Principal Software Engineer, Backend - Platform

Ready to be pushed beyond what you think you’re capable of?

At Coinbase, our mission is to increase economic freedom in the world. It’s a massive, ambitious opportunity that demands the best of us, every day, as we build the emerging onchain platform — and with it, the future global financial system.

To achieve our mission, we’re seeking a very specific candidate. We want someone who is passionate about our mission and who believes in the power of crypto and blockchain technology to update the financial system. We want someone who is eager to leave their mark on the world, who relishes the pressure and privilege of working with high caliber colleagues, and who actively seeks feedback to keep leveling up. We want someone who will run towards, not away from, solving the company’s hardest problems.

Our work culture is intense and isn’t for everyone. But if you want to build the future alongside others who excel in their disciplines and expect the same from you, there’s no better place to be.

We are seeking a highly experienced and talented Principal Engineer to join our team. This individual will be one of the most senior individual contributors at Coinbase and will play a crucial role in influencing across multiple areas. This person will mentor other ICs to promote technical excellence and professional growth.

What you’ll be doing (ie. job duties):

• Influence and oversee large engineering efforts across various domains such as identity, payments, ledgering, risk, and AI
• Collaborate with other product leaders to establish and execute on vision & architecture strategies
• Help drive the unified vision for product platform services and API surface
• Lead the development and scaling of data stores and ledger systems within payment frameworks
• Implement best practices for building and maintaining large-scale systems

What we look for in you (ie. job requirements):

• Minimum of 15+ years of experience
• Experience providing technical and strategic oversight for a high-performing global team of hundreds of engineers.
• Desire and ability to inspire, influence and drive change at all levels, across multiple XFN teams, VPs and C-Suite.
• Demonstrated experience in working with large-scale systems and solving technical problems with over multi-year, multi-billion dollar, and multi-organization impact.
• Excellent collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively with cross-functional leaders and mentor other team members.
• Experience in the fintech sector, with crypto experience being a plus