Senior Server Engineer, Identity Platform
About Strava
Strava is the app for active people. With over 180 million athletes in more than 185 countries, it’s more than tracking workouts—it’s where people make progress together, from new habits to new personal bests. No matter your sport or how you track it, Strava’s got you covered. Find your crew, crush your goals, and make every effort count. Start your journey with Strava today.
Our mission is simple: to motivate people to live their best active lives. We believe in the power of movement to connect and drive people forward.
About This Role
We’re looking for a Senior Server Engineer to join our Identity Engineering Team, the group responsible for how every athlete securely accesses their Strava experience. Identity at Strava is more than login screens, it’s the platform that ensures trust, security, and continuity across all our applications and surfaces. This is a platform engineering role within the broader engineering organization—not a traditional security or IAM specialist position.
We follow a flexible hybrid model that translates to more than half of your time on-site in our San Francisco office — three days per week.
What You’ll Do:
Build core Identity platform capabilities, including authentication, authorization, token lifecycle management, session continuity, and account security systems.
Develop scalable, reliable server-side services that support sign-up, login, account recovery, MFA/passkeys, and cross-application identity.
Design and evolve modern identity protocols, integrating standards like OAuth 2.0, OIDC, WebAuthn, biometrics, and secure token exchange.
Improve identity flows across iOS, Android, and web, balancing frictionless user experience with world-class security.
Partner with cross-functional teams—Product, Security, Trust & Safety, Legal, and Mobile/Web Engineering—to build identity foundations that enable safety, privacy, and growth.
Drive technical excellence, contributing thoughtful architectural perspectives and shaping long-term Identity strategies.
Mentor and support fellow engineers, fostering a collaborative, inclusive, and high-trust environment.
Influence system design across teams, using deep identity expertise to lead discussions around security, performance, and scalability.
What You’ll Bring to the Team:
7+ years of experience building production backend systems in languages such as Ruby, Java, Scala, Go, or Python.
Proven experience with authentication, authorization, SSO, identity protocols, or account security systems at scale.
Strong knowledge of distributed systems, relational/NoSQL databases, and technologies like MySQL, Redis, Cassandra, Kafka, or Kubernetes.
Familiarity with or interest in modern identity technologies, such as OAuth 2.0/OIDC, WebAuthn, passkeys, MFA, and session management.
A track record of building secure, high-performance services that handle sensitive data responsibly.
Comfort navigating the intersection of security, user experience, and platform architecture.
A collaborative spirit, someone who communicates clearly, lifts others up, and thrives in a team that values mentorship and learning.
For more information on benefits, please click here.
Why Join Us?
Movement brings us together. At Strava, we’re building the world’s largest community of active people, helping them stay motivated and achieve their goals.
Our global team is passionate about making movement fun, meaningful, and accessible to everyone. Whether you’re shaping the technology, growing our community, or driving innovation, your work at Strava makes an impact.
When you join Strava, you’re not just joining a company—you’re joining a movement. If you’re ready to bring your energy, ideas, and drive, let’s build something incredible together.
Strava builds software that makes the best part of our athletes’ days even better. Just as we’re deeply committed to unlocking their potential, we’re dedicated to providing a world-class, inclusive workplace where our employees can grow and thrive, too. We’re backed by Sequoia Capital, TCV, Madrone Partners and Jackson Square Ventures, and we’re expanding in order to exceed the needs of our growing community of global athletes. Our culture reflects our community. We are continuously striving to hire and engage teammates from all backgrounds, experiences and perspectives because we know we are a stronger team together.
Strava is an equal opportunity employer. In keeping with the values of Strava, we make all employment decisions including hiring, evaluation, termination, promotional and training opportunities, without regard to race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, physical handicap, mental disability, medical condition, disability, gender or identity or expression, pregnancy or pregnancy-related condition, marital status, height and/or weight.
We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.