Principal Software Development Engineer – Identity Management

Job Description

Principal Software Development Engineer, Platform Engineering | Confidential Employer

The Tone:
This is a hybrid role at Confidential Employer, located in San Jose, CA. Zscaler accelerates digital transformation, protecting customers from cyberattacks and data loss with its Zero Trust Exchange platform. This Principal Software Development Engineer position is crucial for the Identity and Access Management department, focusing on designing and developing enterprise-grade Identity Management Products. The role involves managing digital risk by applying security through identity integration and controls, leveraging deep expertise in IAM and public cloud environments.

The TL;DR
• Role: Full Time
• Type: Full-time
• Location: Hybrid – San Jose, CA
• Pay: $185500–$265000 yearly
• Team: ZIdentity team in the Identity and Access Management department, reporting to the Director, Software Development Engineering.
• Mission: Drive the design and development of enterprise-grade Identity Management Products for Zscaler to manage digital risk through identity integration and controls.
• Tech Stack: Java, Enterprise Java, OOP, OOA, RESTful APIs, Hibernate, Spring, Docker, Kubernetes, AWS, GCP, GitOps, ArgoCD, Jenkins, GitLab CI, PKI, SAML, OAuth, OpenID Connect.

What You’ll Actually Do
• Design and Optimize Identity Platform: Practice technical leadership in the design, development, and optimization of the Identity platform, focusing on strategy for cost-effective product growth and expansion.
• Architect IAM Solutions: Spearhead the technical roadmap for the Kubernetes platform, architecting centralized identity and access management (IAM) solutions to support enterprise-scale business goals.
• Enhance Platform Support: Work closely with engineering teams to enhance support for the Common Identity platform.
• Drive Team Development: Drive professional development and growth initiatives for team members.

The Must-Haves
• Background: This Principal-level role requires a foundational understanding of AI/ML technologies and experience using, securing, or positioning AI-driven solutions to optimize outcomes within your functional domain. Candidates should possess deep expertise in Identity and Access Management (IAM) and public cloud environments, demonstrating a strong sense of ownership and the capability to navigate between high-level strategy and hands-on execution.
• Experience: A minimum of 8 years of hands-on experience in application architecture and development using Java is essential, specifically including the development of enterprise-grade Security or Networking products. Expert-level knowledge of container ecosystems (Docker, Kubernetes) and orchestrating massive-scale K8s clusters in AWS and GCP is required, alongside deep experience architecting highly automated, secure CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitOps, ArgoCD, Jenkins, GitLab CI) to enable zero-downtime deployments across global environments.
• Skills: Expert-level technical proficiency in Enterprise Java, Object-Oriented Programming (OOP), Object-Oriented Analysis (OOA), systems architecture, RESTful APIs, and related frameworks such as Hibernate and Spring. Expertise in designing and optimizing Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB), cloud load balancers, Kubernetes Ingress Controllers, and foundational protocols like PKI, SAML, OAuth, and OpenID Connect.
• Bonus: Proven ability to use AI technologies and workflows to drive measurable operational efficiency. Prior experience building identity platforms or hyper-scale Kubernetes platforms.