Senior Security Engineer (IAM)

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.

The AppSec team is looking for a Senior Security Engineer to revolutionize how we scale Identity and Access Management (IAM) reviews. In this role, you will have the autonomy to treat security as an engineering problem and stay at the forefront of applying AI to cybersecurity. Your mission is to move our organization away from manual processes toward a proactive, automated security posture. By building the foundations of a next-generation IAM review system, you will design and deploy frameworks that enforce least-privilege at scale and leverage AI to identify risks that human oversight might miss.

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

• Design, develop, and maintain internal tools and services (primarily in Go) to automate the IAM lifecycle and security review processes.
• Build "Guardrails-as-Code" to detect and remediate overly permissive roles or misconfigurations across a diverse set of in-house developed and SaaS applications.
• Prototype and implement AI-driven solutions (such as LLM-based analysis or anomaly detection) to categorize access patterns and provide intelligent recommendations for rightsizing permissions.
• Create developer-centric tools that allow engineering teams to manage their own access securely, reducing friction while maintaining strict security standards.
• Serve as the subject matter expert for complex IAM architecture decisions, ensuring that automation logic aligns with industry frameworks (like Zero Trust and NIST).

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

• Bachelor’s or Master’s in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Cybersecurity, or a related field.
• Deep understanding of IAM primitives (Service Accounts, OIDC, SAML, RBAC vs. ABAC).
• Strong proficiency in Python, Go, or Node.js. Experience with Git, CI/CD pipelines, and writing clean, maintainable code.
• Experience in leveraging LLMs to enable self-serve and autonomous capabilities.
• Familiarity with microservices architecture.

Nice to haves:

• Demonstrated experience managing workforce access, logging, and auditing in a fast-paced hyper-growth environment (FinTech or crypto preferred), with a strong understanding of navigating strict regulatory landscapes, such as SOX compliance.
• Experience with data engineering basics (SQL, Snowflake, or Databricks) to analyze large-scale access logs.
• Background in Application Security.

Job #: P76231

#LI-Remote

Pay Transparency Notice: The target annual base salary for this position can range as detailed below. Total compensation may also include equity and bonus eligibility and benefits (including medical, dental, and vision).

Annual base salary range (excluding equity and bonus):

$191,100—$191,100 CAD

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).

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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