Senior IAM Architect

Job Description

Job Title: Senior IAM Architect / IAM Consulting Lead

The Mandate

We are seeking an authoritative Access Management Strategy Lead to own the architectural vision for our entire identity ecosystem. In this role, you will act as a strategic consultant to business and IT leadership, defining the "Identity as a Perimeter" roadmap.

Your primary focus is bridging the gap between high-level governance and the technical delivery of secure, frictionless Access Management solutions. You will architect a unified access layer that secures human users first, while ensuring consistent standards are applied to service accounts and workloads.

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategic Consulting & Advisory

• IAM Strategy & Roadmap: Own the multi-year Access Management strategy. Lead the transition from legacy perimeter security to a Zero Trust architecture, providing clear, actionable roadmaps to C-level stakeholders.
• Trusted Advisor: Act as a consultant, translating complex legacy and modern identity risks into business-aligned solutions.
• Architecture Design Authority: Serve as the final approval point for all access-related designs. You will govern how human and non human identities authenticate and authorize and ensuring no app goes into production without meeting your standards.

2. Access Management Architecture (Core Scope)

• Modern Authentication: Design and govern the rollout of SSO, MFA, and Passwordless (FIDO2) across the enterprise. Ensure a seamless user experience while raising the bar on security.
• Standardization: Enforce strict integration patterns for all applications (SaaS, Cloud, On-Prem). You will mandate OIDC/SAML over legacy methods to reduce technical debt.
• Adaptive Policy: Architect dynamic access policies that evaluate risk context (device health, location, behavior) before granting access.

3. Non-Human Identity & API Security

• Workload Access: Define simple, secure standards for Non-Human Identities (service accounts, bots). Ensure machine authentication aligns with the same rigorous principles as human access (e.g., rotating secrets, removing hardcoded keys).
• API Security: Advise on secure M2M (Machine-to-Machine) communication using standard protocols like OAuth 2.0 Client Credentials.

4. Governance & Delivery Oversight

• Operational Readiness: Define the logging, monitoring, and resilience requirements for authentication services to ensure 99.99% uptime.
• Governance: Collaborate with IGA teams to ensure the Access layer correctly interprets lifecycle events (Joiner/Mover/Leaver), without getting bogged down in the operational weeds of access requests.

What You Bring

Consulting & Leadership

• Strategic Vision: Proven ability to assess organizational maturity and build a pragmatic, risk-based roadmap for improvement.
• Influence & Communication: You can explain "Why Zero Trust?" to a non-technical Board member just as easily as you can explain "Why OIDC?" to a developer.
• Documentation: High proficiency in creating high-level architectural blueprints and decision frameworks.

Technical Expertise

• Access Mastery: Expert-level command of Web Access Management, Federation (SAML/OIDC), and MFA.
• NHI Awareness: Solid understanding of how to secure service accounts and APIs (OAuth 2.0, mTLS) without making it your sole job focus.
• Platform Experience: Strong architectural background with major Access platforms (e.g., Okta, Auth0, Ping Identity, Forgerock, Microsoft Entra ID).

Preferred / Added Advantage

· CIAM Specialist: Experience architecting Customer IAM (CIAM) solutions for B2C or B2B environments. Understanding of high-scale consumer identity, social login, privacy regulations (GDPR/CCPA), and progressive profiling.

· Auth0 Proficiency: Hands-on experience with Auth0, specifically designing Universal Login pages, writing Actions/Rules, and managing custom domains/emails.

· Developer Context: Ability to read/write code snippets (JSON, Python, JavaScript) to better assist app teams with Auth SDK integration.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, IT, or related field.

Certifications: CISSP, CCSP and Vendor-Specific Certifications such as Okta Certified Architect are preferred