Senior Software Engineer, Backend - Payments Platform

Coinbase, Inc.; Annapolis (MD); Hybrid; USD 186,000 - 219,000; Full time

Job summary

Coinbase, Inc. is hiring a Senior Software Engineer to join the Payments team within the Platform organization. You will design and build scalable backend services for payment processing using Go, and own end-to-end delivery from design through production.

You will build platform primitives, self-serve APIs, and collaborate with product managers and leadership to translate vision into technical plans, driving reliability and performance across payment services.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of backend software engineering experience in service-oriented or microservices architectures.
• Proficiency in Go or similar backend languages with scalable, low-latency API design.
• End-to-end ownership of features in a fast-moving environment.
• Experience with financial systems or high-volume transactional systems requiring precision and auditability.
• Responsible use of generative AI with human oversight to improve workflows.

Responsibilities

• Design and build scalable, fault-tolerant backend services for payment processing.
• Own end-to-end delivery of payment features from design to production.
• Build platform primitives and self-serve APIs for other teams.
• Partner with engineers, product managers, and leadership to translate vision into technical plans.
• Improve reliability, observability, and performance across payment services.
• Contribute to engineering quality through code reviews and best practices.

Skills

Go

Backend API design

Distributed systems

End-to-end ownership

Financial tech

Job description

Ready to do the most impactful work of your career? At Coinbase, we are uncompromising on our mission to increase economic freedom. The bar is high, the environment is intense, and we like it that way. This isn't a place for complacency, it’s a place to be pushed past your perceived limits. If you're ready to build the future of finance alongside people who refuse to settle for \"good enough,\" you belong here. Coinbase is a remote-first, but not remote-only company. Expect to get together quarterly for intense in-person working sessions called “surges.” learn more about working at Coinbase.

We're hiring a Senior Software Engineer to join the Payments team within the Platform organization. The Payments team builds the infrastructure, workflows, and APIs that power fiat on- and off-ramps for millions of consumers and institutional customers globally, across payment rails, partner integrations, and funds-flow systems. We are turning that stack into an API-driven platform, a Stripe-like product for Coinbase's own Retail, Institutional, and Developer teams, so a new payment method or rail can go live in a fraction of the time it takes today. Our north star is payment success rate: the share of attempted payments that move safely and reliably, end to end. You'll design and build scalable backend systems that process high-volume payment traffic, working closely with Product, Engineering, and cross-functional partners to expand Coinbase's payment capabilities into new markets and corridors.

What you'll do:

• Design and build scalable, fault-tolerant backend services for payment processing using Go, ensuring high reliability and correctness for financial transactions at scale

• Own end-to-end delivery of payment features, from technical design through production deployment, monitoring, and iteration

• Build the platform primitives, extension points, and self-serve APIs that let other Coinbase teams add new payment methods and rails without deep changes to the core services

• Partner with engineers, product managers, and senior leadership to translate product vision and business requirements into technical plans each quarter

• Drive improvements to system reliability, observability, and performance across payment services, proactively identifying and resolving bottlenecks

• Contribute to engineering quality through thoughtful code reviews, design discussions, and advocacy for best practices in service-oriented architecture

Required Skills and Experience:

• 5+ years of experience in backend software engineering, with hands-on experience building and maintaining production services in a service-oriented or microservices architecture

• Proficiency in Go or similar backend languages, with experience designing scalable, low-latency APIs and distributed systems

• Track record of owning features end-to-end, from design through deployment and production support, in a fast-moving environment

• Experience with financial systems, payments infrastructure, or high-volume transactional systems that require precision and auditability

• Utilizes generative AI responsibly, maintaining human oversight to deliver business-ready outputs and drive measurable improvements in workflow efficiency, cost, and quality

*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):

$186,065—$218,900 USD

• *Application Limit: *Candidates may submit a maximum of 3 applications within a 6-month 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.