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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. The gap between "each service works" and "the system is correct" compounds with every product shipped, every market entered, and every settlement mechanism built - you'll ensure Coinbase's correctness infrastructure scales years ahead of that growth.

What you'll do:

Own the multi-quarter technical strategy, architecture, and roadmap for the Overseer platform, including the invariant definition framework, real-time 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 system 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, identifying opportunities to apply AI-first approaches that scale correctness across Coinbase's expanding fund movement infrastructure.

Required Skills and Experience:

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 - proven history of building infrastructure other teams depend on, defining platform contracts, and scaling systems that support multiple product areas simultaneously.
Deep expertise in backend programming (e.g., 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.
Utilizes generative AI responsibly, maintaining human oversight to deliver business-ready outputs and drive measurable improvements in workflow efficiency, cost, and quality.

Job #:P76359

Pay Transparency Notice: Base salary varies by location (see range below). Total compensation may also include equity and bonus eligibility, and benefits (medical, dental, vision, 401(k)).

Annual base salary range (excluding equity and bonus):

$218,025—$256,500 USD

Application Limit: Candidates may submit a maximum of 4 applications per 30-day period.
Equal Opportunity Employer: Coinbase is an 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. Applicants with criminal histories will be considered consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws.
US Applicants: View Employee Rights, Know Your Rights, and E-Verify Notice of Participation.
Accommodations: If you are an individual with a disability who needs a reasonable accommodation, email us your request and contact info at accommodations[at]coinbase.com. Need screen reading technology? Click here to download a free compatible screen reader and view the tutorial.
Data Privacy & Arbitration: By submitting your application, you agree to our Candidate Privacy Notice. US applicants: By submitting your application, you agree to Arbitration of Disputes.
AI Disclosure: 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. 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. Coinbase will not use AI to make decisions impacting employment.

Staff Software Engineer (Tech Lead, Backend - Platform (Overseer)

Job description

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