Get to know Okta

Okta 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