Get to know Okta
Okta is The World’s Identity Company. We free everyone to safely use any technology, anywhere, on any device or app. Our flexible and neutral products, Okta Platform and Auth0 Platform, provide secure access, authentication, and automation, placing identity at the core of business security and growth.
At Okta, we celebrate a variety of perspectives and experiences. We are not looking for someone who checks every single box - we’re looking for lifelong learners and people who can make us better with their unique experiences.
Join our team! We’re building a world where Identity belongs to you.
The Team
The UX Research (UXR) team at Okta works cross-functionally to deliver strategic and tactical insights that inform product, design, and engineering decisions. Each researcher owns complex, technical product areas and drives their own roadmap. The team primarily specializes in qualitative research, with growing quantitative expertise, and partners closely with ResearchOps, Content Design, Visual Design, and Product Design to maximize impact.
The Role
We’re looking for a strategic, people-first leader to grow and elevate our UX Research function, strengthen research influence across all levels of Okta, and deepen collaboration with Product and Engineering. This role reports directly to the Chief Design Officer.
What You’ll Do
- Lead and grow the UXR function: Manage research managers and ICs across Okta’s Workforce and Personal product portfolios.
- Be a people-first leader: Foster well-being, belonging, and professional growth across the team.
- Champion inclusion: Build and sustain a diverse, equitable, and inclusive team culture.
- Expand strategic impact: Partner with Product, Engineering, and Design leaders to embed research into product strategy and decision-making.
- Shape team culture and vision: Define and uphold the UXR team’s values, direction, and operational excellence.
- Drive scalability: Identify and address organizational or process gaps to support UXR’s growth and efficiency.
- Represent UXR internally and externally: Advocate for user-centered decision-making across Okta and serve as a visible thought leader for the research community.
What You’ll Bring
- Proven leadership: 5+ years managing and developing UX research managers and teams.
- Deep research expertise: 10+ years conducting and leading multi-method UX research with measurable product and business impact.
- Team builder: Experience hiring, developing, and retaining high-performing, values-driven research teams.
- Strategic mindset: Skilled in defining research strategy and translating insights into business and product outcomes.
- Influential communicator: Exceptional storytelling and executive communication skills, with the ability to connect research to business value.
- Collaborative operator: Proven success partnering cross-functionally with Product, Engineering, and Design.
- Adaptability: Comfortable leading through growth, transformation, and change.
Leadership Competencies
At Okta, our leaders embody our five core competencies:
- Builds Effective Teams – Creates strong, diverse teams that deliver shared results.
- Demonstrates Self-Awareness (EQ) – Reflects, listens, and grows from feedback.
- Develops Talent – Invests in people’s growth and career goals.
- Drives Results – Achieves outcomes, even in challenging environments.
- Strategic Mindset – Anticipates future needs and shapes breakthrough strategies.
Aligned with Okta’s values — Love our customers, Empower our people, Never stop innovating, Act with integrity, and Maintain transparency — this role is pivotal in shaping the future of design and research at Okta.
Okta’s Top 5 Core Leadership Competencies are part of the deeply ingrained principles that guide all of our company’s actions. They also align strongly to our cultural cornerstones, our Okta values: love our customers, empower our people, never stop innovating, act with integrity, and maintain transparency. It’s our expectation that our managers and leaders embody these core competencies:
- Builds Effective Teams: Building strong-identity teams that apply their diverse skills and perspectives to achieve common goals.
- Demonstrates Self-Awareness (EQ): Using a combination of feedback and reflection to gain productive insight into personal strengths and weaknesses.
- Develops Talent: Developing people to meet both their career goals and the organization’s goals.
- Drives Results: Consistently achieving results, even under tough circumstances.
- Strategic Mindset: Seeing ahead to future possibilities and translating them into breakthrough strategies.
The annual base salary range for this position for candidates located in the San Francisco Bay area is between: $331,000—$497,000 USD
The annual base salary range for this position for candidates located in California (excluding San Francisco Bay Area), Colorado, Illinois, New York, and Washington is between:$296,000—$444,000 USD
What you can look forward to as a Full-Time Okta employee!
Some roles may require travel to one of our office locations for in-person onboarding.
