SlipstreamJobs tracks this role from the company's public career site. Apply directly on the employer's site.
Okta is seeking a Staff Backend Engineer to join the Passwordless team, leading the development of phishing-resistant authenticators and passkey solutions powered by FIDO2 WebAuthn. This is a technical leadership role where you will own major features end-to-end, from conception through deployment and monitoring, while influencing team direction and mentoring other engineers.
Key responsibilities include partnering with product, design, and cross-functional stakeholders to define problem spaces and build customer-centric solutions. You will independently tackle ambiguous technical challenges, drive architectural design discussions, and shape the team's roadmap through strategic trade-offs that improve velocity and product health. You'll champion a data-driven culture using telemetry and observability tools to troubleshoot production incidents and guide technical decisions. Mentorship is central to the role—you'll guide engineers through code reviews, knowledge sharing, and exemplary engineering craft.
Required qualifications: 8+ years of professional software development with demonstrated technical leadership and mentorship experience. Deep expertise in Java, including object-oriented design, multithreading, and high-performance service development. Proven experience designing and operating complex, large-scale distributed systems in cloud environments (AWS, GCP, Azure). Strong grasp of architectural patterns for scalability, reliability, and security, with ability to lead design discussions and make informed trade-offs. Excellent problem-solving skills for debugging complex, unfamiliar codebases. Proactive ownership mindset with strong communication and collaboration abilities.
Desired expertise: Deep knowledge of phishing-resistant authentication methods (Passkeys, FIDO2, WebAuthn) and identity and access management (IAM) protocols including OAuth, OIDC, and SAML. Experience with modern frontend frameworks (React, Angular, Vue.js) is a plus.
Okta offers competitive compensation including equity, bonus, and comprehensive benefits (health, dental, vision insurance, RRSP matching, healthcare spending, telemedicine, and paid leave including PTO and parental leave).
