Staff Software Engineer (Tech Lead, Backend - Platform (Overseer))
at Coinbase
USD 218,000-256,500 per year
Used Tools & Technologies
GenAIRequired Skills & Competences
Tag name is followed by "@" symbol and proficiency level value.
About proficiency levels:
- 1-2 — basic awareness. Minimal hands-on experience, and a rudimentary understanding of the technology's purpose;
- 3-6 — daily use. Comfortable and regular usage, capable of handling common tasks and challenges related to the technology;
- 7-9 — you are an expert, you can teach others, you know all the pitfalls and tricks;
- 10 — exceptional knowledge, comprehensive understanding, and adeptness in all aspects of the technology, including advanced problem-solving. Think twice before claiming or demanding such level.
Go @ 4
Python @ 4
Java @ 4
Distributed Systems @ 7
Hiring @ 4
Leadership @ 4
API @ 4
Generative AI @ 4
AI @ 4
- 1-2 — basic awareness. Minimal hands-on experience, and a rudimentary understanding of the technology's purpose;
- 3-6 — daily use. Comfortable and regular usage, capable of handling common tasks and challenges related to the technology;
- 7-9 — you are an expert, you can teach others, you know all the pitfalls and tricks;
- 10 — exceptional knowledge, comprehensive understanding, and adeptness in all aspects of the technology, including advanced problem-solving. Think twice before claiming or demanding such level.
Details
Coinbase is remote-first (but not remote-only) and focused on increasing economic freedom. The company expects occasional in-person working sessions called “surges.”
Overseer is Coinbase's business integrity layer, making the financial contracts between systems explicit and detecting violations before they become incidents. As a Staff Software Engineer on the Overseer team within the Platform product group, you'll define the long-term technical vision for the platform that enforces correctness across every fund flow Coinbase processes.
Responsibilities
- Own the multi-quarter technical strategy, architecture, and roadmap for the Overseer platform, including the invariant framework, detection engine, and partner-facing APIs.
- Lead the design and execution of company P0 initiatives end-to-end, serving as the senior DRI accountable for delivery, trade-offs, and organizational alignment across product groups.
- Drive an architecture where every new product shipped accelerates the correctness layer rather than adding complexity, setting precedents that influence platform design across FinHub.
- Shape engineering standards and technical culture across the team and broader FinHub organization through design reviews, architectural RFCs, and raising the bar on code quality and reliability.
- Partner with senior engineering and product leadership across product groups to align correctness requirements, resolve cross-team technical dependencies, and define shared platform contracts.
- Build next-generation AI-powered guardrails and real-time invariant enforcement capabilities, applying AI-first approaches that scale correctness across Coinbase's fund movement infrastructure.
Requirements
- 8+ years of experience designing, building, and operating fault-tolerant, high-reliability distributed systems at scale, with a track record of influencing technical direction beyond your immediate team.
- Demonstrated experience as a technical lead owning architecture decisions, multi-quarter roadmaps, and cross-team initiatives that impacted organization-level outcomes.
- Platform-builder mindset with proven history of building infrastructure other teams depend on, defining platform contracts, and scaling systems across multiple product areas.
- Deep expertise in backend programming (examples cited: Go, Python, Java) and designing systems for correctness, performance, and scalability in financial or high-stakes distributed environments.
- Track record of elevating team and org-level technical quality through mentorship, architectural standards, engineering process improvements, and senior hiring contributions.
- Experience utilizing generative AI responsibly, maintaining human oversight to deliver business-ready outputs and improve workflow efficiency, cost, and quality.
Compensation and other details
- Job #: P76359
- Annual base salary range (excluding equity and bonus): $218,025 — $256,500 USD. Total compensation may also include equity, bonus eligibility, and benefits (medical, dental, vision, 401(k)).
- Coinbase is an Equal Opportunity Employer and provides accommodations for applicants with disabilities. US applicants: see Employee Rights and E-Verify notice. Coinbase pilots AI tools for initial screening interviews and interview intelligence; AI will not be used to make employment decisions.