Staff Software Engineer – Identity And Access, Identity Squads

Details

Role Summary

Grafana Labs is seeking a Staff Software Engineer for the Identity and Access team, Identity squad. The mission of the Identity squad is to own the authentication layer—the protocols and flows that determine how every Grafana user proves who they are. This role includes setting the technical direction for authentication systems and leading complex initiatives from conception through delivery.

Grafana is 100% remote and provides guidance and regular video calls.

Responsibilities

• Approximately 55% backend development (Golang), 25% technical leadership and cross-team collaboration, and 20% operations and reliability.
• Define and own the technical architecture for the Identity squad’s authentication systems, including the edge authentication redesign.
• Lead the design and implementation of large-scale, multi-quarter initiatives in the critical path of user interaction, spanning multiple services and teams.
• Mentor and develop senior engineers with technical guidance, design feedback, and support for professional growth.
• Serve as a technical authority for identity protocols, driving alignment on how Grafana implements and evolves OAuth, OIDC, SAML, LDAP, and SCIM across the organization.
• Drive cross-team technical alignment on authentication standards, patterns, and best practices.
• Represent Grafana Labs at meetups and conferences and contribute to the broader identity and authentication community.

Requirements

• Deep, proven expertise in distributed systems engineering with Go, including owning and delivering large-scale production systems end-to-end.
• Ability to define technical direction and drive architectural decisions independently with impact beyond the immediate team.
• Extensive experience building and operating low-latency, high-throughput services in distributed, multi-tenant environments.
• Proven track record of leading and delivering complex, multi-quarter initiatives spanning multiple teams or systems.
• Ability to mentor and develop senior engineers to elevate technical quality and capabilities.
• Strong understanding of SLOs, SLIs, error budgets, and designing systems balancing reliability, security, and product velocity.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English, able to convey complex technical decisions to diverse audiences including engineering leadership and non-technical stakeholders.
• Expert-level understanding of modern identity standards and threat models (OAuth 2.x / 2.1, OIDC, SAML) and how to implement them securely at scale.

Bonus Points

• Familiarity with Kubernetes.
• TypeScript/React experience.
• Experience working with OpenFGA and KiFederate IDP.
• Experience working in security critical environments.
• Experience contributing to or maintaining Open Source projects.
• Familiarity with observability tooling (e.g., Grafana, Prometheus, OpenTelemetry).

Compensation & Rewards

• In Ireland, base compensation range: €117,000 - €147,000.
• Actual compensation may vary based on level, experience, and skillset.
• Benefits include equity, bonus (if applicable), and other benefits listed on Grafana’s careers page.

Additional Information

• Compensation ranges are country specific; if applying from a different location than listed, the recruiter discusses the specific market pay range & benefits at the beginning of the process.