Staff Software Engineer - Wallet/Authentication Platform
Staff Software Engineer leading technical direction for ID.me's authentication platform, building sign-in, MFA, and account management infrastructure serving 140M+ users. Requires 8+ years experience, Java/Spring Boot expertise, and AI-assisted development tooling experience.
About the job
Key Responsibilities
Technical Leadership & Vision
- Define and drive the technical roadmap for authentication platform services
- Identify systemic challenges, architectural risks, and strategic opportunities
- Author architecture proposals, lead design reviews, and own critical technical decisions
Cross-Team Influence
- Partner with Platform, Security, Identity, Product, and adjacent engineering teams
- Align on authentication standards, shared infrastructure, and cross-cutting concerns
- Represent the team's technical perspective in org-level planning and architectural forums
Systems Design & Architecture
- Lead end-to-end design and implementation of complex authentication features: sign-in flows, MFA, federation, account lifecycle management
- Balance security, scale, and developer ergonomics
Security & Risk Engineering
- Define the team's approach to auth security: threat modeling, credential protection, session management, abuse mitigation, and real-time risk signal integration
- Champion security as a first-class engineering discipline
Engineering Excellence
- Set the standard for code quality, testing, observability, and incident response
- Drive technical debt reduction and platform reliability improvements
- Mentor senior and mid-level engineers through code reviews, design critiques, and pairing
AI-Augmented Development
- Model and champion AI-first engineering practices using tools like Claude Code and Cursor
- Help the broader team adopt AI-assisted workflows
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience)
- 8+ years of professional software development experience, with demonstrated impact at a senior or staff level
- 5+ years of experience in backend services engineering, with strong proficiency in Java and Spring Boot
- 1+ years experience with AI-assisted development tooling (e.g., Claude Code, Cursor) with at least one year of daily use
Preferred Qualifications
- Deep expertise in authentication and identity protocols: OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect (OIDC), SAML 2.0, FIDO2/WebAuthn
- Proven ability to lead large-scale technical initiatives from design through production
- Experience designing, building, or operating an Identity Provider (IdP) or IAM platform at scale
- Familiarity with government identity and security frameworks: NIST SP 800-63 (IAL/AAL), FedRAMP, or Kantara Initiative accreditation
- Experience with federation, SSO, and enterprise identity integration patterns (SCIM, XACML, LDAP/Active Directory)
- Strong background in auth security engineering: threat modeling, credential attack mitigation, account takeover prevention, rate limiting, session security
- Experience with React or modern frontend frameworks in the context of authentication UX
- Track record of mentoring senior engineers and driving improvements to engineering culture
- Startup or high-growth company experience with strong bias toward ownership and execution
Compensation & Benefits
- Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, health savings account, flexible spending accounts
- Basic and voluntary life and AD&D insurance, 401(k) with company match
- Parental leave, unlimited paid time off, 8 company holidays
- Short and long-term disability insurance, accident and critical illness insurance
- Referral bonus policy, employee assistance program, pet insurance, travel assistant program
- Wellbeing and childcare discounts, learning and development benefit
Skills
Java, Spring Boot, Oauth 2.0, Openid Connect, Saml 2.0, Fido2, Webauthn, React, Threat Modeling, Identity And Access Management
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