Staff Backend Engineer
Okta · Bengaluru · 7+ yrs experience · Posted 2026-07-24
Tech stack: AWS, C++, Docker, GitHub Actions, Go, Java, Kubernetes, Rust, Terraform
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About the role
Responsibilities:
- We are seeking a Staff Backend Engineer to serve as the core technical anchor and senior Individual Contributor (IC) for our newly established engineering pod in India.
- At the P4 level, your primary sphere of influence will be at the team level —taking ownership of complex, ambiguous problems and defining how to solve them cleanly, securely, and efficiently.
- In this role, you will lead by example through hands-on architecture, high-velocity coding, and end-to-end execution.
- You will drive the implementation of secure database and network device connectors (routers, switches, firewalls) on top of our core Zero Standing Privileges (ZSP) platform.
- You will work closely with our local Technical Team Lead to elevate the pod’s engineering craft, acting as a technical multiplier for mid-level developers while ensuring tight architectural alignment with our global team.
- Execution & Technical Impact
- End-to-End Ownership: Consistently design, code, debug, test, monitor, and deploy performant backend services and connector plugins in Go.
- Define the "How": Take well-defined product goals and ambiguous technical challenges, break them down into modular technical designs, and execute them with minimal oversight.
- Component Architecture: Design reliable, scalable components for database scraping and network protocol management (SSH, Telnet, SNMP) using spikes, proof-of-concepts, and telemetry to back up architectural decisions.
- Operational Excellence & Engineering Craft
- Guardian Support & Incident Ownership: Actively participate in global on-call rotation.
- Demonstrate system-level understanding to troubleshoot complex incidents, perform root-cause analysis, and build remediation automation.
- Drive Team Velocity: Identify tech debt, streamline CI/CD pipelines, improve observability/alerting, and establish technical documentation to keep the team moving fast over the long term.
- Risk Management: Proactively spot technical risks, dependency gaps, and performance bottlenecks in your team's projects before they impact delivery.
- Team Multiplier & Strategic Alignment
- Technical Mentorship: Elevate the team's craft by conducting thorough, constructive code reviews, establishing best practices in Go, and pairing with P2/P3 engineers.
- Global Collaboration: Partner with global Technical Leads to review major design proposals, manage dependencies, and ensure local execution matches global architecture strategy.
Qualifications:
- to the Role
- 7+ years of software engineering experience, with 3+ years spent building high-scale, cloud-native backend systems.
- Proven Staff-Level (P4) Attributes: Demonstrated ability to independently own large tasks end-to-end, influence technical decisions across a team, and elevate the performance of surrounding engineers.
- Domain & Protocol Expertise: Experience in Privileged Access Management (PAM), Identity & Access Management (IAM), or deep networking infrastructure.
- Familiarity with credential management, asset discovery, or agentless communication patterns.
- Hands-on Go Proficiency: Strong engineering skills in Go (or deep expertise in C++/Rust/Java with a proven record of mastering Go quickly).
- Distributed Systems & Networking: Hands-on experience with networking protocols (SSH, Telnet, TCP/IP), database security, microservices, and asynchronous event-driven systems.
- Cloud & Operational Toolkit: Familiarity with AWS, Kubernetes, Docker, CI/CD automation, and modern telemetry/observability tools.
- Multiplier Mindset: High empathy, humility, and clear communication skills with a focus on sharing knowledge, soliciting feedback, and driving a positive engineering culture.
- Extra Credit If You Have:
- Direct experience at domain leaders in security/PAM such as CyberArk, Delinea, or similar IAM space companies.
- Experience working with Graph databases (e.g., ArangoDB) or policy engines (e.g., OPA).
- Contributions to open-source infrastructure projects or technical blogging.
- Our Tech Stack
- Language: Go
- Infra: AWS, Serverless, Kubernetes
- Data: Postgres (RDS), ArangoDB (NoSQL)
- DevOps: GitHub Actions, Docker, Terraform, Helm
- L1-Hybrid
- P24965_3499455
- Supporting Your Well-Being
- Driving Social Impact
- Developing Talent and Fostering Connection + Community
Qualifications
- to the Role
- 7+ years of software engineering experience, with 3+ years spent building high-scale, cloud-native backend systems.
- Proven Staff-Level (P4) Attributes:
- Demonstrated ability to independently own large tasks end-to-end, influence technical decisions across a team, and elevate the performance of surrounding engineers.
- Domain & Protocol Expertise:
- Experience in Privileged Access Management (PAM), Identity & Access Management (IAM), or deep networking infrastructure.
- Familiarity with credential management, asset discovery, or agentless communication patterns.
- Hands-on Go Proficiency:
- Strong engineering skills in Go (or deep expertise in C++/Rust/Java with a proven record of mastering Go quickly).
- Distributed Systems & Networking:
- Hands-on experience with networking protocols (SSH, Telnet, TCP/IP), database security, microservices, and asynchronous event-driven systems.
- Cloud & Operational Toolkit:
- Familiarity with AWS, Kubernetes, Docker, CI/CD automation, and modern telemetry/observability tools.
- Multiplier Mindset: High empathy, humility, and clear communication skills with a focus on sharing knowledge, soliciting feedback, and driving a positive engineering culture.
- Extra Credit If You Have:
- Direct experience at domain leaders in security/PAM such as CyberArk, Delinea, or similar IAM space companies.
- Experience working with Graph databases (e.g., ArangoDB) or policy engines (e.g., OPA).
- Contributions to open-source infrastructure projects or technical blogging.
- Our Tech Stack Language: Go
- Infra: AWS, Serverless, Kubernetes
- Data: Postgres (RDS), ArangoDB (NoSQL)
- DevOps: GitHub Actions, Docker, Terraform, Helm L1-Hybrid P24965_3499455
- Supporting Your Well-Being
- Driving Social Impact
- Developing Talent and Fostering Connection + Community
Responsibilities
- We are seeking a Staff Backend Engineer to serve as the core technical anchor and senior Individual Contributor (IC) for our newly established engineering pod in India.
- At the P4 level, your primary sphere of influence will be at the team level —taking ownership of complex, ambiguous problems and defining how to solve them cleanly, securely, and efficiently.
- In this role, you will lead by example through hands-on architecture, high-velocity coding, and end-to-end execution.
- You will drive the implementation of secure database and network device connectors (routers, switches, firewalls) on top of our core Zero Standing Privileges (ZSP) platform.
- You will work closely with our local Technical Team
- Lead to elevate the pod’s engineering craft, acting as a technical multiplier for mid-level developers while ensuring tight architectural alignment with our global team.
- Execution & Technical Impact
- End-to-End Ownership: Consistently design, code, debug, test, monitor, and deploy performant backend services and connector plugins in Go.
- Define the "How": Take well-defined product goals and ambiguous technical challenges, break them down into modular technical designs, and execute them with minimal oversight.
- Component Architecture: Design reliable, scalable components for database scraping and network protocol management (SSH, Telnet, SNMP) using spikes, proof-of-concepts, and telemetry to back up architectural decisions.
- Operational Excellence & Engineering Craft
- Guardian Support & Incident Ownership: Actively participate in global on-call rotation.
- Demonstrate system-level understanding to troubleshoot complex incidents, perform root-cause analysis, and build remediation automation.
- Drive Team Velocity:
- Identify tech debt, streamline CI/CD pipelines, improve observability/alerting, and establish technical documentation to keep the team moving fast over the long term.
- Risk Management: Proactively spot technical risks, dependency gaps, and performance bottlenecks in your team's projects before they impact delivery.
- Team Multiplier & Strategic Alignment
- Technical Mentorship: Elevate the team's craft by conducting thorough, constructive code reviews, establishing best practices in Go, and pairing with P2/P3 engineers.
- Global Collaboration: Partner with global Technical Leads to review major design proposals, manage dependencies, and ensure local execution matches global architecture strategy.