Staff Software Engineer - Federal

The Team

We safeguard Okta from threats and vulnerabilities. The Defensive Cyber Engineering organization manages the Security Data Platform, infrastructure, and tooling for Detection and Response, XDR, DLP, and SSPM capabilities.

The Role

Expanding the team to support Okta’s Public Sector roadmap. Work closely with Security, Business Technology Engineering, and Product teams to implement and manage security solutions for core infrastructure applications protecting workforce, endpoints, and corporate data. Build data and infrastructure platforms using software, data, and security engineering skills with automation, policy-as-code, and cloud-native technologies.

What you bring:

• 8+ years of strong coding and scripting experience, focusing on automation and custom tooling for infrastructure and data pipelines. Python required; Bash, PowerShell, Go a plus.
• Experience developing and maintaining ETL/ELT pipelines for security data into Okta’s security data lake.
• Experience integrating log sources with security teams.
• Build scalable, fault-tolerant data pipelines for security event data.
• Proven track record automating security controls and workflows using cloud-first approach.
• Experience with Terraform and infrastructure-as-code tools.
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines for security automation and drift management.
• Strong communication skills for collaboration.
• 2+ years in regulated environments (FedRAMP High, IL4, IL5, IL6) a plus.
• Secret, TS, or TS/SCI clearance a plus.

What you’ll be doing:

• Serve as security SME for solution engineering and architecture reviews in Detection and Response or enterprise security tooling.
• Lead efforts to evaluate, design, and implement new enterprise security systems and enhancements.
• Build, maintain, and enhance custom automation and cloud infrastructure using Terraform to support workflows and enforce controls.
• Develop integrations with APIs, cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure), and security infrastructure.
• Write and maintain Python-based scripts and automations.
• Establish monitoring and alerting for security posture, misconfigurations, and threats.
• Proactively identify and remediate security gaps; stay updated on threats and tooling.

Extra credit:

• Advanced identity management (MFA, SAML, OAuth, OIDC, WebAuthn).
• Deep understanding of Okta ecosystem.
• Continuous compliance solutions (policy-as-code, automated evidence gathering).

Compensation: Annual base salary range: $161,000 — $221,000 USD (for CA excl. SF Bay Area, CO, IL, NY, WA), plus equity, bonus, and benefits.