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Principal Software Engineer

Join Okta as a Principal Software Engineer to shape enterprise-grade software for access governance at scale.

Location
San Francisco, California, United States
Compensation
$224k–$308k/yr
Level
principal
Type
full time

Posted by employer 3 days ago

First seen on Joblaze 1 day ago

Last verified on the company career page 5 hours ago

What you'll build

  • Take end-to-end ownership of feature areas
  • Design, build, and ship high-quality features
  • Quickly deliver high-quality bug fixes
  • Write clean, well-tested, maintainable code
  • Partner with Product Development, QA, and Site Reliability Engineering teams

Must have

  • 10+ years of software engineering experience
  • 3+ years in a senior or staff-level technical leadership role
  • Proven track record of architecting and delivering large-scale systems
  • Deep expertise in microservices and APIs
  • Strong proficiency in Java, Kotlin, or Go

Nice to have

  • Experience building IAM/IGA products
  • Familiarity with workflow engines
  • Experience with enterprise SaaS platforms
  • Hands-on experience with cloud infrastructure

Practical constraints

  • Must be on US Soil

Requirements

Experience
10+ years
Education
Bachelor's degree

Not disclosed in this posting: work arrangement, visa sponsorship.

Benefits

401k Match Paid Leave Equity/Stock Options Health Insurance

Joblaze summary

In the role of Principal Software Engineer at Okta, the individual will take ownership of the design, development, and maintenance of enterprise-grade software features, ensuring they are secure and scalable. Key skills include expertise in microservices, APIs, and proficiency in languages like Java or Go, with a strong emphasis on delivering high-quality, production-ready code. This position is ideal for seasoned engineers with over a decade of experience, particularly those who have previously led technical initiatives in complex systems. The team focuses on building robust identity and access management solutions that cater to a diverse range of enterprise customers.

Joblaze insights

  • Listed yesterday — first seen on Joblaze October 2, 2026. Last confirmed on Okta's careers page October 3, 2026.
  • This exact title is also open at 5 other locations at Okta: Bengaluru, India, Bengaluru, India, Bengaluru, India, Bengaluru, India, Bengaluru, India.
  • Salary band is above the typical range for Backend roles (median ~$180,000).
  • Starts above 71% of 21 comparable principal backend roles in United States we track (median $214,000 across 13 companies).

Quick facts

What's the salary range?
Okta lists $224,000–$308,000 for this role.
How much experience is required?
At least 10 years of relevant experience for this Principal Software Engineer role.
What's the tech stack?
Joblaze extracted these technologies from the posting: APIs, Go, Java, Kotlin, Microservices, data modeling.
What seniority level is this role?
Okta targets principal-level candidates for this position.
Is this full-time or contract?
Full-time for this Principal Software Engineer role at Okta.

From the original posting

Secure Every Identity, from AI to Human

Opportunity

As a Principal Engineer on the OIG team, you will be involved into development, design, and maintenance of our product to serve enterprise customers at scale. You will involve the architecture and evolution of our product features — spanning the across different access governance personas — and work collaboratively across engineering, product, and design to deliver features that are secure, scalable, and delightful to use.

This is a role for someone who thinks in systems, leads with craft, and is energized by the challenge of building enterprise-grade software that millions of users depend on.

This is a rare opportunity to join a team where your technical decisions will directly shape how thousands of enterprises manage access governance at scale, where the technical challenges are genuinely hard, and where the work you ship will be seen and felt by real users every day.

Job Duties And Responsibilities

  • Take end-to-end ownership of feature areas — from technical design through implementation, testing, deployment, and post-launch monitoring
  • Design, build, and ship high-quality, production-ready features across the OIG system, with a focus on correctness, reliability, and performance
  • Quickly deliver high-quality bug fixes and handle customer-reported issues
  • Write clean, well-tested, maintainable code and hold yourself and teammates to a high bar for engineering quality
  • Partner with our Product Development, QA, and Site Reliability Engineering teams for scoping the development and deployment work

Required Knowledge, Skills, And Abilities

  • 10+ years of software engineering experience, with at least 3+ years in a senior or staff-level technical leadership role
  • Proven track record of architecting and delivering large-scale, distributed systems in production environments serving enterprise customers
  • Deep expertise in microservices, event-driven architectures, APIs, and data modeling at scale
  • Strong proficiency in one or more of: Java, Kotlin, Go, or equivalent JVM/cloud-native languages used in Okta's backend stack
  • Demonstrated ability to influence without authority — driving technical alignment across multiple teams and stakeholders
  • Experience designing systems that meet enterprise reliability, scalability, and security requirements (think: multi-tenancy, high availability, audit logging, RBAC/ABAC)
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to make complex technical topics accessible to both engineers and non-engineers

Preferred if you have experience in any of the following!

  • Experience building identity, access management, or governance (IAM/IGA) products or platforms
  • Familiarity with workflow engines or approval/routing systems (e.g., finite state machines, BPM-style systems)
  • Experience with enterprise SaaS platforms serving large, complex customer organizations
  • Hands-on experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and modern observability tooling

Education

  • B.S. Computer Science or equivalent

Additional requirements:

  • There is no citizenship requirement. The Okta employee must be on US Soil, which means the 50 states, the District of Columbia, or outlying areas of the United States, as defined in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 2.101

#P25914_3566727

The annual base salary range for this position for candidates located in the San Francisco Bay area is between:
$224,000—$308,000 USD

Below is the annual base salary range for candidates located in California (excluding San Francisco Bay Area), Colorado, Illinois, New York and Washington. Your actual base salary will depend on factors such as your skills, qualifications, experience, and work location. In addition, Okta offers equity (where applicable), bonus, and benefits, including health, dental and vision insurance, 401(k), flexible spending account, and paid leave (including PTO and parental leave) in accordance with our applicable plans and policies. To learn more about our Total Rewards program please visit: https://rewards.okta.com/us.

The annual base salary range for this position for candidates located in California (excluding San Francisco Bay Area), Colorado, Illinois, New York, and Washington is between:
$200,000—$275,000 USD

The Okta Experience

Standard company text repeated across Okta's postings is omitted here.

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