Staff Software Engineer - Federal

Washington, DCFull-TimeStaffSoftware Engineering

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We safeguard Okta from threats and vulnerabilities that could disrupt our business or erode our customers’ trust. The Defensive Cyber Engineering organization is responsible for the Security Data Platform, infrastructure, and tooling that enable Okta’s Detection and Response capabilities. The team also manages enterprise security tools and infrastructure that support XDR, DLP, and SSPM capabilities.
We are expanding this team to support Okta’s Public Sector roadmap by hiring a Staff Software Engineer in the DC area. You’ll work closely with Security, Business Technology Engineering, and Product teams to implement and manage security solutions, ensuring our core infrastructure applications protect our workforce, endpoints, and corporate data.
To deliver on this vision, you will build data and infrastructure platforms by leveraging your software, data, and security engineering skills. You’ll use automation, policy-as-code, and cloud-native technologies to deliver scalable, resilient, and secure solutions.

8+ years of strong coding and scripting experience, with a focus on building automation and custom tooling for infrastructure and data pipelines. Experience with Python is required; proficiency in other languages (e.g., Bash, PowerShell, Go) is a plus.
Experience developing and maintaining ETL/ELT pipelines for onboarding security data into Okta’s security data lake.
Experience working with security teams to integrate log sources and ensure seamless data ingestion.
Ability to build and maintain scalable, fault-tolerant data pipelines to process security event data.
Proven track record of automating security controls and workflows using a cloud-first approach.
Experience with Terraform and other infrastructure-as-code tools to orchestrate security infrastructure.
Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines for security automation and drift management.
Strong communication skills, with the ability to collaborate with technical staff, support teams, executive leadership, and external vendors.
2+ years of experience building engineering solutions within highly regulated environments such as FedRAMP High, IL4, IL5, and/or IL6 is a plus.
Current or previous Secret, Top Secret (TS), or Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) clearance is a plus.

Serve as a security subject matter expert (SME) for solution engineering and architecture reviews, preferably in the Detection and Response and/or enterprise security tooling space.
Lead technical efforts to evaluate, design, and implement new enterprise security systems and feature enhancements.
Build, maintain, and enhance custom automation and cloud infrastructure using Terraform or similar tools to support team workflows and enforce security controls.
Develop integrations with APIs, cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure), and security infrastructure to improve detection, response, and remediation.
Write and maintain scripts and automations, with an emphasis on Python-based solutions, to streamline security operations.
Establish monitoring and alerting for security posture, misconfigurations, and threats across endpoints, SaaS, and cloud workloads.
Proactively identify and remediate security gaps; stay updated on emerging threats, solutions, and tooling across the industry.

Advanced identity management technologies (MFA, SAML, OAuth, OIDC, WebAuthn)
Deep understanding of Okta's ecosystem, including advanced configuration and integrations
Experience with continuous compliance solutions (e.g., policy-as-code, automated evidence gathering)

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.
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Below is the annual base salary range for candidates located in California (excluding San Francisco Bay Area), Colorado, Illinois, 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.

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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.