Staff Software Engineer

About the role

This Staff Software Engineer position at Coinbase focuses on the correctness layer within fund flows, a critical component of the company's financial infrastructure. The role requires defining and driving architectural decisions for this layer, ensuring the reliability and accuracy of financial transactions. A key responsibility also includes leading the workstream for AI guardrails, indicating a focus on integrating and managing AI within these systems.

The work involves significant technical leadership, including setting the overall technical direction for core platform components. This engineer will make high-stakes architectural decisions that impact the system's integrity and performance. Collaboration is essential, as the role requires partnering with other teams to establish correctness requirements and translate the platform's vision into actionable development plans.

Success in this role means effectively mentoring other engineers and guiding them through complex technical challenges. The ideal candidate will demonstrate strong judgment in prioritizing investments and possess a deep understanding of building fault-tolerant distributed systems at scale. This position is for someone who can contribute to an emerging onchain platform and the future global financial system.

The annual base salary for this role ranges from $128,000 to $212,000 USD, with total compensation potentially including equity and bonus eligibility.

Skills that matter here

• Golang: This role involves working with Golang, indicating its use in developing and maintaining core platform components.
• Ruby: Experience with Ruby is relevant, suggesting its application within parts of the existing system or new development.
• Docker: Docker is used for containerization, implying involvement in deploying and managing applications within a containerized environment.
• Postgres: Postgres is a key database technology, indicating responsibilities that involve data storage and management.
• Kafka: Kafka is utilized for real-time data streaming, suggesting work with high-throughput data pipelines and event-driven architectures.

Who this role suits

• You have a background of at least eight years in software engineering, specifically with large-scale distributed systems.
• You are a leader who can set technical direction and make critical architectural choices.
• You are adept at collaborating with various teams to define and meet technical requirements.
• You enjoy mentoring other engineers and guiding them through complex technical challenges.

From the employer

• Define and drive the architecture of the correctness layer across fund flows.
• Own the core platform and lead AI guardrails workstream.
• Set technical direction and make high-stakes architecture decisions.
• Partner cross-functionally to define correctness requirements.
• Mentor engineers and translate platform vision into executable roadmap.

• 8+ years of software engineering experience.
• Experience building fault-tolerant, high-reliability distributed systems at scale.
• Platform-builder mindset.
• Experience leading cross-functional technical work.
• Strong judgment on where to invest.
• Ability to responsibly use generative AI tools.

• Annual base salary range: $128K-$212K USD.
• Total compensation may include equity and bonus eligibility.
• Benefits including medical, dental, vision, and 401(k).
• Commitment to Equal Opportunity Employer.