Senior Data Layer Engineer - Remote-First API Platform

Coinbase; Oklahoma City (OK); Remote; USD 186,000 - 219,000; Full time

Job summary

Coinbase is seeking a Senior Software Engineer for the Data Layer to shape the API platform and connect client applications to backend services. You will own systems that route and serve API requests at scale, improving reliability and performance for millions of users.

You'll design end-to-end projects, build high-reliability services, mentor engineers, and collaborate with product teams to evolve the platform. This is a remote-first role with quarterly in-person surges.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional engineering experience with distributed systems.
• Backend proficiency in Go, Java, or similar.
• Experience delivering end-to-end projects with reliability and performance.
• Ability to decompose complex systems into clean APIs and own on-call.
• Ability to align technical decisions with cross-functional stakeholders.
• Utilizes generative AI responsibly 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

Microservices

On-call ownership

Cross-functional

AI governance

Job description

Coinbase is seeking a Senior Software Engineer for the Data Layer to shape the API platform and connect client applications to backend services. You will own systems that route and serve API requests at scale, improving reliability and performance for millions of users.

You'll design end-to-end projects, build high-reliability services, mentor engineers, and collaborate with product teams to evolve the platform. This is a remote-first role with quarterly in-person surges.