Staff software engineer for advanced threat protection at Okta Bengaluru, researching and building defenses against novel AI attacks on Auth0.

This full-time Bengaluru role was posted on 7 October 2026. The listing describes researching and leading how AI can protect customer tenants - both proactively, hardening posture before an attack, and reactively - and researching and building protections against novel AI attacks that Auth0 and its customers can face, including adversarial and prompt-injection styles. Requirements include hands-on experience with AI/ML security, attacking, defending or both, and 8+ years in security engineering with a track record of setting technical vision and driving cross-functional work.

About Okta

Okta builds identity and access management software: workforce identity (single sign-on, multi-factor authentication, lifecycle management) and customer identity products, plus Auth0 for developers. Its own listings describe the mission as securing every identity, from AI to human.

Okta runs a large engineering centre in Bengaluru working on core product areas, alongside its global offices. Listings for India roles cover engineering, security, SRE and business technology functions. Learn more on Okta's website.

The role in plain terms

This is a rare genuine AI-security role: both directions are in scope - using AI for defense and defending against AI-based attacks like prompt injection. The research-and-build combination means you propose the protection roadmap and ship it, with the staff bar expecting cross-organizational influence. Identity is where AI attacks land first (credential attacks, agent impersonation), so the work is near the frontier of the field.

The team and the work

Per the listing, the product surface is Auth0 and its customer tenants, and the role involves setting technical vision - a leadership-without-management staff mandate. The 8+ years requirement is explicit.

What the employer asks for

These requirements are quoted from the employer's listing, kept in their exact words so eligibility details are not distorted:

You have hands-on experience with AI/ML security — attacking, defending, or both (e.g., adversarial ML, LLM/prompt-injection attacks, agentic-system or model abuse), and an interest in...
8+ years of experience in security engineering, with a proven track record of setting technical vision, driving cross-organizational initiatives, and leading architectural choices in cloud/product...
Demonstrated experience mentoring senior-level engineers, defining multi-quarter technical strategy, driving architectural consensus, and influencing cross-organizational security initiatives.
You have hands-on development experience — Go preferred — sufficient to prototype tooling, build AI-powered defenses, and operationalize your research
You have working knowledge and hands-on experience with one or more of the following:
AWS and/or Azure security
Kubernetes
You have strong knowledge of OWASP (including the OWASP Top 10 for LLM Applications) and secure coding best practices

Who this role suits

Security engineers with 8+ years and real AI/ML security experience - adversarial ML, LLM or prompt-injection defense. Not for security engineers whose AI exposure is theoretical; the listing demands hands-on work.

Practical notes

For AI-security staff roles, expect deep discussion of attack techniques and defense design, plus how you drive adoption of protections across teams. Public work - talks, writeups, research - carries weight in this niche.

Working at Okta

Engineering work at Okta centres on identity infrastructure at high scale: authentication, authorization, directory and security services that sit on the critical path of customer logins.

How to apply

Apply directly on the employer's site: Staff Software Engineer - Advanced Threat Protection at Okta. We found this listing on the Greenhouse public job board (okta.com), where it was posted on 7 Oct 2026 and was still open when we checked on 30 Oct 2026. Before applying, re-read the employer's own description in full, since eligibility details, deadlines and process steps can change at any time and the employer's page is always the final word. Tailor your resume to the specific requirements above rather than sending a generic one: mirror the skills and tools the listing names where you genuinely have them. A short, specific note on why this team and this problem interest you goes further than a long generic cover letter. Never pay a fee to apply or interview; genuine employers, including this one, do not charge candidates.

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