ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT

The University of Southern California (USC) is advancing its cybersecurity posture with a renewed focus on resilience, cyber risk management, and threat-informed defense. As a world-class research institution, USC is building a culture of security that supports its academic and research mission in a rapidly evolving threat landscape.
This role sits within a newly restructured cybersecurity organization that’s leading this transformation. You’ll join a team focused on scalable, proactive defense strategies, incident preparedness, and operational excellence—working alongside experts who are deeply committed to service, innovation, and impact.
If you’re driven by purpose, thrive in complexity, and want to help shape the future of cybersecurity at a leading university, we invite you to bring your leadership to the table.

POSITION SUMMARY

As the SSO & MFA Lead you will be an integral member of the cybersecurity department while also collaborating with stakeholders across the university ecosystem, and reporting to the Manager PAM & SSO Services. This is a full-time exempt position, eligible for all of USC’s fantastic Benefits + Perks. This opportunity is remote.
The SSO & MFA Lead is responsible for overseeing the management and operations of Single Sign-On (SSO) solutions, such as ForgeRock, Shibboleth, Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) systems, Identity Proofing, and Account Take Over prevention. Leads the product offering (e.g., overall strategy, development, lifecycle management), responsible for managing projects, prioritizing tasks and directing both engineering and operational activities. Ensures the security, integrity and efficient functioning of SSO systems, collaborates with various departments to meet regulatory requirements, and provides leadership and mentorship.

The SSO & MFA Lead will:

• Leads the development and management of the SSO & MFA product roadmap, ensuring alignment with university goals. Prioritizes tasks and projects based on business needs, risk assessments and resource availability.
• Manages SSO-related projects from inception to completion, ensuring timely delivery and adherence to budget. Oversees the day-to-day operations of SSO systems to ensure optimal performance and security.
• Oversees the design, development and implementation of SSO, MFA, Identity Proofing and Account Take Over solutions. Ensures the integration of SSO systems with other university systems and applications.
• Develops and enforces policies and procedures tailored to the university’s SSO needs. Conducts regular risk assessments to identify and mitigate potential security risks.
• Collaborates with IT, HR, academic departments and other stakeholders to ensure seamless integration of SSO processes.
• Encourages a workplace culture where all employees are valued, value others and have the opportunity to contribute through their ideas, words and actions, in accordance with the USC Code of Ethics.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Great candidates for the position of SSO & MFA Lead will meet the following qualifications:

• 5 years in Identity and Access Management.
• A bachelor’s degree or combined experience and education as substitute for minimum education.
• Experience in SSO and MFA solutions.
• Expertise in designing and implementing SSO and MFA frameworks, ensuring seamless integration with enterprise applications.
• Knowledge of authentication protocols such as SAML, OAuth, OpenID Connect and related technologies.
• Strong understanding of security best practices for authentication and access control.
• Proven ability to monitor and optimize SSO and MFA performance, ensuring high availability.
• Experience with cloud-based identity platforms like Okta, Ping Identity or Azure AD.
• Strong troubleshooting skills and ability to resolve authentication-related issues promptly.
• Effective communication skills for working with technical and non-technical stakeholders.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

Exceptional candidates for the position of SSO & MFA Lead will also bring the following qualifications or more:

• 7 years of related experience.
• Relevant certifications, such as CISSP, CISM and product-specific certification.

In addition, the successful candidate must also demonstrate, through ideas, words and actions, a strong commitment to USC’s Unifying Values of integrity, excellence, community, well-being, open communication, and accountability.

Please refer the Job description for details