Principal Engineer – Identity & Access Management Directory Services

**Role Overview** We are seeking a **Principal Engineer – Identity & Access Management (IAM)** to serve as the **technical authority and architectural owner** for enterprise and customer-facing authentication, authorization, and directory services. This role underpins the **availability, security, and continuity** of global digital platforms and business-critical environments. This is a **deeply technical, hands-on principal role** requiring architectural-level expertise across **Active Directory, Entra ID (Azure AD & B2C), Oracle Unified Directory (OUD), and Linux/Unix authentication systems**, operating within a complex hybrid identity ecosystem. The role is **mission critical**: failures in identity architecture directly translate into **widespread access disruption, security exposure, productivity loss, and compliance risk**. This engineer will eliminate single points of failure, strengthen directory security posture, support M&A integrations, and ensure identity services scale securely and reliably across all regions. **Key Responsibilities** **IAM & Directory Services Architecture Ownership** * Act as the **principal technical owner** for global IAM and directory services platforms supporting enterprise, partner, and customer-facing applications * Define, document, and evolve **end-to-end IAM architecture**, including: * Active Directory (enterprise-scale, hybrid, multi-region) * Entra ID / Azure AD (including B2C and external identities) * Oracle Unified Directory (OUD) * Linux and Unix authentication and authorization integrations * Establish **reference architectures, engineering standards, and operational patterns** for identity platforms * Design for **high availability, fault tolerance, disaster recovery, and regional resilience** **Authentication & Authorization Reliability** * Ensure **continuous availability** of authentication and authorization services by proactively managing identity dependencies * Own directory synchronization, federation, and authentication flows across hybrid environments * Eliminate architectural and operational single points of failure * Prevent identity issues that could result in: * Global user access degradation * Business application downtime * Customer- and partner-facing access disruption **Security, Zero Trust & Risk Reduction** * Make identity the **primary control plane** for Zero Trust initiatives * Enforce **least privilege, strong authentication, and continuous verification** * Design and implement **RBAC, ABAC, and policy-based authorization models** * Strengthen directory security posture by addressing: * Privileged access exposure * Legacy protocols and weak authentication mechanisms * Inconsistent policy enforcement and configuration drift * Reduce identity-based attack paths and systemic access risk **Non-Human, AI & Machine Identity Protection** * Architect and secure **non-human identities**, including: * AI agent identities * Robotic Process Automation (RPA) identities * Service accounts, workloads, APIs, and system identities * Define lifecycle management, authentication, authorization, and rotation strategies for machine identities * Prevent credential sprawl, over-privileged access, and unmanaged secrets * Ensure AI and robotic identities adhere to **Zero Trust, least privilege, and auditable access principles** * Integrate non-human identity controls into enterprise IAM governance and monitoring **Integration & User Experience** * Improve identity integration across: * Enterprise applications * Partner platforms * Customer-facing (B2C) ecosystems * Ensure seamless, low-friction authentication experiences without compromising security * Enable scalable access models for human and non-human identities **Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) Support** * Serve as the **IAM technical lead** for M&A initiatives * Assess acquired company identity architectures, directory services, and authentication models * Design and execute secure identity integration, consolidation, or coexistence strategies * Mitigate access risk during transitions while maintaining business continuity * Ensure acquired environments align with enterprise IAM, Zero Trust, and security standards **Continuity, Innovation & Long-Term Strategy** * Ensure **knowledge continuity** and eliminate dependency on individual resources * Define a **multi-year IAM and directory services roadmap** aligned with enterprise architecture and Zero Trust maturity * Evaluate emerging identity technologies, protocols, and access models, including AI-driven identity use cases * Mentor engineers and elevate IAM engineering maturity across the organization **Required Qualifications** **Experience** * **12+ years** of experience in Identity & Access Management, directory services, or security platform engineering * Proven experience supporting **global, highly available, business-critical identity systems** **Technical Expertise** * Architectural-level expertise in: * Active Directory (enterprise and hybrid environments) * Entra ID / Azure AD, including B2C * Oracle Unified Directory (OUD) * Linux and Unix authentication mechanisms * Strong understanding of: * Authentication and authorization flows * Identity federation and synchronization * RBAC, ABAC, and policy-driven access models * Zero Trust and identity-centric security architecture * Hands-on experience with identity protocols: * SAML 2.0, OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect (OIDC), Kerberos, LDAP/LDAPS, SCIM, RADIUS, SSH key-based authentication, PAM (Pluggable Authentication Modules) for Linux, certificate-based authentication (X.509), and modern API-based identity integrations, etc. * Experience with automation and integration: * PowerShell, Python, APIs, infrastructure-as-code preferred **Architectural & Leadership Skills** * Ability to design for **availability, resilience, and failure scenarios** * Strong systems thinking and long-term technical judgment * Proven ability to influence architecture and strategy across teams without formal authority * Comfortable operating in **ambiguous, high-impact environments** **Preferred Qualifications** * Experience supporting **customer-facing digital platforms** at global scale * Cloud IAM experience across Azure, AWS, and/or GCP * Familiarity with identity governance, privileged access, and compliance frameworks * Experience working with globally distributed teams, including India-based engineering support models * Prior experience supporting identity integration during M&A activities **Why This Role Is Critical** Identity is a **Tier-0 dependency**. Without a resilient, well-architected IAM foundation, failures in authentication, authorization, or machine identity control quickly become **enterprise-wide risk events**. This role directly protects the organization from: * Identity-driven downtime and degraded user access * Over-privileged or unmanaged AI, robotic, and service identities * Increased risk during mergers, acquisitions, and integrations * Delays or failures in Zero Trust adoption * Compliance exposure and erosion of trust This Principal Engineer ensures **continuity, resilience, and long-term sustainabiliy** of identity services—across humans, machines, and AI—that the business depends on every day. [More information about NXP in India...](https://www.nxp.com/company/about-nxp/worldwide-locations/india:INDIA) #LI-7013