About this role
Baseten powers mission-critical inference for high-growth AI companies by uniting applied AI research, flexible infrastructure, and seamless developer tooling. As the founding software engineer for the identity and authorization team within enterprise engineering, you will own the identity and access layer that large, demanding enterprises rely on to govern access. You will design and build fine-grained authorization systems, credential systems, and admin experiences from the ground up to handle low-latency permission checks at high request volumes.
This role exists to meet the exacting requirements of enterprise IT teams and regulated workloads as the platform expands rapidly. You will work on per-resource permissions for users, service accounts, and agentic workloads, alongside enterprise identity lifecycle features like single sign-on and SCIM provisioning. Someone who excels in this position combines backend engineering depth with a strong grasp of multi-tenant security guarantees, thriving on end-to-end ownership from technical design through production rollout.
What you will do
- Lead identity and authorization projects from initial problem definition and technical design through implementation, launch, and iteration.
- Design robust authorization and credential models that support current user workflows while accommodating future platform evolution.
- Partner closely with product, design, and customer-facing teams to translate enterprise security requirements into durable technical solutions.
- Establish and uphold high engineering practices covering code quality, security, observability, and full operational ownership.
- Provide technical leadership and mentorship as the enterprise engineering team grows.
What you need
- Bring four to five or more years of experience building production backend systems, including hands-on design of a product authorization system.
- Demonstrate prior experience with per-resource or per-object permissions, relationship-based access control, policy engines, or fine-grained authorization frameworks like Zanzibar, OpenFGA, SpiceDB, or Cedar.
- Show a history of end-to-end ownership in taking a complex system from initial design through production rollout and user iteration.
- Possess experience developing and operating multi-tenant systems at scale where authorization checks sit directly in the request path.
- Maintain comfort working across the entire stack, spanning application code, cloud environments, and Kubernetes infrastructure.
Nice to have
- Experience with Python and Go
- Experience running an OpenFGA, SpiceDB, or similar deployment in production beyond a proof of concept
- Working knowledge of OAuth, OIDC, and SCIM at the protocol level
Benefits
- Competitive compensation, including meaningful equity
- 100% coverage of medical, dental, and vision insurance for employee and dependents (U.S. only)
- Flexible PTO policy including company-wide Winter Break from Christmas Eve to New Year's Day
- Paid parental leave
- Fertility and family-building stipend through Carrot
- Company-facilitated 401(k) (U.S. only)
Skills and tech stack
Questions candidates ask
What compensation and equity are offered for this role?
The position offers a salary range of $240K to $285K alongside offers for equity.
Where is the role located?
The job is based in San Francisco.
What specific tech stack and tools will I work with?
You will utilize technologies such as Python, Go, Kubernetes, OAuth, OIDC, SCIM, and authorization engines like OpenFGA, SpiceDB, or Cedar.
What benefits are included for U.S. employees?
U.S. employees receive 100% coverage of medical, dental, and vision insurance for themselves and dependents, plus a company-facilitated 401(k).