look forward to as a Full-Time Okta employee!

• Making Social Impact
• Developing Talent and Fostering Connection + Community at Okta

Okta cultivates a dynamic work environment, providing the best tools, technology and benefits to empower our employees to work productively in a setting that best and uniquely suits their needs. Each organization is unique in the degree of flexibility and mobility in which they work so that all employees are enabled to be their most creative and successful versions of themselves, regardless of where they live. Find your place at Okta today! https://www.okta.com/company/careers/.

Some roles may require travel to one of our office locations for in-person onboarding.

Okta is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ancestry, marital status, age, physical or mental disability, or status as a protected veteran. We also consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and convictions records, consistent with applicable laws.

If reasonable accommodation is needed to complete any part of the job application, interview process, or onboarding please use this Form to request an accommodation.

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