Software Engineer - Identity and Authorization

Baseten
San Francisco +3 more
Hybrid

Who this role is best for

Strong fit for backend engineers who design and implement fine-grained authorization systems and work in multi-tenant environments.

Best fit for

  • Candidates with experience in building authorization systems for multi-tenant platforms and working with enterprise security requirements
    — “multi-tenant systems at scale, where authorization checks sit in the request path
  • Engineers with a background in developing low-latency, high-compliance access control systems
    — “low-latency permission checks at high request volume, consistent contracts and behaviors

Things to consider

  • The role demands full-stack involvement, including cloud infrastructure and application code
    — “Comfort working across the full stack, from product and application code to cloud and Kubernetes infrastructure
  • Candidates should be prepared to work with enterprise IT teams on governance and compliance workflows
    — “admin controls for centralized visibility, auditability, and governance over credentials, roles, and access

How to stand out

  • Highlight experience with policy engines or systems like Zanzibar, OpenFGA, or Cedar in your resume and interviews
    — “per-resource or per-object permissions, relationship-based access control, a policy engine
  • Emphasize your ability to lead and mentor as the team grows and scales its systems
    — “Provide technical leadership and mentorship as the team grows
  • Showcase projects where you designed authorization systems that were extended and iterated upon post-launch
    — “you've taken a system from first design through implementation, production rollout, and iteration with users
Pace · SteadyCollaboration · HighAutonomy · HighDecision Impact · Team

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • fine-grained authorization system
  • programmatic authentication
  • agent credentials
  • enterprise identity lifecycle
  • admin controls
Typical background
4-5+ years of experience building production backend systemsend-to-end ownership

Skills & requirements

Required

Identity ManagementAccess ControlOauth 2.0OIDCSAMLSCIMRole-based Access ControlPolicy-based Access ControlAttribute-based Access ControlProgrammatic AuthenticationAgent CredentialsEnterprise Identity LifecycleSingle Sign-onSCIM ProvisioningSession Expiry PoliciesAdmin ControlsObservabilitySecurityAPI DesignData Modeling

Preferred

ZanzibarOpenfgaSpicedbCedar

Stack & domain

Backend SystemsAuthorization SystemCredential SystemsAdmin ExperiencesMulti-tenant SystemsLow-latency Permission ChecksHigh Request VolumeSecurity GuaranteesMission-critical WorkloadsProgrammatic AuthenticationService PrinciplesShort-lived CredentialsAgent CredentialsEnterprise Identity LifecycleSingle Sign-onSCIM ProvisioningSession Expiry PoliciesAdmin ControlsCentralized VisibilityAuditabilityGovernanceIdentity And AuthorizationEnterprise EngineeringAI CompaniesMission-critical InferenceEnterprise Security RequirementsTechnical SolutionsEngineering PracticesQualitySecurityObservabilityOperational OwnershipTechnical LeadershipMentorship

About the role

Original posting from Baseten via Ashby

ABOUT BASETEN

Baseten powers mission-critical inference for the world's most dynamic AI companies, like Cursor, Notion, OpenEvidence, Abridge, Clay, Gamma, and Writer. By uniting applied AI research, flexible infrastructure, and seamless developer tooling, we enable companies operating at the frontier of AI to bring cutting-edge models into production. We're growing quickly and recently raised our $1.5B Series F https://www.baseten.co/blog/announcing-our-series-f/, led by Altimeter Capital, Conviction Partners, and Spark Capital. Join us and help build the platform engineers turn to ship AI products.

THE ROLE

The largest, most demanding enterprises run on Baseten, and they bring exacting requirements for how people, services, and agents access the platform. This is the founding role for our identity and authorization team within enterprise engineering. You'll own the identity and access layer of the Baseten platform: the authorization model, credential systems, and admin experiences that enterprise IT teams use to govern access for organizations like Harvey, HubSpot, and Notion.

You'll design and build Baseten's fine-grained authorization system from the ground up to support the workflows customers depend on today while giving them cleaner, more precise ways to manage access as the platform grows. Authorization at Baseten requires low-latency permission checks at high request volume, consistent contracts and behaviors across the product suite, and strong security guarantees for mission-critical, highly regulated workloads.

EXAMPLE INITIATIVES

Recent and upcoming work in this area:

  • Fine-grained authorization for users, service accounts, and agentic workloads: per-resource permissions at the organization, team, and workload scope to support both common workflows and complex enterprise access policies
  • Programmatic authentication allowing high-compliance customers to connect service principles securely via short-lived, workload-based credentials
  • Agent credentials that grant an agent exactly the access it needs for the given task and nothing more
  • Enterprise identity lifecycle including single sign-on, SCIM provisioning, and per-organization session expiry policies
  • Admin controls for centralized visibility, auditability, and governance over credentials, roles, and access

RESPONSIBILITIES

  • Lead identity and authorization projects from problem definition and technical design through implementation, launch, and iteration.
  • Design authorization and credential models that support critical user workflows today and can be safely extended as the platform evolves.
  • Partner with product, design, and customer-facing teams to turn enterprise security requirements into durable technical solutions.
  • Establish engineering practices for quality, security, observability, and operational ownership.
  • Provide technical leadership and mentorship as the team grows.

REQUIREMENTS

  • 4-5+ years of experience building production backend systems, including hands-on design and implementation of a product authorization system: per-resource or per-object permissions, relationship-based access control, a policy engine, or a fine-grained authorization system in the style of Zanzibar, OpenFGA, SpiceDB, or Cedar.
  • Demonstrated end-to-end ownership: you've taken a system from first design through implementation, production rollout, and iteration with users.
  • Experience developing and operating multi-tenant systems at scale, where authorization checks sit in the request path and latency and consistency matter.
  • Comfort working across the full stack, from product and application code to cloud and Kubernetes infrastructure.

Preferred:

  • Experience with Python and Go.
  • Experience running an OpenFGA, SpiceDB, or similar deployment in production, beyond a proof of concept.
  • Working knowledge of OAuth, OIDC, and SCIM at the protocol level.

BENEFITS

  • Competitive compensation, including meaningful equity
  • 100% coverage of medical, dental, and vision insurance for employee and dependents
  • Flexible PTO policy including company wide Winter Break (our offices are closed from Christmas Eve to New Year's Day!)
  • Paid parental leave
  • Fertility and family-building stipend through Carrot
  • Company-facilitated 401(k)
  • Exposure to a variety of ML startups, offering unparalleled learning and networking opportunities.

Apply now to embark on a rewarding journey in shaping the future of AI! If you are a motivated individual with a passion for machine learning and a desire to be part of a collaborative and forward-thinking team, we would love to hear from you.

At Baseten, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable law (by example, the requirements of the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, where applicable).

Source: Baseten careers (Ashby)

Similar roles