Staff Software Engineer, Core Infrastructure - TS/SCI

Secure Every Identity, from AI to Human

Identity is the key to unlocking the potential of AI. Okta secures AI by building the trusted, neutral infrastructure that enables organizations to safely embrace this new era. This work requires a relentless drive to solve complex challenges with real-world stakes. We are looking for builders and owners who operate with speed and urgency and execute with excellence.

This is an opportunity to do career-defining work. We're all in on this mission. If you are too, let's talk.

About Okta

Okta is the leading independent identity partner, securely connecting the right people to the right technologies at the right time. With over 20,000 customers and a billion registered users, we provide the foundation for secure enterprise management and seamless user experiences. As a trusted U.S. Federal vendor, we maintain FedRAMP High and DoD IL4 compliance, and are on track to achieve DoD IL6 to support the government’s most critical and classified missions.

The Core Engineering Team

Our team builds the foundational shared infrastructure that powers the Okta Identity Cloud. We own mission-critical services—including distributed caching, configuration management, and asynchronous data pipelines—where multi-tenancy, massive scale, and "Always On" resiliency are the standard. We are a group of passionate engineers dedicated to resource optimization and architectural excellence.

The Role

We are seeking a Staff Backend Engineer (TS/SCI) to join our high-stakes National Security team. Based in the Washington, D.C. area, with on-site customer travel, you will serve as a technical leader, delivering secure, air-gapped solutions for our federal partners.

Security Requirement:

• Must be able to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance (Secret or Top Secret) to the extent required by U.S. Government contracts.
• The selected candidate may be subject to drug testing to the extent required by U.S. Government contracts.

What You’ll Do

• Cloud & Air-Gapped Infrastructure: Design and deliver AWS-based projects using Terraform, Docker, and Redis, adapting them for secure federal air-gapped environments.
• Scalable Service Ownership: Operate and scale shared services and frameworks to support rapid business growth.
• Engineering Standards: Drive high-quality code through rigorous design reviews, code reviews, and automated unit/functional testing.
• System Reliability: Monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize services to resolve performance bottlenecks and ensure high availability.
• Technical Leadership: Mentor junior engineers and collaborate with cross-functional teams (QA, Security, Product) to deliver secure, enterprise-grade solutions.

What You’ll Bring

Core Qualifications

• Security Clearance: Active U.S. TS/SCI clearance.
• Compliance Expertise: Proven experience navigating Federal and DoD compliance frameworks, specifically FedRAMP and Impact Level 6 (IL6).
• Domain Authority: Deep expertise in architecting, deploying, and optimizing software within federal air-gapped environments.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related technical field (Master’s degree preferred).

Technical Expertise

• Backend Development: 5+ years of professional experience in an object-oriented language (specifically Java). You should possess a mastery of backend service architecture, multithreading, garbage collection, and memory management.
• Orchestration & Cloud: 3+ years of experience developing and troubleshooting web services on Kubernetes. Hands-on experience with AWS EKS is highly preferred.
• Database Management: 3+ years of experience with MySQL or equivalent relational databases, including sophisticated database design and query performance tuning.
• API Design: Demonstrated success working with RESTful fundamentals; additional knowledge of gRPC is a significant plus.
• Modern Tech Stack: Proficiency with the Spring ecosystem (Spring Boot, Hibernate), Tomcat, Redis, and Docker.
• Security & Engineering: Strong foundational knowledge of network security (authentication/authorization) and a commitment to rigorous software engineering best practices.

Industry Experience: Prior experience supporting or building Enterprise SaaS platforms.

#LI-TM

#LI-Hybrid

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Below is the annual base salary range for candidates located in San Francisco Bay Area. 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 the San Francisco Bay area is between:

$159,000

—

$218,900 USD

The Okta Experience

• Supporting Your Well-Being
• Driving Social Impact
• Developing Talent and Fostering Connection + Community

We are intentional about connection. Our global community, spanning over 20 offices worldwide, is united by a drive to innovate. Your journey begins with an immersive, in-person onboarding experience designed to accelerate your impact and connect you to our mission and team from day one.

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.

Notice for New York City Applicants & Employees: Okta may use Automated Employment Decision Tools (AEDT), as defined by New York City Local Law 144, that use artificial intelligence, machine learning, or other automated processes to assist in our recruitment and hiring process. In accordance with NYC Local Law 144, if you are an applicant or employee residing in New York City, please click here to view our full NYC AEDT Notice.

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