[Hiring] Staff Software Engineer, Identity & Access - AI Platform @Redpanda Data

Role Description

Identity is one of the two gates every enterprise puts in front of agentic AI before it touches production data — alongside observability, it is what turns a compelling demo into something a security team will actually approve. We already ship a per-data-plane OAuth 2.1 authorization server and token vault, delegated tool access, and support for external agent clients (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Copilot Studio) connecting in through governed paths. What comes next — how an agent acts on behalf of a human or another agent, how that delegation is proven and audited rather than assumed, and how Redpanda's identity model federates with (rather than replaces) a customer's existing IdP — is still being actively defined, inside Redpanda and across the industry. Standards for agent identity, delegated authorization, and on-behalf-of (OBO) access patterns are moving fast and are genuinely unsettled: this is a domain where the right technical bet made now becomes a durable competitive advantage, and the wrong one becomes years of migration pain.

We're looking for a Staff Software Engineer to own that direction end to end — AuthN, AuthZ, and OBO for agents — as a charter that spans both Agentic Data Plane and the Cloud platform it runs on. This is a high-autonomy, high-influence individual contributor role: you will set the technical bet Redpanda makes on an evolving landscape, then roll up your sleeves and build it, not just architect it and hand it off.

Qualifications

• A recognized technical authority on identity, access, and delegation systems.
• Excited to roll up your sleeves and deliver objective results.
• Able to lead through influence rather than authority.
• Eager to thrive in a fast-growing startup environment.
• Accountable, with a sense of ownership, and self-driven.

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience in software development and delivery, with deep expertise in authentication, authorization, or identity systems.
• Production experience with OAuth 2.0/2.1, OIDC, token exchange or delegation patterns (e.g. RFC 8693, on-behalf-of flows).
• A strong, current point of view on agent identity standards.
• Experience designing systems that must federate with existing identity providers.
• A track record of driving technical direction across multiple teams or orgs as an individual contributor.
• Comfortable working with a globally distributed engineering team.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Benefits

• U.S. base salary range for this role is $220,000 - $260,000.
• Consideration of each candidate's job-related skills, location, experience, relevant education or training to determine individual base salary.

Company Description

Join Redpanda if you’d enjoy being part of a fast-moving, diverse, people-first organization with team members around the globe and a culture based on trust, transparency, communication, and kindness. You'll dive into a nimble, high-impact team with the latest AI tools — and the budget to actually use them.