Principal Engineer – Authentication & Authorization (Hybrid)

CrowdStrike•Redmond, WA

1d•$195,000 - $290,000•Hybrid

About The Position

CrowdStrike is seeking a Principal Engineer to own and drive the technical strategy for its Authentication Platform. The role serves as the technical authority defining the architecture and long-term vision for identity and access management systems that secure enterprise customers globally. The Auth Platform team supports internal and external authentication and authorization, works closely with product groups across the organization, and builds services designed to make more than one trillion decisions per day, with reliability, scale, and security as essential requirements. This is a hybrid role requiring 2–3 days per week onsite at one of the posted locations. The Principal Engineer will lead platform architecture and roadmap development, evolve multi-tenant identity infrastructure, and design high-volume authentication and authorization systems. The role also drives cross-region identity architecture, next-generation authentication, fine-grained access controls, and Zero Trust initiatives, while mentoring senior engineers and partnering with Product, Security, and Engineering teams.

Requirements

15+ years of software engineering experience, including 6+ years in identity/authentication systems.
Deep expertise in multi-tenant SaaS architecture, including MSSP or hierarchical tenancy models with fine-grained access controls at scale.
Proven experience building and operating high-volume authentication and extremely high-volume authorization systems, handling millions of AuthN and trillions of AuthZ decisions with ultra-low latency and 99.999% availability.
Experience designing cross-region identity and authorization architectures with strong consistency and failover guarantees.
Experience with internal service-to-service and machine-identity systems as well as external user-facing authentication and authorization systems at hyperscale.
Hands-on experience or a strong vision for next-generation authentication systems, including passwordless authentication, device trust, continuous verification, and AI-driven access policies.
Strong knowledge of ABAC, ReBAC, RBAC, and policy engines such as OPA and Cedar.
Proficiency in Go, Python, or Java.
Experience with cloud-native platforms such as AWS, GCP, or Azure, and Kubernetes.
Proven ability to own technical strategy and influence across organizations.
Strong communication skills for technical and executive audiences.
Proven experience using AI technologies to enhance decision-making, streamline workflows and processes, improve efficiency, and drive business outcomes.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Google Zanzibar-style authorization systems.
Prior experience in cybersecurity SaaS or MSSP platform products.

Responsibilities

Own and drive the technical strategy and roadmap for the Auth Platform.
Architect and evolve multi-tenant identity infrastructure supporting MSSP models, including hierarchical tenancy, delegated administration, cross-tenant access patterns, and fine-grained access controls.
Design and scale high-volume authentication and extremely high-volume authorization systems with ultra-low latency and 99.999% availability.
Lead cross-region authentication and authorization architecture to ensure consistent, secure, and performant identity operations across global deployments.
Drive the vision for next-generation authentication systems, including passwordless, continuous authentication, and AI-driven adaptive access controls.
Lead the design of fine-grained access controls, including ABAC, ReBAC, and policy-engine frameworks.
Define standards for OAuth 2.0, OIDC, SAML, FIDO2/WebAuthn, and token lifecycle management.
Drive Zero Trust and adaptive authentication initiatives.
Mentor senior engineers and elevate the technical bar across the organization.
Partner with Product, Security, and Engineering teams to align priorities and deliver outcomes.