Principal Identity Engineer (Cloud IAM / CIAM)

First American•Santa Ana, CA

About The Position

As a Principal Identity Engineer, you will own the technical strategy, architecture, and engineering execution for enterprise Identity and Access Management (IAM) across First American’s cloud and hybrid environments. This role is central to strengthening our security posture by delivering secure, scalable identity capabilities across our cloud environments (Azure AD/AWS/GCP). You will lead workforce IAM, partner/federation (B2B), and customer identity (CIAM) architecture where applicable; establish Zero Trust identity controls; and set enterprise standards for IAM-as-code using Terraform + GitHub with automation in Python/Bash/JSON. This is a hands-on principal role requiring deep technical expertise, cross-org influence, and the ability to build repeatable platforms and guardrails teams can safely self-serve.

Requirements

Deep hands-on experience designing and operating identity platforms at scale in complex environments.
Advanced expertise across Microsoft Entra ID, AWS IAM, and Google Cloud IAM, with OCI experience a plus.
Proven ability to design cloud-agnostic IAM models and implement them consistently across platforms.
Strong background in IAM security architecture, governance, and risk-based access controls.
Hands-on experience with least privilege design, JIT access, Zero Trust identity, and RBAC/ABAC models.
Expert knowledge of OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, and SAML.
Proven experience delivering enterprise-scale SSO and MFA solutions.
Demonstrated experience establishing IAM-as-Code using Terraform with GitHub-based change control.
Strong scripting and automation skills in Python, Bash, and JSON, including CI/CD and guardrail design.
Experience architecting and operating customer identity platforms for portals, mobile apps, and APIs. (preferred)
Ability to communicate complex identity concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
Strong influence, documentation, and execution skills at the principal or senior architect level.
Relevant security or identity certifications such as CISSP or identity-focused credentials.
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience, with extensive background in enterprise security engineering.

Responsibilities

Own the enterprise IAM strategy and target-state architecture across Microsoft Entra, AWS, and Google Cloud (OCI a plus).
Define secure, scalable identity patterns for workforce, partner, and customer access that align with security, risk, and compliance requirements.
Design and operationalize a Zero Trust identity model with continuous verification, risk-based access, and adaptive authentication.
Reduce standing privilege through least privilege design, just-in-time (JIT) access, and standardized entitlement models.
Hands-on design and delivery of IAM capabilities including SSO, MFA, identity lifecycle, federation, and privileged access across cloud and hybrid environments.
Lead modernization efforts, including migration from hybrid Active Directory to Entra ID–based authentication.
Design and evolve customer identity (CIAM) solutions supporting web, mobile, and API platforms.
Balance security, privacy, performance, and customer experience while enabling scalable enterprise integrations.
Establish IAM governance frameworks covering access lifecycle, RBAC/ABAC models, access reviews, and audit evidence.
Define measurable controls, documentation standards, and recurring review processes to ensure audit readiness.
Define and lead an enterprise IAM-as-Code program using Terraform and GitHub.
Build reusable, versioned modules and establish PR-based workflows with auditability, approvals, and security guardrails.
Engineer secure CI/CD pipelines for IAM deployments, including validation, testing, approvals, drift detection, and rollback strategies.
Ensure reliable, auditable identity changes with operational monitoring and clear runbooks.
Develop automation in Python, Bash, and JSON to scale identity operations and reduce manual risk.
Support policy management, bulk changes, integrations, and identity-related incident response and diagnostics.