Freelance Strategic Security Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Handshake is the career network for the AI economy. 20 million knowledge workers, 1,600 educational institutions, 1 million employers (including 100% of the Fortune 50), and every foundational AI lab trust Handshake to power career discovery, hiring, and upskilling, from freelance AI training gigs to first internships to full-time careers and beyond. This unique value is leading to unparalleled growth; in 2025, we tripled our ARR at scale.

Why join Handshake now:

• Shape how every career evolves in the AI economy, at global scale, with impact your friends, family and peers can see and feel

• Work hand-in-hand with world-class AI labs, Fortune 500 partners and the world’s top educational institutions

• Join a team with leadership from Scale AI, Meta, xAI, Notion, Coinbase, and Palantir, among others

• Build a massive, fast-growing business with billions in revenue

Handshake is seeking a Senior Security Engineer to own the architecture, design, and implementation of our enterprise identity automation and governance ecosystem. You’ll define the long-term IAM automation strategy, build resilient and scalable lifecycle workflows, and enable secure-by-default identity operations across SaaS, cloud, and internal platforms.
You’ll partner closely with Security, IT Engineering, People Operations, and Product/Platform Engineering to deliver highly automated, auditable, and reliable identity solutions.

• Architect, build, and own automated onboarding, offboarding, and access-change workflows across Okta, Workday, SCIM, and event-driven systems.

• Engineer integration layers between identity platforms and internal applications using Python, REST APIs, Webhooks, and Terraform.

• Implement error-handling, reconciliation logic, telemetry, and monitoring to ensure reliability and determinism in identity lifecycle events.

• Modernize existing provisioning logic and replace manual processes with scalable automation frameworks.

• Develop tooling and pipelines enabling version-controlled, testable, observable IAM automation.

• Act as a technical owner for Handshake’s IAM ecosystem, including Okta, Google Workspace, GCP, AWS IAM, and internal access systems.

• Engineer and optimize authentication & authorization protocols (OIDC, OAuth2, SAML, JWT), fine-grained access policies, and scalable RBAC/ABAC models.

• Build custom automation using Okta Workflows or API-driven orchestration.

• Design SOC2-compliant access controls, approvals, attestations, and auditability mechanisms.

• Build automated access certification systems with full data lineage.

• Conduct identity-related incident forensics and implement preventative automation.

• Provide cross-functional leadership, setting standards, best practices, and reference architectures for identity automation.

• Serve as service owner for IAM automation platforms with accountability for uptime, consistency, and continuous improvement.

• 4–7+ years of hands-on IAM engineering, identity automation, or identity governance experience.

• Strong scripting/automation skills in Python, Node.js, and REST-based integrations.

• Experience with IAM platforms such as Okta, Google Workspace/GCP, Azure AD, or similar.

• Deep understanding of identity protocols, token flows, SCIM, and distributed lifecycle orchestration.

• Experience with Terraform or other infrastructure-as-code frameworks.

• Ability to diagnose complex identity issues across SaaS, cloud, and distributed systems.

• Strong understanding of DevOps practices, observability, and secure engineering principles.

• Demonstrated ownership mindset across architecture, implementation, monitoring, and iterative improvement.

• Advanced experience with GCP IAM, Google Workspace IAM, AWS IAM, cross-account access patterns, and policy automation.

• Experience with Okta Workflows, SailPoint/IGA, or Privileged Access Management (PAM) solutions.

• Experience designing scalable authorization models for high-growth or distributed organizations.

• Certifications such as Okta Architect, Azure Identity Engineer, CISSP.

• Prior experience in SaaS, high-growth, or distributed engineering environments.

Handshake delivers benefits that help you feel supported—and thrive at work and in life.
The below benefits are for full-time US employees.

• Ownership: Equity in a fast-growing company
• Financial Wellness: 401(k) match, competitive compensation, financial coaching
• Family Support: Paid parental leave, fertility benefits, parental coaching
• Wellbeing: Medical, dental, and vision, mental health support, wellness stipend
• Growth: Learning stipend, ongoing development
• Remote & Office: Internet, commuting, and free lunch/gym in our SF office
• Time Off: Flexible PTO, 15 holidays + 2 flex days
• Connection: Team outings & referral bonuses

Explore our mission, values, and comprehensive US benefits at joinhandshake.com/careers.