Senior Software Engineer (Institutional, Client Lifecycle)

Coinbase, Inc.; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 186,000 - 219,000; Full time

Job summary

Coinbase, Inc. is seeking a Senior Software Engineer, Backend to own and scale backend systems for institutional onboarding, KYC, provisioning, and access controls on the Client Lifecycle team within the Institutional group.

You will partner with Compliance, Identity, and Prime product teams to ship onboarding for new products and maintain a robust access-control stack. Leverage Go, gRPC/Protobuf, and scalable data stores to deliver production-grade services, while driving automation and data

Qualifications

• 5+ years of backend software engineering experience.
• Proficiency in Go, gRPC/Protobuf, relational data stores, and observability tooling.
• Experience designing and scaling service-oriented architectures with well-tested production code.
• Experience in regulated/high-integrity domains such as identity, access control, KYC/AML, or financial onboarding.
• Responsible use of generative AI with human oversight to improve workflows and quality.

Responsibilities

• Own backend services moving institutional clients from application to first trade and maintain operation post-launch.
• Drive onboarding automation including automated screening, risk scoring, and auto-provisioning.
• Lead design and implementation of Organizations Service as the source of truth for institutional client data.
• Collaborate with Product, Compliance, Onboarding Ops, Identity, and Prime teams to ship onboarding and access controls for new products.
• Shape the access-control stack to enable complex institutions to operate on Prime without manual tickets.
• Mentor engineers and raise technical standards through reviews and incident response.

Skills

Backend experience

Go

gRPC/Protobuf

Relational databases

Observability tooling

SOA / microservices

AI in engineering

Regulated domains (KYC/AML)

Job description

Ready to do the most impactful work of your career? AtCoinbase, 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.

As a Senior Software Engineer, Backend on the Client Lifecycle team within the Institutional group, you'll own the backend systems that take institutional clients from application to first trade and keep them operating independently once they're live. You'll design and scale Unified Business Onboarding, KYC Refresh, provisioning, and the access-control stack, partnering closely with Compliance, Identity, Onboarding Ops, and every Prime product team to ship onboarding and access controls for new products.

What you'll do:

• Own backend services that move institutional clients from application to first trade, including Unified Business Onboarding, KYC Refresh, and provisioning.
• Drive onboarding automation, including automated screening, risk scoring, and auto-provisioning, so low-risk clients complete onboarding without an ops ticket.
• Lead design and implementation of Organizations Service as the source of truth for institutional client data, including data quality, entity uniqueness, and Salesforce decoupling.
• Partner with Product, Compliance, Onboarding Ops, Identity, and Prime product teams to ship onboarding and access controls for new products including FCM, Hudson derivatives, and Prime Custody.
• Shape the access-control stack (roles, permissions, policies, and consensus) so complex institutions can operate on Prime without opening a ticket.
• Mentor engineers and raise the technical bar through design reviews, incident response, and operational excellence.

Required skills and experience:

• 5+ years of backend software engineering experience, including designing, building, and maintaining production services at scale.
• Production experience with Go (or similar), gRPC/Protobuf, relational data stores, and observability tooling.
• Track record of composing and scaling service-oriented architectures with demonstrated practice of writing well-tested, production-grade code.
• Experience working in regulated, high-integrity domains such as identity, access control, KYC/AML, or financial onboarding.
• Utilizes generative AI responsibly, maintaining human oversight to deliver business-ready outputs and drive measurable improvements in workflow efficiency, cost, and quality.

Position ID: P78291

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 USD - $218,900 USD

• 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.
• 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.