Staff Security Engineer, Defensive Cyber Engineering

Join Okta’s Defensive Cyber Engineering team as a Staff Engineer responsible for safeguarding Okta’s environments. You’ll work closely with the Security, Business Technology Engineering, and Product teams to implement and manage security solutions and ensure that core infrastructure applications are protecting our workforce, endpoints, and corporate data. A strong desire to make tools and people work together to solve complex security problems is central to this role.

This approach mandates an engineering‑first mindset: maximizing the utility of existing security tools before strategically building or buying new solutions to address any remaining security gaps. To execute this vision, you will combine your enterprise security expertise with your hands‑on engineering skills, leveraging automation, policy‑as‑code, and cloud‑native technologies to deliver scalable, resilient, and secure solutions. Your work will set standards for security best practices across the organization and influence the architecture of business‑critical systems.

What you bring Hands‑on experience with enterprise security tools such as Okta, Crowdstrike, and Palo Alto suite covering EDR, CASB, DLP, MDM, SASE, and SSPM capabilities. Strong coding and scripting skills for building automation and custom tooling. Python experience is preferred; proficiency in Bash, PowerShell, Go, or other languages is a plus.

Proven track record 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 across technical staff, support teams, executive leadership, and external vendors. What you’ll be doing Serve as a security subject‑matter expert (SME) for solution engineering, architecture reviews, security assessment, and vulnerability mitigation. Lead technical efforts evaluating, designing, and implementing 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. Collaborate with cross‑functional teams to tackle global technology and security challenges.

Write and maintain scripts and automation to streamline security operations, with an emphasis on Python‑based solutions. 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.

Also nice if you have experience in any of the following Working with 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).

Benefits World‑class benefits, flexibility, and growth opportunities. The chance to shape the security posture of a global leader in identity. Opportunities to make a social impact through technology and innovation.

Below is the annual salary range for candidates located in Canada. Your actual salary will depend on factors such as your skills, qualifications, and experience. In addition, Okta offers equity (where applicable), bonus, and benefits, including health, dental, and vision insurance, RRSP with a match, healthcare spending, telemedicine, 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/can . The annual base salary range for this position for candidates located in Canada is between $141,000 CAD and $211,000 CAD. Okta Experience Driving Social Impact Developing Talent and Fostering Connection + Community 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.

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