Software Engineer - Identity and Authorization

Baseten

$110K — $130K *
Information Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 4-5+ years of experience in building production backend systems, especially in authorization systems.
  • Demonstrated end-to-end ownership of systems from design through to production rollout.
  • Experience with multi-tenant systems at scale, focusing on latency and consistency during authorization checks.
  • Full-stack development experience from application code to cloud infrastructure, including Kubernetes.
  • Preferred: Proficiency in Python and Go, and experience with OpenFGA or SpiceDB in production.

Responsibilities

  • Lead identity and authorization projects from conception to production deployment.
  • Design and implement authorization models that adapt as the platform grows.
  • Collaborate with product and design teams to create secure, technical solutions for enterprise needs.
  • Establish engineering best practices for quality and security in deployed systems.
  • Mentor team members and provide technical leadership as the team expands.

Benefits

  • 100% coverage of medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and dependents.
  • Flexible PTO policy including a company-wide Winter Break.
  • Paid parental leave.
  • Stipend for fertility and family-building support through Carrot.
  • Access to a company-facilitated 401(k).
  • Opportunities for learning and networking with various ML startups.
Full Job Description
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.

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