Staff Backend Engineer 

Okta · Bengaluru, India

stafffull timehybrid
Apply on Okta’s site →

Role at a Glance

A senior IC role at Okta's Bengaluru engineering hub, anchoring a brand-new India pod building Zero Standing Privileges (ZSP) infrastructure — secure database and network device connectors in Go. You'll guide mid-level engineers and align locally with global architects. Tech: Go, AWS, Kubernetes, Docker. Work model: hybrid. Salary: not disclosed by employer.

What This Role Is

Okta's Privileged Access Management group is standing up an engineering pod in India and needs a seasoned backend engineer to serve as its senior technical anchor. This is a P4-level Staff role that goes well beyond writing solid code: you'll shape architectural decisions for a platform that eliminates standing privileges across cloud workloads, SaaS applications, databases, and network devices. Expect a hands-on mix of connector architecture design, end-to-end feature delivery in Go, global on-call participation, and active mentorship of mid-level engineers — all within a globally distributed, fast-moving team.

About Okta

Okta is a publicly traded identity platform used by tens of thousands of organizations to secure and manage access for their workforce and customers. The team behind this role is rebuilding Privileged Access Management from the ground up — not retrofitting legacy tooling, but rearchitecting it for environments where infrastructure is ephemeral, containerized, and multi-cloud. The platform treats least-privilege and Zero Trust as first-class defaults, covering databases, SaaS applications, containers, and physical network devices alike. Okta maintains offices across more than 20 countries and places deliberate emphasis on in-person onboarding to connect new hires to the company's mission from day one.

What You'll Be Doing

  • Design, implement, test, and deploy backend services and connector plugins in Go with full end-to-end ownership across the software lifecycle
  • Build secure connectors for relational databases and network devices (routers, switches, firewalls) on top of the Zero Standing Privileges (ZSP) platform
  • Translate ambiguous product requirements into modular, well-reasoned technical designs and execute them with minimal supervision
  • Architect components for database scraping and network protocol management (SSH, Telnet, SNMP), validating decisions through spikes, proofs-of-concept, and telemetry
  • Participate in a global on-call rotation; own incident triage, root-cause analysis, and building remediation automation
  • Reduce technical debt, streamline CI/CD pipelines, strengthen observability and alerting, and produce durable technical documentation
  • Proactively surface performance bottlenecks, dependency gaps, and delivery risks before they affect the team
  • Conduct thorough, constructive code reviews and pair with P2/P3 engineers to raise the pod's overall engineering craft
  • Partner with global Technical Leads on major design reviews and cross-team architectural alignment

Must-Have Qualifications

  • 7+ years of software engineering experience, with at least 3 years building high-scale, cloud-native backend systems
  • Demonstrated Staff-level (P4) track record: independently owning large end-to-end deliverables, influencing technical direction across a team, and measurably lifting surrounding engineers' performance
  • Domain experience in Privileged Access Management (PAM), Identity & Access Management (IAM), or deep networking infrastructure — including credential management, asset discovery, or agentless communication patterns
  • Hands-on Go proficiency, or deep expertise in C++, Rust, or Java with a verifiable record of mastering systems languages quickly
  • Practical knowledge of networking protocols (SSH, Telnet, TCP/IP), database security, microservices, and asynchronous event-driven architectures
  • Production experience with AWS, Kubernetes, and Docker
  • Familiarity with CI/CD automation and modern observability and telemetry tooling
  • Strong communication skills, high empathy and humility, and a deliberate focus on knowledge sharing and positive engineering culture

Bonus Qualifications

  • Prior experience at a PAM or IAM specialist company such as CyberArk, Delinea, or equivalent
  • Hands-on exposure to graph databases (e.g., ArangoDB) or policy engines (e.g., Open Policy Agent / OPA)
  • Contributions to open-source infrastructure projects or published technical writing

Skills Breakdown: Must-Have vs. Nice-to-Have

The non-negotiable technical foundation is Go — existing fluency or a proven history of rapidly mastering systems-level languages. PAM/IAM domain knowledge or hands-on networking protocol experience (SSH, Telnet, SNMP) separates strong candidates from the baseline. AWS, Kubernetes, and Docker are table-stakes cloud operations requirements. The nice-to-have tier — ArangoDB, OPA, or direct PAM vendor experience — signals deep domain specialization rather than baseline eligibility. Seniority note: this is a Staff (P4) individual-contributor role, not an engineering manager position. Cross-team influence, independent delivery scope, and demonstrated mentorship output are evaluated alongside raw technical output.

Salary & Compensation

Okta has not disclosed a salary band for this position. Compensation details are typically shared during the initial recruiter screening call. Because this is a Staff (P4) level role based in Bengaluru, India, candidates should expect benchmarking consistent with senior individual-contributor positions at large US-listed technology companies operating in India — though JobForMe cannot confirm or estimate any specific figure. If pay transparency is important to you, asking for the band at the first conversation is entirely reasonable; most global tech firms provide it at that stage.

Benefits & Perks

  • Employee well-being support programs
  • Social impact and community-driven initiatives
  • Talent development programs and professional growth support
  • Immersive in-person onboarding experience designed to accelerate early impact and build connections across the global team

Location & Work Model

This role is based in Bengaluru, India and operates on a hybrid schedule (Okta internally classifies it as L1-Hybrid). Specific in-office day requirements are not stated in the job posting. The company maintains offices across more than 20 countries and includes an in-person onboarding component for all new hires. Visa sponsorship availability and relocation assistance are not addressed in this posting — candidates with questions on either point should raise them directly with the recruiter.

Frequently asked questions

Is this role remote, hybrid, or fully in-office?

Hybrid. The role is based in Bengaluru, India and is classified as L1-Hybrid by Okta. The posting does not specify how many days per week are required in-office.

How many years of experience does Okta require for this position?

A minimum of 7 years of overall software engineering experience is required, with at least 3 of those years spent building high-scale, cloud-native backend systems.

Is Go experience mandatory, or are other languages accepted?

Go is the primary engineering language for this role. Candidates with deep expertise in C++, Rust, or Java are also considered, provided they can demonstrate a track record of quickly mastering new systems languages.

Does this position involve managing a team?

No. This is a Staff-level (P4) individual contributor role. You will mentor and technically guide P2/P3 engineers and lead code reviews, but headcount management is not part of the scope.

Is a salary range disclosed for this role?

No. Okta has not published a compensation range for this position. Salary details are typically provided by the recruiter during the first screening conversation.

Are you a fit for this role?

See how your background matches Staff Backend Engineer  — and the 20 live jobs that fit you best. No signup, no email, nothing stored.