Senior Software Engineer, Blockchain Platform Nodes

About the role

This role focuses on the core infrastructure supporting Coinbase's blockchain operations. The engineer will be responsible for in-depth performance analysis and optimization of blockchain nodes, identifying and resolving resource consumption issues. A key goal is to reduce infrastructure spending while maintaining strict reliability standards for critical services. This involves implementing system-level fixes and ensuring operational efficiency.

The position also requires developing robust observability, health-check, and automated failover capabilities for blockchain nodes. This work enables proactive issue detection and response, moving beyond reactive scaling. The engineer will lead initiatives to right-size the node fleet, create capacity models, and collaborate with other engineering teams to extend performance improvements across the entire blockchain platform stack.

Success in this role means defining and implementing clear Service Level Objectives (SLOs) and Service Level Indicators (SLIs) for node services, establishing a framework for measuring reliability without relying on over-provisioning. The engineer will also support protocol upgrades, ensuring new blockchain versions are thoroughly validated for resource efficiency and regression-tested before deployment to production environments.

The annual base salary for this role ranges from $186,065 to $218,900 USD, with total compensation potentially including equity and bonus eligibility.

Skills that matter here

• Go: Proficiency in Go is preferred for backend programming and developing systems-level solutions.
• pprof: This tool will be used for profiling and diagnosing performance bottlenecks within the blockchain node stack.
• Datadog: Experience with Datadog is required for building observability and monitoring solutions for distributed systems.
• Prometheus: This monitoring system will be utilized for collecting metrics and ensuring the health of blockchain nodes.
• Grafana: Grafana will be used for visualizing performance data and creating dashboards for node services.

Who this role suits

• A systems-level engineer with a strong background in optimizing production infrastructure.
• Someone who enjoys diagnosing complex resource bottlenecks and tuning distributed system performance.
• An individual with a proven track record of reducing infrastructure costs through engineering solutions, not just scaling.
• A professional who values proactive problem-solving and establishing clear reliability metrics.

From the employer

• Own deep performance analysis and optimization across the blockchain node stack, diagnosing root causes of resource consumption and implementing system-level fixes that reduce infrastructure spend while maintaining reliability SLOs.
• Build observability, health-check, and automated failover capabilities for blockchain nodes, ensuring the team can detect degradation and respond proactively rather than reactively scaling resources.
• Drive a right-sizing initiative across the node fleet, profiling workloads, identifying over-provisioned instances, and establishing capacity models that balance cost efficiency with headroom for reliability.
• Partner with protocol integration engineers, wallet teams, and indexer teams to extend performance improvements across the full blockchain platform stack, not just the node layer.
• Lead the definition and implementation of SLOs and SLIs for node services, creating the measurement framework that gives the team confidence in reliability without relying on over-provisioning.
• Support protocol upgrades and node operations with a performance-first lens, ensuring new blockchain versions are validated for resource efficiency and regression-tested before production rollout.

• 5+ years of experience in software engineering with deep expertise in systems-level performance analysis, profiling, and optimization of production infrastructure.
• Hands-on experience operating distributed systems at scale, including diagnosing resource bottlenecks, tuning service performance, and managing capacity across heterogeneous workloads.
• Proficiency in backend programming (Go preferred) and systems tooling for profiling, tracing, and observability (e.g., pprof, Datadog, Prometheus, Grafana).
• Track record of reducing infrastructure costs through engineering optimization rather than simply scaling resources, with measurable outcomes (e.g., cost reduction percentage, latency improvements).
• Experience with blockchain nodes, consensus protocols, or crypto infrastructure is strongly preferred; familiarity with how different protocols behave under load and during upgrades.
• Utilizes generative AI responsibly, maintaining human oversight to deliver business-ready outputs and drive measurable improvements in workflow efficiency, cost, and quality.

• 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.
• 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.