Staff Technical Program Manager, Security

The Okta Security team’s mission is to strengthen Okta’s position as the leading Identity-as-a-Service solution through identifying and resolving risks to the employees, product, and most importantly, our customers. With the ever-increasing pace of cloud application adoption, companies are struggling to find ways to accurately assess risk and act at the speed of their business.

As a Staff Technical Program Manager supporting the Cyber Defense team, you will play a critical role in driving large-scale security projects. You will partner with our global Cyber Defense Operations and Engineering teams to design, build, and enhance the capabilities we use to protect Okta and our customers. This role requires exceptional leadership skills, demonstrated by an ability to influence and align stakeholders at all levels - from individual engineers to leadership. You’ll drive effective teamwork, resolve conflict, negotiate priorities, and foster a culture of shared commitment to a common goal.

The ideal candidate has extensive experience in cybersecurity and a proven track record of managing technical programs in a fast-paced, cloud-native environment. This position requires strong leadership, ownership and autonomy, and executive communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical challenges into clear, actionable plans.

Job Duties and Responsibilities:

• Manage large scale, complex initiatives across multiple teams; taking a hands-on and proactive approach to manage dependencies, unblock progress, define timelines, communicate commitments, and introduce efficiencies


• Operate with a high degree of autonomy and discretion, defining the path forward for complex technical and operational challenges with minimal guidance


• Unify and drive effective teamwork, communication, collaboration, and commitments across multiple disparate groups with competing priorities


• Anticipate and mitigate risks by having close involvement with team goals and challenges, applying past experience, and keeping the big picture in mind


• Lead the introduction of new processes and improvements to mature Cyber Defense capabilities and improve operational efficiency


• Develop and maintain metrics and dashboards to report on program status using Jira and other tools


• Collaborate across Okta to drive transparency of security programs

Minimum REQUIRED Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science or Management Information Systems, or equivalent experience


• 5+ years of experience in technical program management, with at least 3 years focused on cybersecurity


• Demonstrated ability to create structure and clarity from ambiguous, high-level directives, translating them into concrete and actionable roadmaps


• Extensive working experience with security or engineering teams


• Working knowledge of technical terms and concepts used in information security, privacy, risk and contingency planning


• Exceptional communication and collaboration skills with the ability to influence and align stakeholders across all levels


• Experience working with Atlassian products, specifically Jira and Confluence


• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills and the ability to “think-out-of-the-box”


• Strong oral and written communication skills


• Able to work independently and as part of a distributed, global team

Helpful Certifications / Skills:

• Certified ScrumMaster (CSM)


• Program Management Professional (PMP)


• Security certifications such as CISSP, CISM, or other relevant credentials


• Technical background in security engineering, security operations, or incident response


• Familiarity with Okta’s products and services

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