Software Engineer - Platform

Do you remember the first time you saw what a well-designed platform solution can do to an entire engineering org? The moment you smoothed a rough edge in the developer experience, untangled a flaky deployment, or replaced a brittle workaround with an API that simply made sense. Suddenly, teams moved faster and shipped with confidence. At C1, we’re building that kind of leverage in two directions: the platform that powers our AI-native identity security product, and a next-generation, AI-driven development platform that helps engineers build, ship, and operate software in a revolutionary new way. We’re looking for a Staff+ engineer to join our Platform team in Portland, Oregon. In this role, you’ll move fast while leading high-impact, complex projects and driving key investments in the platform that underpins the C1 product—improving scale, reliability, and the foundations we need for new customer-facing capabilities. You’ll balance shipping new features with paying down technical debt and making thoughtful tradeoffs, all while delivering performant, production-grade code. This is a highly leveraged role: your technical leadership, communication, and judgment will enable teams across the company and directly shape customer outcomes. ABOUT C1 C1 is the first AI-native identity security platform that protects every identity: human, non-human, and AI. With powerful automation, platform-level AI, and out-of-the-box connectors, it centralizes access visibility, enforces fine-grained controls, enables just-in-time access, and automates user access reviews across all apps. It’s easy to use, quick to deploy, and trusted by enterprises like DigitalOcean, Instacart, Ramp, and Zscaler. What You'll Do - Plan and drive large projects with incremental deliverables—you'll contribute to major architectural decisions, assess technical risks, and communicate tradeoffs across teams - Set the bar for code quality—deliver code that's maintainable, well-tested, and sets the standard for the team - Be a stabilizing force when things are ambiguous—keep the team aligned on priorities and moving forward even when the path isn't clear - Mentor and elevate others—delegate effectively, trust people with real ownership, and help engineers around you grow What We’re Looking For - A track record of delivering complex, multi-team projects—you've shipped systems that handle real scale, real failures, and real customers. - Deep experience with Go or similar backend languages, with strong opinions on how to write maintainable, performant code. - Strong systems thinking—you balance technical debt against feature velocity and make pragmatic tradeoffs. - Demonstrated technical leadership—you've driven architectural decisions, built consensus across teams, and helped other engineers grow. - High agency—you figure out what needs to be built, not just how to build what you're told. You move fast and unblock yourself. - Deep understanding of production environments—you know how to debug, monitor, and operate the systems you build. - Experience with AI-assisted development (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, or similar)—you're already using these tools and excited about what's next - Clear, persuasive communication—you can explain complex technical concepts to diverse audiences and build alignment. Nice to Have - Experience with identity and access management systems (SCIM, SAML, OAuth, LDAP, or similar) - Background in building multi-tenant SaaS platforms with enterprise security requirements - Familiarity with workflow orchestration technologies (Temporal, Airflow, or custom implementations) How We Work - Ship, Ship, Ship—we bias toward action. We'd rather ship something and learn than debate endlessly. Iteration beats perfection. - Build with AI—we use AI tools daily to write code, review PRs, explore ideas, and move faster. If you're not excited about this, we're not the right fit. - Earn the Customer's Trust—we build for real problems, not hypothetical ones. We talk to