Senior Staff Software Engineer

About this role

<div class="content-intro"><p><strong>About Ping Identity:&nbsp;</strong></p> <p>At Ping Identity, we believe in making digital experiences both secure and seamless for all users, without compromise. We call this digital freedom. And it's not just something we provide our customers. It's something that inspires our company. People don't come here to join a culture that's built on digital freedom. They come to cultivate it.&nbsp;</p> <p>Our intelligent, cloud identity platform lets people shop, work, bank, and interact wherever and however they want. Without friction. Without fear.&nbsp;</p> <p>While protecting digital identities is at the core of our technology, protecting individual identities is at the core of our culture.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pingidentity.com/en/company/championing-every-identity.html">We champion every identity.</a> One of our core values, Respect Individuality, reminds us to celebrate differences so you are empowered to bring your authentic self to work.&nbsp;</p> <p>We're headquartered in Denver, Colorado and we have offices and employees around the globe. We serve the largest, most demanding enterprises worldwide, including more than half of the Fortune 100. At Ping Identity, we're changing the way people and businesses think about cybersecurity, digital experiences, and identity and access management.&nbsp;</p></div><p>We are seeking a hands-on Principal Software Engineer to build PingOne Privilege, our cloud-native Zero Trust privileged access platform, and the AI security capabilities that protect how enterprises adopt agentic AI. This is a coding role — you will design, ship, and own production systems alongside the rest of the team.</p> <p><strong>Key Responsibilities:</strong></p> <ul> <li><strong>Build the Platform:</strong> Design and ship core services for PingOne Privilege, our cloud-native platform in Go — just-in-time access, credential-less authentication, and Zero Trust access to multi-cloud infrastructure (AWS, Azure, GCP) and on-prem resources.</li> <li><strong>Agentic AI Security:</strong> Build our AI security capabilities hands-on — MCP gateways, AI agent identity and governance, and real-time guardrails that detect and block prompt injection and data exfiltration.</li> <li><strong>Distributed Systems:</strong> Develop highly available, multi-region services on Kubernetes with durable workflow orchestration and distributed data stores, and own them through design, implementation, and production.</li> <li><strong>Identity &amp; Access Protocols:</strong> Implement deep integrations with identity protocols (OAuth2/OIDC, SAML, SCIM, certificate-based auth) and build secure proxy and gateway layers for SSH, RDP, Kubernetes, databases, and web applications.</li> <li><strong>Technical Leadership:</strong> Raise the bar through code reviews and design reviews, mentor engineers by working alongside them, and set the example for high-quality, secure, maintainable code.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Qualifications:</strong></p> <ul> <li><strong>Experience:</strong> 10+ years of hands-on software engineering experience, with 4+ years at a Principal or Staff level building large-scale security or identity products — as an individual contributor who writes and ships production code daily.</li> <li><strong>Security &amp; Identity Expertise:</strong> Deep working knowledge of IAM/PAM — privileged access, secrets and key management, session brokering, least-privilege and Zero Trust architectures — with hands-on depth in OAuth2/OIDC and PKI.</li> <li><strong>Tech Stack:</strong> Expert-level proficiency in Go (or strong systems-language background with willingness to work in Go), Cloud Native technologies (AWS/Azure/GCP, Kubernetes), and distributed data stores (Cassandra or similar NoSQL); experience with workflow engines (e.g., Temporal) a plus.</li> <li><strong>AI Systems (preferred):</strong> Experience building or securing LLM-based systems — agent frameworks, MCP, model-based threat detection, or AI guardrails.</li> <li><strong>Leadership:</strong> Influence through code and design, not title — proven ability to drive cross-team technical decisions while staying in the critical path of delivery.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Education:</strong> BS/MS in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience.</p><div class="content-conclusion"><p><strong>Life at Ping:</strong></p> <p>We believe in and facilitate a flexible, collaborative work environment. We’re growing quickly, but remain true to the innovative, can-do startup values that got us here. Most importantly, we keep hiring talented, smart, fun, and genuinely nice people because that’s who we want to succeed with every day.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Here are just a few of the things that make Ping special:</strong></p> <ul> <li>A company culture that empowers you to do your best work.</li> <li>Employee Resource Groups that create a sense of belonging for everyone.</li> <li>Regular company and team bonding events.</li> <li>Competitive benefits and perks.</li> <li>Global volunteering and community initiatives</li> </ul> <p><strong>Our Benefits:&nbsp;</strong></p> <ul> <li>Generous PTO &amp; Holiday Schedule&nbsp;</li> <li>Parental Leave</li> <li>Progressive Healthcare Options</li> <li>Retirement Programs</li> <li>Opportunity for Education Reimbursement&nbsp;</li> <li>Commuter Offset (Specific locations)&nbsp;</li> </ul> <p>Ping is the collective sum of all our individual experiences, backgrounds and influences and we pride ourselves in growing and learning together. We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse environment where everyone’s individuality is respected and everyone has an Identity. In recruiting for new colleagues, we welcome the unique contributions you can bring and encourage you to be your best self.</p> <p><em>We are an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer.&nbsp; All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex including