Senior Staff Software Engineer - Blockchain Platform

About the role

In this role, you will define and drive the technical strategy for the Blockchain Platform, which includes nodes, wallets, and indexing systems. You will lead architectural initiatives to enhance the platform's performance and security while supporting new products and chains.

The Blockchain Platform team operates foundational infrastructure that connects Coinbase’s offerings to the broader crypto economy. You will work alongside a team dedicated to building systems that handle millions of transactions efficiently and securely, contributing to the overall growth and scalability of the platform.

The base salary for this role ranges from $253,895 to $298,700 USD, with potential for equity and bonuses.

Who this role suits

• A person with a strong technical background in high-scale technology environments.
• Someone who thrives in an intense, fast-paced setting and is willing to push beyond their limits.
• An individual passionate about blockchain technology and its potential to transform finance.
• A leader who can communicate effectively across teams and drive strategic initiatives.

From the employer

• Define and drive the multi-quarter technical strategy for Blockchain Platform, spanning nodes, wallets, indexing, and asset lifecycle, to support new chains, new products, and significant growth in onchain transaction volume.
• Architect and evolve the core Blockchain Platform infrastructure - nodes, indexers, wallet systems, and liquidity primitives - for high availability, low latency, cost efficiency, and security at global scale.
• Lead end-to-end design and rollout of large, cross-team architectural initiatives (e.g., wallet stack rearchitecture, indexing stack redesign, asset identifier system), breaking high ambiguity into clear milestones and measurable outcomes.
• Set and enforce technical standards for correctness, security, and reliability across all crypto asset operations, including transaction finality, key management, reconciliation, and failure-mode handling for all onchain flows.
• Drive engineering efficiency across the org - defining standards for testing, quality, automation, and observability, and championing AI-native approaches that reduce operational burden and enable agents to serve as front-line operators.
• Use data and observability signals (e.g., transaction success rates, node reliability, indexing latency, on-call burden) to identify structural platform gaps and lead systematic reliability and efficiency improvements.
• Represent Blockchain Platform in executive and cross-org forums, clearly communicating tradeoffs, aligning stakeholders on strategy, and securing buy-in for high-impact technical bets including emerging areas like Yield and Stablecoins.

• Experience with high-throughput transaction systems requiring strong auditability, idempotency, and financial precision.
• Familiarity with staking infrastructure, bridging protocols, or tokenization systems.
• Experience applying AI or agent-based automation to reduce operational toil in platform or infrastructure contexts.
• Background at a high-scale technology company with a track record of platform-level impact across multiple teams.

Nice to haves:

• Hands-on experience with one or more blockchain protocols at the node or protocol level (e.g., EVM chains, Solana, Bitcoin, L2s).

• 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): $253,895—$298,700 USD.