Identity & Access Management (IAM) Design

Designing identity, roles, and access policies across an entire organization, not just one system.

What it is

IAM design at the architecture level is about managing identity and access consistently across every system an organization runs — not configuring permissions system-by-system.

Key points

Centralized identity (SSO via SAML/OIDC) avoids duplicated, drifting credentials across systems and gives one place to revoke access.
Role design: too few roles forces over-provisioning; too many becomes unmanageable — role explosion is a common real-world failure mode.
Just-in-time access: granting elevated privileges temporarily for a specific task instead of standing permanent access, reducing the attack surface of compromised credentials.
Access reviews: periodic audits to catch privilege creep — permissions accumulated over time that no longer match someone's actual role.