Senior Software Engineer

About Coinbase

At Coinbase, we're on a mission to enhance economic freedom globally. This ambitious goal requires exceptional talent as we build an innovative on-chain platform that could transform the global financial system.

We are looking for a candidate who not only embraces our mission but also shares our belief in the transformative power of crypto and blockchain technologies. If you are eager to make a significant impact, thrive under pressure, and welcome constructive feedback for personal growth, you might be the perfect fit for our team.

Our work environment is dynamic and challenging, which may not be suitable for everyone. However, if you want to shape the future alongside skilled colleagues who hold high expectations, this is the right place for you.

Role Overview

This position is for a Senior Software Engineer to lead the Identity Accounts team—the foundational platform that supports every user, organization, and account at Coinbase. Your team’s services are vital, managing authentication, authorization, security settings, and account management for millions of customers using various Coinbase products. You will oversee three sub-teams (Foundations, Users Platformization, and Settings & Account Management), execute the roadmap in collaboration with your Engineering and Product Manager, and act as the team’s representative to over 20 internal product groups, as well as key partners in Security, Risk, Compliance, and Design. This role is ideal for someone who excels in solving complex technical challenges while exhibiting strong cross-functional leadership.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead roadmap execution across three dedicated sub-teams: Foundations (authorization infrastructure), Users Platformization (transitioning away from the legacy monolith), and Settings & Account Management (advancing Security Settings 2.0 and refreshing account navigation).
• Ensure reliability and operational excellence for multiple mission-critical Tier-0/Tier-1 services, maintaining a 99.99% uptime and advocating for engineering quality while managing high-severity incidents.
• Represent the team to internal product divisions and key partners in Security, Risk, Compliance, and Design, fostering alignment and facilitating seamless integration support.
• Collaborate with Product and your Engineering Manager to establish strategic roadmaps, prioritize projects, and translate complex constraints into scalable platform solutions.
• Promote engineering excellence through code and design reviews, setting engineering standards, and ensuring capabilities are composable and reusable across product lines.
• Enhance the experience for internal customers by reducing onboarding time for new product teams to under 2 weeks, while providing outstanding APIs, clear documentation, and robust integration support.

What We Are Looking For

• 8+ years of software engineering experience.
• Proven success in architecting and delivering scalable systems that handle high throughput and availability serving millions of requests.
• Experience leading AI/LLM product development with a focus on building AI agents, code generation systems, or developer-oriented AI tools in production settings.
• Strong proficiency in Go, gRPC, Kubernetes, and service mesh architectures.
• Ability to provide technical clarity in ambiguous situations, effectively transforming vague challenges into actionable solutions.
• A track record of influencing across organizational divisions, securing buy-in from diverse stakeholders, and nurturing lasting cross-team collaborations.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, capable of producing technical design documents that foster organizational confidence and shared understanding.
• Located in or able to commute to New York City or San Francisco, with a willingness to work from the tech hub once or twice a week as needed for architecture reviews, stakeholder meetings, and team offsites.

Preferred Qualifications

• Background in identity, authentication, authorization, or account management systems.
• Prior experience leading a platform team or a similar domain with significant internal customer reliance.
• Familiarity with our technology stack: Go, gRPC, React, SpiceDB, Kubernetes, PostgreSQL, Kafka, Datadog.
• Experience developing financial, high-reliability, or security systems.

Compensation

Pay Transparency Notice: Depending on your work location, the target annual base salary for this position ranges from $218,025 to $256,500 USD. Total compensation may also include equity, bonuses, and benefits (such as medical, dental, vision, and 401(k)).

Additional Information

• Job #: P76788
• Please note that each candidate may submit a maximum of four applications within any 30-day period. We encourage you to assess how your skills and interests align with the roles at Coinbase before applying.
• Commitment to Equal Opportunity: Coinbase is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sex, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, or any other basis protected by applicable law. Coinbase will also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in compliance with applicable federal, state, and local laws.
• Coinbase is committed to making reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities. For any requests regarding accommodations during the employment process due to disability, please contact us to inform us of your request and provide your contact information.
• Global Data Privacy Notice for Job Candidates and Applicants: Depending on your location, the GDPR and CCPA may regulate how we manage the data of job applicants. We have a comprehensive notice available outlining our data processing for applicants, which you will accept by submitting your application.
• AI Disclosure: For certain roles, Coinbase is testing an AI tool to conduct initial screening interviews with qualified candidates. This tool simulates realistic interview scenarios and engages in a dynamic conversation format. A human recruiter will review your responses to evaluate them against the job qualifications outlined in this description.
• For select roles, Coinbase is also piloting an AI tool to transcribe and summarize interview notes to allow our interviewers to focus on the candidate during the process.
• The AI pilots are for testing purposes only, and Coinbase will not use AI for decisions affecting employment.