Staff Software Engineer, Backend - Platform (Payment Rails)
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.
We are looking for a Staff Software Engineer to join the Payment Rails team within Coinbase's Platform organization. Payment Rails serves as Coinbase’s gateway between the fiat and crypto economy, connecting our products to a wide range of banking and payment providers, from the largest global institutions to the most innovative, tech‑forward processors. We operate a network of payment integrations and routing that power fiat on‑ and off‑ramps for both individual and institutional customers, moving hundreds of billions of dollars in transaction volume each year. In this role, you’ll shape the architecture and technical direction of this network, designing and scaling systems that ensure every payment is reliable, efficient, and correct.
What you’ll be doing (ie. job duties):
- Own the technical strategy, architecture, and roadmap for scaling Payment Rails’ network of payment partner integrations and routing, so Coinbase can enable more customers to participate in the crypto economy across more markets and payment options.
- Build and scale complex distributed systems that process high-volume, high-reliability payment traffic—designing for fault isolation, graceful degradation, strong observability, and clear SLOs for Tier-0/Tier-1 services.
- Drive an AI-first approach to engineering workflows—identify where AI-powered tools can accelerate development, improve code quality, and enhance operational efficiency across the team and broader engineering org.
- Partner cross-functionally with Product, Risk, Compliance, and Operations to translate ambiguous business requirements into well-scoped technical solutions that balance speed, safety, and regulatory requirements.
- Lead high-stakes scaling initiatives and define the technical direction for how Coinbase moves money—anticipating bottlenecks before they occur and driving proactive, systematic improvements.
- Raise the engineering bar across Payment Rails and adjacent orgs by establishing paved roads, design patterns, and best practices that elevate team technical quality through mentorship, design reviews, and process improvements.
- Mentor and train other team members on design techniques and coding standards.
What we look for in you (ie. job requirements):
- 8+ years of experience in software engineering.
- Experience building payment systems, financial infrastructure, or high-volume transactional systems.
- You've designed and built fault-tolerant, highly reliable distributed systems at scale—with a demonstrable track record of architecting systems that handle billions of dollars in transaction volume.
- Platform-builder mindset: you've led efforts to turn fragmented services and bespoke integrations into coherent, reusable platforms (e.g., shared frameworks, unified APIs, multi-tenant architectures).
- Strong operational excellence: experience owning production reliability, leading high-severity incident response, and driving systemic improvements from postmortems across multiple teams or domains.
- Collaborative leadership: history of influencing across teams and organizations without direct authority, driving consensus on high-impact technical decisions, and representing your area in org-level forums.
- Demonstrates the ability to responsibly use generative AI tools and copilots (e.g., LibreChat, Gemini, Glean) in daily workflows, continuously learn as tools evolve, and apply human-in-the-loop practices to deliver business-ready outputs and drive measurable improvements in efficiency, cost, and quality.
Nice to haves:
- Experience with payment processors, banking integrations, or payment gateways (e.g., Stripe, Plaid, SWIFT, ACH, SEPA, card networks).
- Background in crypto or blockchain technologies, including familiarity with stablecoin transfers, on-chain settlements, or cross-chain payment flows.
- Experience working in highly regulated industries where safety, compliance, and user trust are paramount—particularly in fintech or financial services.
Job #: P76350
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 equity and bonus eligibility and benefits (including medical, dental, vision and 401(k)).
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
- Medical Plan, Dental and Vision Plan with generous employee contributions
- Health Savings Account with company contributions each pay period
- Disability and Life Insurance
- 401(k) plan with company match
- Wellness Stipend
- Mobile/Internet Reimbursement
- Volunteer Time Off
- Fertility Counseling and Benefits
- Generous Time off/Leave Policy
- The option of getting paid in digital currency