Get to know OktaOkta is The World’s Identity Company. We free everyone to safely use any technology—anywhere, on any device or app. Our Workforce and Customer Identity Clouds enable secure yet flexible access, authentication, and automation that transforms how people move through the digital world, putting Identity at the heart of business security and growth. At Okta, we celebrate a variety of perspectives and experiences. We are not looking for someone who checks every single box - we’re looking for lifelong learners and people who can make us better with their unique experiences. Join our team! We’re building a world where Identity belongs to you.

 

Senior Director, Defensive Cyber Operations

We safeguard Okta from threats and vulnerabilities that have the potential to disrupt our business or degrade our customers’ trust in us.

In addition to driving security in our enterprise environment and Okta service, the Security team is deeply entrenched in the Okta business. The team contributes to product roadmaps, promoting trust, research and other strategic aspects of Okta’s operations. We work across multiple functions, business partners and the research community. We are an engineering-focused team that seeks to stay on the cutting edge of security technology and the threat landscape.

The Role

Okta is seeking an experienced Senior Director of Defensive Cyber Operations to lead our global threat detection and incident response efforts. Reporting to the VP of Cyber Defense, this role is responsible for safeguarding Okta’s product and enterprise environments by overseeing a global cybersecurity team distributed across Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ), Europe, and North America. The Senior Director will drive the strategic vision, operational execution, and continuous enhancement of our threat detection and incident response capabilities.

This leadership position requires a technical and operational expert with extensive experience in modern threat detection and incident response practices. The ideal candidate will be adept at managing large, distributed teams and capable of making high-stakes decisions in fast-paced, complex environments.

The successful candidate will report directly to the VP of Cyber Defense in Okta’s Security team. 

 

Core Responsibilities

 

 

Leadership, Collaboration & Strategy

• Lead a global team of cybersecurity professionals who develop innovative detection capabilities, hunt for suspicious activity, monitor alerts and escalations, respond to cybersecurity incidents across APJ, Europe, and North America.
• Foster a culture of excellence, collaboration, and continuous improvement within the team, providing mentorship, performance management, and career development opportunities.
• Define the next iteration of Okta’s global strategy and vision for threat detection and incident response capabilities, ensuring alignment with the broader cyber defense and business strategies.
• Partner with engineering, product, IT, and compliance teams to ensure security monitoring and response processes are integrated into Okta’s product lifecycle and enterprise infrastructure.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives to strengthen Okta’s cyber defense posture, leveraging automation and advanced analytics.
• Ensure the team is prepared for emerging threats through regular participation in purple team exercises and development and execution of tabletop simulations.
• Act as a trusted cybersecurity advisor to senior leadership, providing regular briefings on detection and response metrics, incident post-mortems, and overall security posture.
• Collaborate with the Legal, People, and Compliance teams on investigations, regulatory reporting, and security-related audits.

 

Threat Hunting

• Develop and oversee the execution of proactive threat hunting programs to identify and mitigate advanced persistent threats (APTs) and sophisticated adversaries targeting Okta’s infrastructure.
• Collaborate with the Threat Analysis & Research team to integrate threat intelligence and adversarial engineering into detection and response efforts, staying ahead of new and emerging cyber threats.
• Establish metrics and reporting to demonstrate the effectiveness and coverage of threat-hunting activities.

 

Threat Detection & Monitoring

• Maintain and prioritize technical and non-technical requirements for the detection and response function, liaising with key business partners to ensure the timely and effective delivery of required technologies, access and shared processes.
• Prioritize detection opportunities and ensure a robust detection development process with an ongoing quality assurance program in order to maintain an effective suite of detection capabilities.
• Collaborate with the Defensive Cyber Engineering, Threat Analysis & Research, and Insider Threat teams to ensure continuous tuning and improvement of detection capabilities based on evolving threat landscapes.
• Drive automation and orchestration of security operations to optimize response times and reduce manual processes.

 

Incident Response

• Lead the global response to cybersecurity incidents, ensuring minimal disruption to business operations.
• Develop and maintain an appropriate set of documents such as processes and communication protocols to handle both routine and complex cybersecurity incidents.
• Serve as the escalation point for high-severity incidents and crisis situations, providing direction and executive-level communication throughout the incident lifecycle.
• Leverage and enhance internal processes to turn lessons learned into actionable objectives to further secure Okta’s environments and educate our employees through collaboration with relevant stakeholders across the organization.

 

Reporting & Metrics

• Establish and track key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of detection and response operations.
• Provide executive-level reporting on security incidents, threat trends, and operational metrics, with recommendations for continuous improvement.

What does it take?

You’re a leader. People want to work with you and for you. You know what it takes to build a world-class detection and response program and you’re passionate about helping make ours stronger.  

You’re a team player. You have great communications skills and a thirst for knowledge. You understand the motivations of malicious actors and how they seek to target and compromise modern zero trust environments and platforms and cloud environments. You’re experienced and passionate about building detection and response programs and you’re excited at the prospect of doing so in a company that protects millions of users’ online lives every day. You’re security-minded but also pragmatic, and have a demonstrated ability to weigh and measure risk appropriately. You’re calm under pressure and have a good internal compass for taking calculated risks. 

 

Requirements

• A degree in a relevant field would be beneficial but is not required. We value real-world experience and demonstrable skills in cyber threat detection, investigations, and response.
• Minimum of 12 years of relevant experience, with a proven track record of successfully leading teams of 25+ employees distributed across the globe, building and implementing detection and response capabilities, and leading the response to large scale, publicly acknowledged incidents.
• Ability to handle sensitive information with a high degree of integrity and discretion

  Okta’s Top 5 Core Leadership Competencies are part of the deeply ingrained principles that guide all of our company’s actions. They also align strongly to our cultural cornerstones, our Okta values: love our customers, empower our people, never stop innovating, act with integrity, and maintain transparency. It’s our expectation that our managers and leaders embody these core competencies:

• Builds Effective Teams: Building strong-identity teams that apply their diverse skills and perspectives to achieve common goals.          
• Demonstrates Self-Awareness (EQ): Using a combination of feedback and reflection to gain productive insight into personal strengths and weaknesses.
• Develops Talent: Developing people to meet both their career goals and the organization’s goals.
• Drives Results: Consistently achieving results, even under tough circumstances.
• Strategic Mindset: Seeing ahead to future possibilities and translating them into breakthrough strategies.

The annual base salary range for this position for candidates located in the San Francisco Bay area is between: $226,000—$340,000 USD

Below is the annual base salary range for candidates located in California, Colorado, 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, New York, and Washington is between:$202,000—$302,000 USD

What you can look forward to as an Full-Time Okta employee!

• Amazing Benefits
• Making Social Impact
• Fostering Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging at Okta 

Okta cultivates a dynamic work environment, providing the best tools, technology and benefits to empower our employees to work productively in a setting that best and uniquely suits their needs. Each organization is unique in the degree of flexibility and mobility in which they work so that all employees are enabled to be their most creative and successful versions of themselves, regardless of where they live. Find your place at Okta today! https://www.okta.com/company/careers/.

Okta is an Equal Opportunity Employer. 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. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, please use this Form to request an accommodation.

Okta is committed to complying with applicable data privacy and security laws and regulations. For more information, please see our Privacy Policy at https://www.okta.com/privacy-policy/.