Staff DevOps Data Engineer

Washington, DC

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.

The Global Data & Insights Team

Okta's Enterprise Data & Insights team powers the data infrastructure that drives decision-making across the company by building reliable pipelines, scalable data platforms, and production-grade data products. We partner closely with internal Data and Insights Analysts as well as external Okta Product teams to unlock business value through robust data architecture, efficient data movement, and the engineering foundations that make data trustworthy at scale.       

 

The Staff DevOps Data Engineer Opportunity

Okta's Enterprise Data Platform and Engineering team builds the platforms and capabilities that power decision-making across the entire organization. As a DevOps Engineer on this team, you will be integral to building and sustaining strong relationships with our Engineering, Technical Operations, and Technology partners. You will act as a key liaison, responsible for designing, building, securing, and automating the infrastructure deployment processes specifically for our Federal Data Platform. You will be part of a team doing detailed technical designs and implementing applications using cutting-edge technology within a high-security, high-compliance environment.

What you’ll be doing

  • Build and maintain the core infrastructure for our Federal Data Platform, using Python, Go, and other relevant
     technologies to ensure automation and reliability across the AWS cloud environment.
  • Partner with data engineers to design and implement secure, automated CI/CD pipelines that include static analysis security testing (SAST) for Infrastructure as Code (e.g., Checkov, tfsec) to proactively detect misconfigurations such as unencrypted EBS volumes, overly permissive IAM policies, and non-compliant resource definitions.
  • Strengthen Okta's software delivery processes by enhancing pipeline automation, delivery tools, and configuration management.
  • Design, build, and maintain hardened container golden images, owning the end-to-end lifecycle from base image creation through automated distribution, vulnerability scanning (e.g., Trivy, Grype), and enforcing image provenance across deployment environments.
  • Investigate and remediate operational findings within our regulated environments, collaborating with other DevOps teams and subject matter experts.
  • Own the vulnerability management lifecycle for the platform, including scanning, prioritizing, and coordinating the remediation of identified vulnerabilities.
  • Identify manual security processes that introduce human error and design long-term automated solutions to eliminate those risks — replacing tribal knowledge and ad-hoc procedures with repeatable, auditable pipelines.
  • Ensure strict adherence to federal compliance standards (e.g., FedRAMP) and Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs), even when delivery timelines create pressure to deviate — serving as a champion for maintaining security posture without compromising federal requirements.
  • Implement and maintain comprehensive application monitoring and automated security checks within code repositories and deployment pipelines.

What you’ll bring to the role

  • Experience: 5+ years of experience automating and deploying large-scale production services in AWS, especially with containerized services like Docker, ECS, and EKS.
  • CI/CD Expertise: Strong proficiency in managing CI/CD infrastructures and tools like GitHub Actions, Jenkins, ArgoCD, or GitLab to streamline and secure deployment pipelines — including integrating security scanning gates (SAST, container scanning, IaC validation) as first-class pipeline stages rather than afterthoughts.
  • IaC and Networking: Strong experience in AWS network engineering and managing infrastructure as code using tools like Terraform or CloudFormation, with hands-on use of IaC security scanning tools (e.g., Checkov, tfsec, Bridgecrew) to catch misconfigurations before they reach production — going beyond terraform validate to enforce organizational security policies programmatically.
  • Programming Skills: 3+ years of hands-on experience with Python, Go, or similar backend languages.
  • Security Mindset: Experience with system hardening, applying security standards like STIGs, and hands-on experience with vulnerability management tools and processes (e.g., Nessus, Qualys, Trivy). Demonstrated ability to build and maintain hardened golden images with documented creation, scanning, and distribution workflows. Relevant technical or security certifications are a plus.
  • Proven Automation Record: A demonstrated history of identifying manual processes that introduce security risk and replacing them with automated, auditable solutions that eliminate human error — not just scripting tasks, but designing systems that enforce correctness by default.
  • Federal Security Conviction: A track record of maintaining compliance standards under deadline pressure. You can articulate how you've navigated situations where security protocols or STIG requirements conflicted with delivery timelines — and you chose to uphold the standard while finding creative paths to meet the mission.
  • U.S. Person Status: This position requires the ability to access federal environments. As a condition of employment, you must be able to submit documentation establishing U.S. Person status (e.g., U.S. Citizen, Lawful Permanent Resident, Refugee, or Asylee) upon hire.

What you can look forward to as an Okta employee!

Okta is an Equal Opportunity Employer/Affirmative Action 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 participate in the job application or interview process, please use this Form to request an accommodation.

Okta is committed to complying with applicable data privacy and security laws and regulations. For more information, please see our Privacy Policy at https://www.okta.com/privacy-policy/

Each organization is unique in the degree of flexibility and mobility in which they work so that all employees are enabled to be their most creative and successful versions of themselves, regardless of where they live. Find your place at Okta today! https://www.okta.com/company/careers/.

Okta is an Equal Opportunity Employer/Affirmative Action 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 participate in the job application or interview process, please use this Form to request an accommodation.

Okta is committed to complying with applicable data privacy and security laws and regulations. For more information, please see our Privacy Policy at https://www.okta.com/privacy-policy/.

 

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The Okta Experience

We are intentional about connection. Our global community, spanning over 20 offices worldwide, is united by a drive to innovate. Your journey begins with an immersive, in-person onboarding experience designed to accelerate your impact and connect you to our mission and team from day one.

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.

Notice for New York City Applicants & Employees: Okta may use Automated Employment Decision Tools (AEDT), as defined by New York City Local Law 144, that use artificial intelligence, machine learning, or other automated processes to assist in our recruitment and hiring process. In accordance with NYC Local Law 144, if you are an applicant or employee residing in New York City, please click here to view our full NYC AEDT Notice.

Okta is committed to complying with applicable data privacy and security laws and regulations. For more information, please see our Personnel and Job Candidate Privacy Notice at https://www.okta.com/legal/personnel-policy/.

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