Senior Software Engineer, Agent Verification

About the role

In this role, you will lead the design and implementation of the Unified Merge Gate, a system crucial for managing code changes at Coinbase. Your work will integrate various automated review processes and ensure secure and efficient development workflows.

You will collaborate with multiple teams to transform control requirements into practical developer experiences, focusing on metrics that improve merge efficiency and quality. Success in this position means delivering reliable services while maintaining high security standards.

The annual base salary for this role ranges from $186,065 to $218,900 USD, varying by location.

Skills that matter here

• Go: This role requires strong backend and distributed-systems experience in Go or a similar language.
• GitHub integrations: You will build integrations across GitHub and other policy systems.
• AWS: Familiarity with AWS is essential for developing backend services.
• Kubernetes: Kubernetes will be leveraged for deploying and managing applications.
• AI-assisted development: Hands-on experience with AI workflows is necessary for this position.
• policy-as-code: You will implement policy-as-code practices in the development process.

Who this role suits

• A senior engineer with over 7 years of experience in backend systems.
• Someone who thrives in a high-pressure environment and enjoys pushing their limits.
• A collaborative team player who can lead cross-team technical projects.
• An individual with strong security judgment and the ability to balance convenience with safety.

From the employer

• Lead the design and delivery of Coinbase’s Unified Merge Gate, the system that determines whether a change can merge and explains what remains before it can proceed.
• Integrate automated review findings, policy and risk assessments, CI results, identity and attestation evidence, and required human judgment into one merge decision.
• Build reliable backend services and integrations across GitHub, CI and other Coinbase’s policy systems.
• Migrate repositories from fragmented legacy controls to the Unified Merge Gate, with safe rollouts, observable decisions, and clear rollback paths.
• Partner with Security, Compliance, Infrastructure, Codeflow, ZTSC, and repository owners to turn control requirements into usable developer workflows.
• Measure the effect on human-review volume, time-to-merge, automated merge coverage, decision quality, and escaped defects.

• 7+ years experience
• Strong backend and distributed-systems experience in Go or a comparable language.
• Experience designing APIs, durable state, failure recovery, observability, and safe rollout mechanisms.
• Experience with CI/CD, source-control integrations, developer infrastructure, or another high-consequence control plane.
• Strong security and authorization judgment. The engineer must understand why a technically convenient path may weaken a production gate.
• Evidence of leading a cross-team technical project from design through migration and operational ownership.
• Hands-on AI fluency. The candidate should know how to use and evaluate AI-assisted engineering workflows rather than discuss them only at a conceptual level.

• Base salary varies by location (see range below).
• Total compensation may also include equity and bonus eligibility, and benefits (medical, dental, vision, 401(k)).
• Annual base salary range (excluding equity and bonus): $186,065—$218,900 USD.
• Application Limit: Candidates may submit a maximum of 3 applications within a 6-month period.
• Equal Opportunity Employer: Coinbase is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or genetic information. Applicants with criminal histories will be considered consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws.