# Staff Software Engineer, AI-Core

**Company:** [Okta](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/okta)
**Location:** San Francisco, CA
**Role:** ML Engineering
**Salary:** $194k – $267k/yr
**Experience:** 7+ years
**Skills:** Python, TypeScript, Node.js, Go, Distributed Systems, Microservices, Container Orchestration, Serverless, OAuth, OIDC, Llm Integration, RAG, LangChain, LangGraph, Cedar
**Posted:** 2026-06-29

> Build and own core layers of a scalable Agentic AI platform for autonomous engineering agents at Okta, including agent identity/auth, knowledge/memory, observability, governance/safety, and orchestration. Requires 5+ years backend engineering experience plus AI/agent exposure; strong distributed systems and security knowledge.

## Job Description

## What You'll Work On

- Design and implement backend APIs and services that make up the agentic platform
- Build the agent identity and machine-to-machine authentication system, including credential management and delegated access flows
- Build the agent knowledge base and memory layer so agents retain context within and across sessions
- Build the observability layer for agents: tracing, cost tracking, audit logs, and dashboards that make agent behavior debuggable in production
- Build the governance and safety layer: policy enforcement on tool calls, content filtering, PII protection, and human-in-the-loop approval flows
- Build the orchestration layer that coordinates multi-step agent workflows with state persistence and error recovery
- Collaborate with Product, SRE, Security, Data Platform, Observability and other domain partners to shape what each layer looks like and how it integrates with the broader Okta platform

## You Might Be a Good Fit If You Have

- 5+ years of software engineering experience building production backend systems
- 1+ years of exposure to AI/ML or agentic applications, whether through production work, side projects, or hands-on experimentation
- Strong proficiency in one or more backend languages (Python, TypeScript/Node.js, Go, or similar)
- Hands-on experience designing and operating distributed systems: APIs, microservices, container orchestration, and serverless technologies
- A security-conscious mindset around credential handling, trust boundaries, and what can go wrong at integration points; familiarity with OAuth, OIDC, or other modern auth patterns
- Comfort operating in ambiguous, fast-moving environments where the problem definition evolves alongside the solution and the right abstractions are still being invented

**Bonus**
- Exposure to LLM integration, RAG pipelines, MCP, or agent orchestration frameworks like LangChain, LangGraph, or the Claude/OpenAI SDKs
- Experience with policy-as-code authorization (Cedar, OPA), agent identity patterns, or building developer-facing APIs and SDKs

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