Staff Software Engineer, Core Infrastructure - TS/SCI

Confirmed live in the last 24 hours

Okta

Compensation

$159,000 - $218,900/year

Washington, DC

Hybrid

Posted March 23, 2026

Job Description

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 de

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