Principal Software Engineer

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.

While many roles at Coinbase are remote-first, we are not remote-only. In-person participation is required throughout the year. Team and company-wide offsites are held multiple times annually to foster collaboration, connection, and alignment. Attendance is expected and fully supported.

At Coinbase, our mission is to increase economic freedom in the world. To achieve this, we are becoming an "AI-first" company and fundamentally reimagining how a global financial institution operates. AI is at the center of this strategy, driving our core processes while human experts serve as the "function calls" that the system consults for high-level judgment.

The Role

We are looking for a visionary, AI-forward Principal Software Engineer to serve as the technical North Star for our AI Automation efforts. You will build Agentic AI systems that will power our multiple org-wide initiatives and their primitives, orchestration layers, and the tools that will enable every team at Coinbase to automate their workflows. You will report to the VP, Engineering and will operate with the highest level of autonomy to define what a fully AI-driven company looks like from the ground up.

What You’ll Do

• Architect Agentic Systems: Design and build sophisticated multi-agent architectures that move beyond simple chat to autonomous execution and complex reasoning.
• Solve the "Hard Problems" of AI: Define and implement reliable evaluation frameworks, eliminate hallucinations through rigorous data grounding, and build deep observability into LLM reasoning chains.
• Build the Core AI Platform: Develop the underlying primitives and orchestration tools that will allow the rest of the org to adopt AI, improving developer productivity and operational efficiency across the entire organization.
• Lead the AI-First Transition: Partner with leadership to identify high-impact automation opportunities across Product Foundations and Core functions, ensuring our AI strategy creates compounding leverage.
• Bridge Engineering and AI: Act as a "Software Engineer with deep AI expertise"—applying world-class backend engineering principles (scalability, reliability, performance) to the bleeding edge of Generative AI.
• Mentor and Elevate: Serve as a mentor to senior ICs and engineering teams, raising the bar for AI literacy and engineering excellence across the organization.

What We Look For

• Deep AI/LLM Expertise: Extensive experience working with LLMs, RAG, and Agentic frameworks. You understand the nuances of prompt engineering, fine-tuning, and the current limitations of frontier models.
• Backend Engineering Mastery: You are a seasoned Software Engineer at heart. You can build the robust, scalable systems required to put AI into production at a global scale.
• Proven Strategic Leadership: Experience operating with organizational level impact, leading technical strategy across multiple domains.
• Visionary Mindset: You are 18 months ahead of the industry curve. You can see how AI will transform business processes and have the technical chops to build that future today.
• Focus on Reliability: A passion for solving the "unsolved" problems of AI: evaluation, grounding, and deterministic outcomes in non-deterministic systems.

Nice to Have

• Multi-Agentic Architecture: Specific experience building or researching systems where multiple AI agents collaborate to solve complex tasks.
• Fintech or Compliance Background: Experience navigating the complexities of highly regulated environments.
• Open Source Contributions: Active contributions to the AI/ML community or major LLM frameworks (LangChain, AutoGPT, etc.).

Job ID: P68761

Pay Transparency Notice: Depending on your work location, the target annual base salary for this position can range as detailed below. Total compensation may also include bonus eligibility and benefits (including medical, dental, vision and 401(k)).

Annual base salary range (excluding bonus):

$297,670—$350,200 USD

Please be advised that each candidate may submit a maximum of four applications within any 30-day period. We encourage you to carefully evaluate how your skills and interests align with Coinbase's roles before applying.

Commitment to Equal Opportunity

Coinbase is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sex, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation or any other basis protected by applicable law. Coinbase will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable federal, state and local law.  For US applicants, you may view the Employee Rights and the Know Your Rights notices by clicking on their corresponding links. Additionally, Coinbase participates in the E-Verify program in certain locations, as required by law. 

Coinbase is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation because of a disability for any part of the employment process, please contact us at accommodations[at]coinbase.com to let us know the nature of your request and your contact information.   For quick access to screen reading technology compatible with this site click here to download a free compatible screen reader (free step by step tutorial can be found here).

Global Data Privacy Notice for Job Candidates and Applicants

Depending on your location, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) may regulate the way we manage the data of job applicants. Our full notice outlining how data will be processed as part of the application procedure for applicable locations is available here. By submitting your application, you are agreeing to our use and processing of your data as required. For US applicants only, by submitting your application you are agreeing to arbitration of disputes as outlined here.    

AI Disclosure

For select roles, Coinbase is piloting an AI tool based on machine learning technologies to conduct initial screening interviews to qualified applicants. The tool simulates realistic interview scenarios and engages in dynamic conversation. A human recruiter will review your interview responses, provided in the form of a voice recording and/or transcript, to assess them against the qualifications and characteristics outlined in the job description.  

For select roles, Coinbase is also piloting an AI interview intelligence platform to transcribe and summarize interview notes, allowing our interviewers to fully focus on you as the candidate. 

The above pilots are for testing purposes and Coinbase will not use AI to make decisions impacting employment. To request a reasonable accommodation due to disability, please contact accommodations[at]coinbase.com