Senior Data Layer Engineer - High-Impact, Remote-First

Coinbase; Augusta (ME); Hybrid; USD 186,000 - 219,000; Full time

Job summary

Coinbase is seeking a Senior Software Engineer for the Data Layer to build scalable backend services and APIs that power millions of users. This remote-first company operates with quarterly in-person surges to collaborate closely and align on ambitious goals.

The role demands ownership of complex systems, strong backend skills in Go or Java, and a commitment to reliability, observability, and cross-functional partnership in a fast-paced environment. Expect to drive impact at scale.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional engineering experience with distributed systems.
• Proficiency in backend languages such as Go or Java.
• Experience designing microservices and API platforms.
• Experience with on-call responsibilities and incident response.
• Ability to align technical decisions with cross-functional teams.
• Responsible use of AI with human oversight.

Responsibilities

• Own and deliver projects end to end, from scoping and system design through implementation, rollout, and production validation, driving measurable progress on the team's highest-priority initiatives.
• Design and build high-reliability, low-latency systems serving millions of users, tackling challenges like caching, upstream service optimization, and efficient connection management at scale.
• Build and improve the API framework and tooling that hundreds of engineers depend on, making it fast and easy for teams across the company to build, test, and ship independently.
• Drive operational excellence across T0 services: own SLOs, improve observability, lead incident response, and reduce operational toil so the team can invest in high-leverage work.
• Partner cross-functionally with product engineering teams to design API schemas, support service launches, and ensure the platform evolves to meet their needs.
• Set the technical bar through code and design reviews, mentor engineers across the team, and contribute to architectural direction.

Skills

Distributed systems

Go

Java

API design

Microservices

On-call experience

SLOs & observability

Job description

Coinbase is seeking a Senior Software Engineer for the Data Layer to build scalable backend services and APIs that power millions of users. This remote-first company operates with quarterly in-person surges to collaborate closely and align on ambitious goals.

The role demands ownership of complex systems, strong backend skills in Go or Java, and a commitment to reliability, observability, and cross-functional partnership in a fast-paced environment. Expect to drive impact at scale.