Role in brief
Coinbase is expanding its platform to include prediction markets, allowing users to trade on real-world event outcomes. This Staff Software Engineer will design and build the core backend systems for these markets, focusing on order management, trade matching, and settlement. This role suits experienced backend engineers with a strong background in distributed systems and financial correctness.
About the role
This Staff Software Engineer role involves taking ownership of the backend systems that power Coinbase's new prediction markets. The work includes designing and developing critical components like order management, trade matching, settlement, and market resolution. The engineer will ensure these systems are highly available and operate with low latency, while also enforcing strict correctness guarantees essential for financial applications.
A key part of the role is architecting distributed systems that handle complex workflows such as clearing, payout, and position management. This position also drives the technical strategy for transitioning from third-party venue participation to a fully internal exchange and clearing platform. Collaboration with product, compliance, and risk teams is crucial to ensure the platform meets regulatory standards.
Success in this role means setting high engineering standards for the Prediction Markets team, influencing code quality, system design, and operational rigor. The engineer will also partner with other teams to identify shared infrastructure opportunities, aiming to reduce duplication across various trading surfaces within Coinbase's broader consumer and business offerings.
The base salary for this position ranges from $218,025 to $256,500 USD, with total compensation potentially including equity, bonuses, and benefits.
Skills that matter here
- backend: This role requires extensive backend experience to design, develop, and maintain the core infrastructure for prediction markets.
- distributed systems: The engineer will architect and build complex distributed systems that manage orders, trades, and settlements with high availability and correctness.
- Go: Proficiency in Go or a similar backend language is required for developing the prediction market platform.
- Java: Proficiency in Java or a similar backend language is required for developing the prediction market platform.
Who this role suits
- An engineer with at least 8 years of experience building and owning high-availability, low-latency distributed systems.
- Someone who has a proven history of designing systems where financial correctness is a critical requirement, such as in order management or settlement.
- A technical leader capable of driving complex, multi-quarter projects, making architectural decisions, and coordinating across teams.
- An individual who excels at mentoring peers and elevating engineering standards through design reviews, code quality, and incident response.
From the employer
- Own the design, development, and reliability of backend systems that power order management, trade matching, settlement, and market resolution for prediction markets
- Architect distributed systems that enforce strict correctness guarantees across clearing, payout, and position management workflows
- Drive the technical strategy for migrating from third-party venue participation to a fully Coinbase-operated exchange and clearing platform
- Lead cross-functional collaboration with Product, Compliance, and Risk teams to ensure the platform meets regulatory requirements and launches with confidence
- Shape engineering standards and practices across the Prediction Markets team, setting a high bar for code quality, system design, and operational rigor
- Partner with engineers across Consumer & Business to identify shared infrastructure opportunities and reduce duplication across trading surfaces
- 8+ years of backend software engineering experience, with demonstrated ownership of high-availability, low-latency distributed systems in production
- Proven track record designing systems where financial correctness is non-negotiable, such as order management, settlement, clearing, or ledger systems
- Experience leading complex, multi-quarter technical projects as the senior technical decision-maker, including architecture design, trade-off analysis, and cross-team coordination
- Deep proficiency in at least one backend language (e.g., Go, Java, or similar) and strong fundamentals in distributed systems, concurrency, and data modeling
- Track record of mentoring and elevating engineers across a team, raising standards for design reviews, code quality, and incident response
- Utilizes generative AI responsibly, maintaining human oversight to deliver business-ready outputs and drive measurable improvements in workflow efficiency, cost, and quality.
- Base salary range: $218,025—$256,500 USD
- Total compensation may also include equity and bonus eligibility, and benefits (medical, dental, vision, 401(k)).
- Candidates may submit a maximum of 3 applications within a 6-month period.
- 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.
Questions about this role
What is the remote work policy for this role?
This is a remote-first position.
What level of seniority is expected for this position?
This role is for a Staff Software Engineer, which is a middle seniority level requiring significant experience.
What are the key technical skills required?
Key skills include extensive backend software engineering, experience with distributed systems, and deep proficiency in languages like Go or Java.