Okta Secures AI
March 2025 – Present·Design Lead / Manager·Led a team of 7
I identified that Okta's decade of securing human identity gave it a unique edge to secure AI agents, an opportunity no one was pursuing yet. I partnered with a software architect to validate the idea through a hackathon, built executive momentum, and pitched directly to the CEO to secure funding. I then led the zero-to-one MVP as Design Lead, built a team of seven from scratch, and shipped a product that became the keynote for Oktane 2025 and Okta's #1 company priority for 2026.
Okta had already solved the hardest problem, for humans
In late 2024, as AI agents began proliferating across enterprise software, a gap became clear: companies were deploying agents that could access sensitive systems, impersonate users, and make decisions at scale. These AI agents did not have any of the identity controls that governed human access.
I recognized that Okta had all the foundational pieces such as authentication, authorization, lifecycle management, access policies that is necessary to secure identities. As a result Okta was uniquely positioned to extend them to AI agents before anyone else did.
Nobody was pursuing this yet. I made it a point to change this.
From idea to company keynote in under a year
Opportunity identified
Identified the gap in AI agent identity and began building the case internally through outreach to execs and early conversations with engineering and product.
Hackathon
Partnered with a software architect to turn the concept into a working prototype. The hackathon validated the technical and product direction.
CEO pitch & funding
As part of the tiger team, presented directly to the CEO. Secured funding to establish two dedicated scrum teams.
MVP shipped + Oktane keynote
Delivered the MVP. The end-to-end experience became the centerpiece of Oktane 2025 — Okta's flagship annual conference.
Okta's #1 priority
Heading into 2026, Okta Secures AI became the company's top strategic initiative. Team expanded to 4 scrum teams with General Availability in April 2026 with paying customers already onboard.
Okta Secures AI was the main keynote at Oktane 2025
Three challenges that defined this product
Challenge 1
Turning executive buy-in into an MVP plan
After securing initial funding, we had very little time to convert momentum into a credible MVP. I designed and ran a 5-day onsite design sprint. A total of 5 teams and 20+ people participated. My job was to empower parallel progress across workstreams without losing track of end-to-end coherence. The sprint produced the key investment areas, the MVP plan, and the narrative that became the Oktane keynote story.
Challenge 2
Building the operating model for a high-stakes, fast-moving team
As the team scaled, I introduced the design processes that let us move fast without losing quality: continuous research cadences, AI-based prototyping, and a decision-making and documentation framework that kept a high-visibility project transparent across functions. The goal was a team that could make good decisions independently, with visibility into the whole.
Challenge 3
When the UI itself was the wrong solution
Partway through the MVP, I identified that a traditional table-based UI wasn't up to the complexity of mapping AI agent relationships. I proposed and introduced a graph-based interface. A visual map of the relationships between agents, humans, and the resources they access. This was validated directly with customers and is now in active development as the replacement for the traditional UI.
My Role
Strategy
Driving design strategy and investment prioritization
Craft
Providing hands-on design direction for the MVP and key product decisions
Executive alignment
Ongoing CEO and exec presentations to maintain alignment and momentum
Team
Built and staffed a team of 7 - 4 Designers, 2 Researchers and 1 Content Designer
Cross-functional
Responsible for ensuring UX alignment across product, engineering, and GTM partners
Outcome
We went from concept to Beta in six months and the team is marching towards General Availability. This is a significant achievement in a space where the market itself was still figuring out what it needed. By staying committed to continuous research and iterative design and development, I kept the team moving fast through ambiguity. The solution earned serious customer interest and already has paying customers ahead of GA.