Senior Manager, Defensive Cyber Operations (Americas)

San Francisco

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 Manager, 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 Manager of Defensive Cyber Operations (Americas) to play a key role in Okta’s global cyber defense strategy, reporting to the Senior Director, Defensive Cyber Operations. You will lead the regional Americas team responsible for detecting, investigating, and responding to security threats and incidents. Your leadership will help shape Okta’s security posture, ensuring swift and effective responses to emerging cyber threats.

Core Responsibilities Team Leadership & Development
  • Lead, mentor, and develop a team of detection engineers, and incident responders.
  • Foster a culture of continuous learning, collaboration, and operational excellence.
  • Ensure team members have clear goals, growth opportunities, and the tools they need to succeed.
Threat Detection & Incident Response
  • Oversee the identification, investigation, and response to security threats across Okta’s global operations during the Americas shift.
  • Ensure rapid response and containment of cyber incidents, coordinating cross-functional efforts when needed.
  • Lead post-incident reviews and drive improvements to detection and response capabilities.
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.
Process & Technology Enhancement
  • Continuously improve detection and response processes, integrating automation and ensuring quality in all aspects of the team's work.
  • Optimize the use of security tools, such as SIEM, EDR, and case management platforms.
  • Partner with engineering and IT teams to enhance security visibility and response capabilities.
Collaboration & Communication
  • Work closely with security leadership, IT, and engineering teams to strengthen Okta’s security posture.
  • Communicate key security risks, incidents, and trends to senior leadership.
  • Contribute to Okta’s broader security strategy and advocate for cyber resilience across the company.
What does it take?

 

You’re a team player. You have great communications skills and a thirst for knowledge. You’re curious about systems and how they interact, knowing that to properly defend a system you must first understand how it works. You enjoy automating tasks and if you can’t find a tool for the job you create one. You’re calm under pressure and have a good internal compass for taking calculated risks.

 

If you don’t have a degree, you have equivalent experience that’s given you the foundational knowledge to understand complex computing environments.

 

You’re a leader. People want to work with you. You know what it takes to build a world-class defensive cyber capability and you’re passionate about helping make ours stronger. Your experience probably includes:

  • Leading, or contributing to, technology focused teams large or small.
  • Mentoring staff and providing development opportunities to build high performing teams.
  • Operating as, or providing support to, the incident commander or technical lead during cyber security incidents.
  • Developing advanced detection capabilities, working with detection-as-code, and automating the triage and response of alerts they generate.

 

Ideally you also have experience in several of the following areas:

  • Researching the tactics, techniques and procedures of sophisticated adversaries and hunting for evidence of them within an enterprise environment.
  • Developing detection and response validation techniques and automating tests to enable continuous assurance of defensive cyber capabilities.
  • Analysing critical systems to understand both how to break them and defend them against attack.
  • Working collaboratively within product and/or enterprise project teams, assisting to deliver large and complex technology solutions.
  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.

#LI-REMOTE

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:$193,000—$289,000 USD The annual base salary range for this position for candidates located in the San Francisco Bay area is between: $216,000—$324,000 USD

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

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, interview process, or onboarding 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/. 

U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Information
Read more

Individuals seeking employment at this company are considered without regards to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identity, or sexual orientation. When submitting your application above, you are being given the opportunity to provide information about your race/ethnicity, gender, and veteran status. This information helps us support or diversity, inclusion, and belonging efforts, as well as maintain fair and equitable hiring practices.

Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Pay Transparency

Okta complies with all applicable federal, state, and local pay transparency rules. For additional information about the federal requirements, click here.

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability
Form CC-305
Page 1 of 1
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 04/30/2026

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years. Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/agencies/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.

Okta
The foundation for secure connections between people and technology

Okta is the leading independent provider of identity for the enterprise. The Okta Identity Cloud enables organizations to securely connect the right people to the right technologies at the right time. With over 7,000 pre-built integrations to applications and infrastructure providers, Okta customers can easily and securely use the best technologies for their business. More than 19,300 organizations, including JetBlue, Nordstrom, Slack, T-Mobile, Takeda, Teach for America, and Twilio, trust Okta to help protect the identities of their workforces and customers.

Follow Okta
Share on Linkedin Share on Youtube

Apply

Resume
Upload Resume/CV (PDF must be less than 8 MB )
Cover Letter
Upload Cover Letter (PDF must be less than 8 MB )
I acknowledge and agree to the processing of my personal data in accordance with Okta's Privacy Policy.

https://www.okta.com/privacy-policy/

(California residents, click here)

I would like to be considered for future positions at Okta.
U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Information (Click here for instructions)

We request this data to promote diversity, inclusion, and belonging and to ensure we maintain fair and equitable hiring practices. Responding to the survey is voluntary.