Principal Software Engineer

About

Are you ready to challenge your limits and leave your mark in the world of finance? At Coinbase, our mission is to enhance economic freedom globally, and we are on the lookout for driven individuals who share our passion for crypto and blockchain technology. Join us as we build the emerging on-chain platform that shapes the future financial system. If you thrive in an intense work culture and seek to collaborate with high-caliber colleagues, this opportunity is for you.

While many roles at Coinbase support remote work, participation in-person throughout the year is essential. We host team and company-wide offsites multiple times a year to promote collaboration and connection, which is both expected and fully supported.

As we accelerate our commitment to AI-driven development, we need a visionary and hands-on Principal Software Engineer who can lead the technical evolution of software development at Coinbase. In this pivotal role, you will help integrate advanced artificial intelligence into our development processes, reimagining workflows for the next decade.

What You’ll Do:

• Architect an AI-First Ecosystem: Integrate AI agents into the development loop to automate test generation, refactor legacy code, detect bugs proactively, and optimize code performance before production.
• Pioneer LLM Integration: Bring our strong vision to fruition on how LLMs and AI agents will transform the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) through prototyping, building, and deploying next-gen autonomous engineering tools.
• Bridge the Gap Between AI and Fundamentals: Collaborate with infrastructure teams to ensure that advanced AI tools have a stable and secure architecture that performs optimally.
• Treat Platform as a Product: Shape the technical direction for scaling a top-notch Internal Developer Platform, treating internal engineers as customers to remove friction and expedite solutions to complex crypto challenges.
• Define the AI-Native Engineering Standard: As AI assumes more implementation tasks, help establish new workflows, standards, and best practices for the next generation of engineering at Coinbase.

What We Look For:

• Deep AI Conviction & Application: A strong belief in how LLMs and agents will reshape the SDLC, combined with experience or a clear plan for utilizing AI to alleviate engineering bottlenecks.
• Principal Level Technical Authority: Proven judgment in engineering fundamentals including CI/CD, public cloud (AWS/GCP), container orchestration, and modern testing methodologies.
• Product Mindset: An empathetic approach toward developers, treating the platform as a product that continually improves through feedback.
• AI Agents: Experience in deploying internal AI assistants or autonomous coding agents effectively.
• Quality at Speed: Expertise in leveraging automation to achieve high-speed development without compromising quality, ensuring secure and reliable deployments at scale.

Nice to Haves:

• Experience at a fast-paced, high-growth software or internet company.

Pay Transparency Notice:

The estimated annual salary for this position ranges from $253,895 to $298,700 USD, plus target bonus, equity, and benefits.

At Coinbase, we are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We value diversity and welcome qualified applicants from all backgrounds. For US applicants, we encourage you to view your rights related to employment.

If you require a reasonable accommodation during the interview process due to a disability, please reach out to us.