Senior Security Engineer, Identity and Access Management (IAM)

K2 is building the largest and highest-power satellites ever flown, unlocking performance levels previously out of reach across every orbit. Backed by $450M from leading investors including Altimeter Capital, Redpoint Ventures, T. Rowe Price, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Alpine Space Ventures, and others – with an additional $500M in signed contracts across commercial and US government customers – we’re mass-producing the highest-power satellite platforms ever built for missions from LEO to deep space. 

The rise of heavy-lift launch vehicles is shifting the industry from an era of mass constraint to one of mass abundance, and we believe this new era demands a fundamentally different class of spacecraft. Engineered to survive the harshest radiation environments and to fully capitalize on today’s and tomorrow’s massive rockets, K2 satellites deliver unmatched capability at constellation scale and across multiple orbits. 

With multiple launches planned through 2026 and 2027, we're Building Bigger to develop the solar system and become a Kardashev Type II (K2) civilization. If you are a motivated individual who thrives in a fast-paced environment and you're excited about contributing to the success of a groundbreaking Series C space startup, we’d love for you to apply. 

The Role 

Identity is the perimeter at K2. Every engineer, every ground and mission system, every SaaS tool and automated pipeline depends on the right people and services holding exactly the access they need and nothing more. This role owns that problem end to end: you’ll design, build, and run the identity platform that governs authentication and authorization across our corporate, engineering, and mission environments. You’ll be deeply hands-on with our identity provider, SSO and federation, phishing-resistant MFA, lifecycle automation, privileged access, and secrets management, and you’ll retire the standing access and shared credentials that accumulate in any fast-growing company. This is a role for someone who thrives on real-world impact: making least privilege the default without slowing down the teams building spacecraft. Every access path you close and every workflow you automate directly supports our ability to move fast, operate confidently, and deliver breakthrough satellite capabilities. 

Responsibilities 

• Own and mature the enterprise identity platform, including the identity provider, single sign-on, federation, and directory services across corporate, engineering, and mission environments 
• Design and implement authentication standards using modern protocols such as SAML, OIDC, OAuth 2.0, and SCIM, and drive adoption of phishing-resistant MFA including FIDO2 and WebAuthn 
• Build and automate identity lifecycle management, including joiner, mover, and leaver workflows, provisioning and deprovisioning, and just-in-time access 
• Design and maintain role-based and attribute-based access models, entitlement structures, and least-privilege standards for corporate and engineering systems 
• Implement and operate privileged access management for administrators, service accounts, and break-glass credentials 
• Manage machine and workload identity, including secrets management, credential rotation, and the non-human accounts used by automated pipelines and mission systems 
• Onboard SaaS and internal applications to SSO and automated provisioning using SCIM, REST APIs, and webhooks, retiring local accounts and shared credentials as you go 
• Implement conditional access and risk-based authentication policies, then tune them against real access patterns 
• Build and run access review and certification campaigns, producing the evidence auditors and customers require 
• Harden cloud IAM across AWS, Azure, or GCP, including roles, trust policies, and permission boundaries 
• Write code and infrastructure as code to automate identity operations rather than resolving them ticket by ticket 
• Partner with security operations on identity threat detection and response, including credential abuse, session hijacking, and MFA fatigue attacks, and support investigations involving identity 
• Serve as the identity subject matter expert in architecture and design reviews, acting as a liaison between the security team and engineering 
• Maintain identity documentation, runbooks, and standards, and mentor junior team members on identity engineering practices 

Qualifications 

• 5+ years of experience in identity and access management, security engineering, or infrastructure engineering, preferably in a fast-paced startup or technology environment 
• Hands-on experience administering an enterprise identity provider (e.g., Okta, Microsoft Entra ID, Ping, or Google Identity), including SSO, MFA, and conditional access 
• Strong working knowledge of identity protocols and standards, including SAML, OIDC, OAuth 2.0, SCIM, LDAP, and Kerberos 
• Experience designing and implementing identity lifecycle automation, RBAC or ABAC access models, and access review processes 
• Experience with privileged access management and secrets management for both human and machine identities, such as HashiCorp Vault or equivalent 
• Experience with cloud IAM in AWS, Azure, or GCP, including least-privilege role and policy design 
• 2+ years of development experience with any modern programming language (including but not limited to Python, Go, C++, Rust) used to automate identity workflows and integrations, in lieu of a degree; OR a bachelor’s degree in security engineering, cyber security, computer science, engineering, math, or other STEM discipline 
• Comfortable working with mission critical and sensitive systems, with a sense of urgency appropriate with responsibilities 
• Due to the high visibility of this position, excellent interpersonal skills, attention to detail, and problem-solving skills 

Nice to Have 

• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in computer science or engineering 
• Identity certifications such as Okta Certified Administrator, Microsoft Identity and Access Administrator (SC-300), or CISSP, or equivalent hands-on experience 
• Experience managing identity resources with infrastructure as code (Terraform, CloudFormation, or CDK) 
• Experience with policy-as-code frameworks such as OPA or Cedar 
• Experience with identity threat detection and response (ITDR) and building identity-focused detections 
• Experience integrating modern identity with legacy or on-premise systems, including Active Directory modernization 
• Experience with identity and access control for engineering, manufacturing, OT, or mission and ground segment environments 
• Prior experience in a defense, aerospace, or other ITAR-regulated environment 

Compensation and Benefits: 

• Base salary range for this role is $150,000 - $220,000 and equity in the company 
• Salary will be based on several factors including, but not limited to: knowledge and skills, education, and experience level 
• Comprehensive benefits package including paid time off, medical/dental/vision coverage, life insurance, paid parental leave, and many other perks 

If you don’t meet 100% of the preferred skills and experience, we encourage you to still apply! Building a spacecraft unlike any other requires a team unlike any other and non-traditional career twists and turns are encouraged!

If you need a reasonable accommodation as part of your application for employment or interviews with us, please let us know.

Export Compliance

As defined in the ITAR, “U.S. Persons” include U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents (i.e., Green Card holders), and certain protected individuals (e.g., refugees/asylees, American Samoans). Please consult with a knowledgeable advisor if you are unsure whether you are a “U.S. Person.”

The person hired for this role will have access to information and items controlled by U.S. export control regulations, including the export control regulations outlined in the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR). The person hired for this role must therefore either be a “U.S. person” as defined by 22 C.F.R. § 120.15 or otherwise eligible for a federally issued export control license.

Equal Opportunity

K2 Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with K2 Space is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.