General information
Ref # 22494
Remote? No
Ally and Your Career
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Ally Financial only succeeds when its people do - and that's more than some cliché people put on job postings. We live this stuff! We see our people as, well, people - with interests, families, friends, dreams, and causes that are all important to them. Our focus is on the health and safety of our teammates as well as work-life balance and diversity and inclusion. From generous benefits to a variety of employee resource groups, we strive to build paths that encourage employees to stretch themselves professionally. We want to help you grow, develop, and learn new things. You're constantly evolving, so shouldn't your opportunities be, too?
The Opportunity
At Ally, you get a startup feel, but experience the benefits of a company that has worked out the kinks and is fulfilling its purpose. We are always evolving and see that as a good thing. From owning our work to seeing its impact in the real world, our team is relentless in finding new ways technology can help make experiences better and help people. We are problem solvers, we value diverse thinking, we support one another, and we challenge ourselves to think bigger in the journey to deliver customer-obsessed tech solutions. To read more about what our tech team does, be sure to visit our tech blog at ally.tech
Join Ally's Identity Shield team to build authentication and identity infrastructure that protects our digital banking customers. You'll develop systems that implement fine-grained access control, manage authentication and authorization flows across Ally's digital banking ecosystem, and generate the behavioral and @contextual signals that power adaptive fraud detection.
At this time, Ally will not sponsor a new applicant for employment authorization for this position.
The Work Itself
As a backend engineer on this team, you'll tackle fascinating challenges implementing identity protocols at scale-building OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect flows, developing authorization engines that evaluate complex policies with millisecond latency, and serving authentication decisions that directly impact our ability to keep customers safe. You'll work with modern cloud technologies to build resilient, scalable platforms where performance and reliability are non-negotiable. This is your opportunity to contribute to Ally's authentication infrastructure, mastering security-first design principles, distributed systems, serverless architectures, and AI-assisted development workflows.
This role offers the rare combination of high-impact work, cutting-edge technology, and meaningful outcomes. You'll collaborate across engineering, product, security, and data science teams to solve complex problems that matter. Whether you're developing authentication services that adapt to risk signals, implementing password-less flows using passkeys and biometrics, building integrations with enterprise identity providers, or designing event streams that carry authentication signals, your work will be visible and valued.
On this team, we believe in relentless progress balanced with sustainable pace. We support each other, celebrate wins, learn from setbacks, and foster an environment where everyone can do their best work. Our #1 goal is team success, and our people are above all else.
Key Responsibilities:
Design and develop authentication and authorization services implementing modern identity protocols (OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, SAML, JWT)
Build scalable APIs for identity management, user registration, verification, and account recovery
Implement session management and token lifecycle systems across web and mobile platforms
Develop fine-grained authorization engines and policy evaluation services for access control
Build integrations with distributed identity providers, enterprise SSO platforms, and social login services
Implement passwordless authentication flows using passkeys, biometrics, and device attestation
Develop adaptive authentication logic that adjusts requirements based on risk signals and @context
Instrument authentication events with rich @contextual metadata that power fraud detection and analytics
Implement comprehensive observability using OpenTelemetry across identity services
Write clean, tested code in Node.js, TypeScript, and Python following engineering best practices and team standards
Collaborate with frontend engineers, security teams, and data scientists to deliver solutions that drive real outcomes
Participate in architectural decisions, technical design reviews, and code reviews
Build and maintain infrastructure-as-code for identity platform components using Terraform
Monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize platform performance, reliability, and security posture
Contribute to documentation, runbooks, and knowledge sharing across the team
Experiment with emerging technologies and propose innovations that enhance platform capabilities
Mentor team members and contribute to a culture of continuous learning and improvement
Work in an agile environment with sprint planning, story elaboration, and iterative delivery.
The Skills You Bring
Minimum Qualifications:
7+ years of relevant experience or equivalent combination of education and experience
High School Diploma or GED equivalent
Preferred Qualifications:
7+ years of professional software development experience with strong fundamentals in data structures and algorithms
Strong experience with RESTful API design, GraphQL, and microservices architectures
Hands-on experience with AWS serverless technologies (Lambda, API Gateway, AppSync, ECS/Fargate)
Solid understanding of authentication and authorization concepts, patterns, and best practices
Experience working with both relational databases (PostgreSQL) and NoSQL databases (DynamoDB) in production environments
Strong grasp of security principles including encryption, token management, secret handling, and threat modeling
Passion for writing maintainable code, automated tests, and clear documentation
Collaborative mindset with excellent communication skills across technical and non-technical audiences
Self-motivated learner who stays curious about new technologies and approaches
BSc/BA in Computer Science, Engineering or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
Deep knowledge of identity protocols and standards (OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, SAML, JWT, PKCE, WebAuthn)
Experience building authentication or authorization systems from scratch or at scale
Familiarity with identity providers and platforms (Auth0, Okta, Cognito etc.)
Understanding of passwordless authentication patterns (passkeys, FIDO2, WebAuthn)
Experience with mobile authentication patterns (biometric authentication, device binding, push notifications)
Knowledge of zero-trust architecture principles and continuous verification patterns
Experience designing adaptive or risk-based authentication systems
Familiarity with session management patterns and token rotation strategies
Understanding of cryptographic concepts (signing, encryption, key management, certificate handling)
Experience with Infrastructure as Code tools like Terraform
Knowledge of observability tools and distributed tracing (Dynatrace, OpenTelemetry, CloudWatch, X-Ray)
Experience designing and deploying systems across multi-region architectures
Familiarity with caching strategies for authentication state (ElastiCache, Redis)
Understanding of compliance requirements (SOC2, PCI-DSS, GDPR, CCPA)
Experience with CI/CD pipelines and automated security testing (SAST, DAST, dependency scanning)
Background or interest in cybersecurity, fraud detection, or identity and access management domains
Knowledge of event-driven architectures and how authentication signals power fraud detection systems
Exposure to AI-assisted development tools and workflows
LI-Hybrid
How We'll Have Your Back
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Ally's compensation program offers market-competitive base pay and pay-for-performance incentives (bonuses) based on achieving personal and company goals. But Ally's total compensation - or total rewards - extends beyond your paycheck and is designed to support and enrich your personal and professional life, including:
Time Away: competitive holiday and flexible paid-time-off, including time off for volunteering and voting.
Planning for the Future: plan for the near and long term with an industry-leading 401K retirement savings plan with matching and company contributions, student loan and 529 educational assistance programs, tuition reimbursement, and other financial well-being programs.
Supporting your Health & Well-being: flexible health and insurance options including dental and vision, pre-tax Health Savings Account with employer contributions and a total well-being program that helps you and your family stay on track physically, socially, emotionally, and financially.
Building a Family: adoption, surrogacy, and fertility support as well as parental and caregiver leave, back-up child and adult/elder day care program and childcare discounts.
Work-Life Integration: other benefits including LifeMatters® Employee Assistance Program, subsidized and discounted Weight Watchers® program and other employee discount programs.
Who We Are:
Ally Financial is a customer-centric, leading digital financial services company with passionate customer service and innovative financial solutions. We are relentlessly focused on "Doing it Right" and being a trusted financial-services provider to our consumer, commercial, and corporate customers. For more information, visit www.ally.com.
Ally is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, sex, religion, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy status, marital status, military or veteran status, genetic disposition or any other reason protected by law.
Where permitted by applicable law, must have received or be willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine by date of hire to be considered, if not currently employed by Ally.
We are committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodation to applicants with physical or mental disabilities. For accommodation requests, email us at work@ally.com. Ally will not discriminate against any qualified individual who is capable of performing the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodation.
Base Pay Range:
An individual's position in the range is determined by the scope and responsibilities of the role, work experience, education, certification(s), training, and additional qualifications. We review internal pay, the competitive market, and business environment prior to extending an offer.
Emerging: 110000
Experienced: 145000
Expert: 180000
Incentive Compensation: This position is eligible to participate in our annual incentive plan
