Secure Every Identity, from AI to Human. Identity is the key to unlocking the potential of AI. Okta secures AI by building a trusted, neutral infrastructure that enables organizations to safely embrace this new era.
The Okta Digital Credentials
TeamThe Okta Digital Credentials team is building the future of digital identity. The way we prove our identity online is undergoing a fundamental shift, moving from scanning physical documents to using secure, portable digital credentials. In a world with AI‑driven fraud, one‑time verification is no longer enough; To address this massive need, our focus is on building a Verifiable Digital Credentials (VDCs) platform to power this new ecosystem.
VDCs are reusable digital records that prove identity, qualifications, or skills instantly, giving holders control to share only what’s necessary. We are responsible for the infrastructure, user‑facing features, and business of verifying, issuing, and holding VDCs for enterprise customers.
The Staff Software Engineer
OpportunityAs a Staff Backend Engineer on the Okta Digital Credentials (ODC) team, you will define the technical direction of a new VDC identity ecosystem and set the standard for how we build it. This role demands deep technical expertise in backend architecture and the ability to influence decisions across the team and adjacent engineering groups. A distinctive part of this role is setting the team’s standard for AI‑native engineering.
This isn’t about using autocomplete faster – it’s about rethinking how a small, senior team ships production‑quality code at pace. In practice, that means using AI tools for architectural reasoning and design review, generating and validating test coverage, accelerating code review cycles, and helping engineers build judgment about when AI output is trustworthy and when it isn’t. You’ll also be a force multiplier – mentoring senior engineers, raising the technical bar through architecture.
Proactively shape the technical strategy and architecture of a greenfield VDC identity ecosystem, partnering with principal engineers to ensure decisions prioritize open standards and interoperability.
Own architectural decisions in a fast‑moving environment – balancing rapid delivery with long‑term scalability, security, and platform integrity. Identify and mitigate technical risks before they become blockers; Own production health for your systems – incident response, root cause identification, and driving operational improvement projects (monitoring coverage, alert reduction, runbook quality).
Champion high engineering standards across the team, including rigorous code reviews, comprehensive unit/functional testing, and architectural review processes to ensure the platform is tamper‑proof. Drive continual evolution in the adoption of AI‑native development practices, helping the team rethink how we design, review, and ship software with AI as a core part of the workflow. Proactively identify and prioritize technical debt; Partner with Product and Design to understand and own the desired customer outcome, not just the technical deliverable.
Actively invest in the growth of peer engineers, taking responsibility for raising the technical bar of the team as a whole. Operates well beyond basic AI tool usage – understands how to apply AI meaningfully across the full software development lifecycle, can evaluate and adopt new AI tooling with good judgment, and is able to establish practices and bring a team along. Proven experience defining scalable backend architectures and integrating complex APIs with modern web technologies – including the ability to make and defend architectural decisions with lasting org‑wide impact.
Solid understanding of web authentication and authorization fundamentals – how auth flows work, token‑based access (JWT, OAuth), and best practices for securing sensitive user data. Deep expertise in building highly reliable, secure, enterprise‑grade software using Java Node.Js .
Solid understanding of cloud architecture principles, with experience designing and operating large‑scale services on AWS.
Hands‑on experience with identity protocols such as OIDC4VP, OIDC4VCI, OAuth, and the W3C Verifiable Credentials data model. Prior experience leading a team of engineers through a meaningful shift in ways of working – whether around AI adoption, developer tooling, or engineering culture change.
Practical knowledge of cryptography: public/private key infrastructure (PKI), digital signatures, and hashing, particularly in the context of Verifiable Credentials or DIDs.
Experience building or maintaining publicly released SDKs used by external developers. In addition, Okta offers equity (where applicable), bonus, and benefits, including health, dental, and vision insurance, RRSP with a match, healthcare spending, telemedicine, and paid leave (including PTO and parental leave) in accordance with our applicable plans and policies. The annual base salary range for this position for candidates located in Canada is between: $160,000 CAD - $220,000 CAD.
Driving Social Impact Developing
Talent and Fostering Connection + Community Our global community, spanning over 20 offices worldwide, is united by a drive to innovate. 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.
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.
📌 Staff Backend Engineer - Digital Credentials (Winnipeg)
🏢 Okta
📍 Winnipeg