Coinbase

Senior Staff Software Engineer, Payments

Coinbase$253K — $298K *
US-AnywhereRemote in United States
Finance & Insurance
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 10+ years in building and operating large-scale distributed systems
  • Strong experience in money-movement architecture (PSPs, routing, double-entry systems)
  • Expertise in backend programming (Python, Go, Java) and cloud-native architecture
  • History of designing highly available and high-performance systems
  • Ability to foresee and mitigate scaling bottlenecks
  • Proven leadership in cross-functional technical initiatives and mentorship
  • Commitment to fostering a strong engineering culture and sharing best practices

Responsibilities

  • Define and drive Payments' multi-quarter technical strategy across various dimensions.
  • Architect and evolve the Payments platform for high availability and low latency at scale.
  • Lead design and rollout of large initiatives while breaking down ambiguity into actionable outcomes.
  • Set and enforce standards for financial correctness across all money movement paths.
  • Collaborate with various teams to create cohesive architectures balancing multiple aspects.
  • Mentor senior engineers to enhance system design quality and maintainability.
  • Analyze data signals to identify and resolve platform reliability and efficiency gaps.
  • Represent Payments in high-level forums and align stakeholders on technical strategies.

Benefits

  • Medical, dental, and vision coverage
  • 401(k) retirement plan
  • Equity and bonus eligibility
  • Flexible working arrangements
  • Access to ongoing professional development opportunities
Full Job Description
About the team:

Payments Platform is at the front door of Coinbase's financial ecosystem. Our mission is to move old money into crypto and power financial access and payments for the crypto economy globally. As the bridge between the traditional financial world and the crypto economy, we build and operate the fiat on- and off-ramps and payment services that let Coinbase's customer-facing products deliver reliable, seamless payment processing and connect customer fiat funds into crypto.

We're seeking a deep technical leader to define the engineering vision for Payments, shape architectural cohesion across our global payment rails and funds-flow systems, drive platform-level reliability and cost efficiency, and lead the next evolution of how fiat moves into and out of Coinbase.

What you'll be doing (ie. job duties):
  • Define and drive the multi-quarter technical strategy for Payments, spanning rails, orchestration, and transfers, to support new products, geos, and significant growth in payment volume.
  • Architect and evolve the core Payments platform (rails integrations, routing, and funds-flow services) for high availability, low latency, and cost efficiency at global scale.
  • Lead end-to-end design and rollout of large, cross-team initiatives (e.g., new global rails, decomp/migrations, resiliency programs), breaking high ambiguity into clear milestones and measurable outcomes.
  • Set and enforce technical standards for financial correctness across Payments, including idempotency, reconciliation, failure-mode handling, and auditability for all money-movement paths.
  • Partner closely with FinHub, Payments Risk, Regulatory Platform, and Product to design cohesive architectures that balance customer experience, risk controls, compliance, and unit economics.
  • Provide deep technical mentorship to senior/staff engineers across Payments pods, upleveling system design quality, review rigor, and long-term maintainability.
  • Use data and observability signals (e.g., success rates, latency, cost, incident patterns) to identify structural platform gaps and lead systematic reliability and efficiency improvements.
  • Represent Payments in executive and cross-org forums, clearly communicating tradeoffs, aligning stakeholders on strategy, and securing buy-in for high-impact technical bets.

What we look for in you (ie. job requirements):
  • 10+ years building and operating large-scale distributed systems in production.
  • Deep money-movement architecture experience (PSPs, ISO 20022, routing, double-entry, high-volume payment systems)
  • Deep expertise in backend programming (e.g., Python, Go, Java) and cloud-native architecture.
  • Proven track record designing highly available, high-performance systems.
  • Ability to anticipate scaling bottlenecks before they occur and take decisive, proactive measures.
  • Experience leading cross-functional technical initiatives and mentoring senior engineers.
  • Commitment to technical excellence, sharing best practices, and fostering a strong engineering culture.
  • Ability to distill complex technical concepts into clear and actionable solutions.

Nice to haves:
  • Experience designing and operating ledgering or trading systems at large scale.
  • Strong financial acumen with experience handling accounting data and financial transactions with high precision and reliability.
  • Experience collaborating closely with finance and accounting teams.


Job ID#: P75554

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):

$253,895-$298,700 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.

About Coinbase

Coinbase is a digital currency exchange that allows users to buy, sell, and store cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin. The company was founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Coinbase has over 56 million verified users in over 100 countries and has facilitated over $335 billion in trades. Coinbase offers a variety of services, including a cryptocurrency wallet, a trading platform, and an API for developers. Coinbase is known for its user-friendly interface and high level of security. Coinbase has raised over $547 million in funding from investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, and the New York Stock Exchange.
Learn more about Coinbase
Size
1,200 employees
Industry
Founded
2012

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