Staff Software Engineer (Platform - Access & Authorization)

Coinbase, Inc.; Charleston (WV); Hybrid; USD 218,000 - 257,000; Full time

Job summary

Coinbase is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to shape authentication and authorization across our platform. You will design and operate secure, low-latency Go services used by Coinbase products and partner integrations, with strong observability and compliance with security standards.

You'll collaborate with product, security, fraud, and infra teams, mentor engineers, and drive initiatives from design to production, including edge tokens, passkeys, and device-aware authentication.

Qualifications

• 8+ years backend software engineering experience with Go or a similar systems language.
• Experience designing secure APIs and reasoning about authentication, authorization, and token handling (OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, JWTs).
• Proficiency with gRPC, Protocol Buffers, and data stores such as Redis or DynamoDB; strong observability and SLOs.
• Proven track record delivering cross-functional projects with clear written and verbal communication.
• Uses generative AI responsibly with human oversight to improve workflows.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end design, implementation, and operation of capabilities across authentication, OAuth, sessions, tokens, 2FA, account recovery, and edge authorization.
• Build secure, low-latency Go and gRPC services used across Coinbase's web, mobile, API, and partner experiences, with strong observability, failure testing, and measurable SLOs.
• Lead technical designs for complex initiatives such as signed authorization tokens, passkeys, biometric recovery, device-aware authentication, and mobile OAuth.
• Partner with product, security, fraud, and infrastructure teams to balance customer conversion, account protection, regulatory requirements, and engineering constraints.
• Simplify integration patterns and build self-service tooling that enables product teams to adopt access and authorization capabilities safely at scale.
• Mentor engineers and raise the technical bar through design reviews, pairing, code reviews, and on-call participation.

Skills

Go

Distributed systems

OAuth 2.0

OpenID Connect

JWTs

gRPC

Protocol Buffers

Redis

DynamoDB

Observability

SLOs

Security

AI with oversight

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.

Staff Software Engineer, Access & Authorization

As a Staff Software Engineer on the Access & Authorization team within the Platform group, you'll help shape the systems customers use to securely access Coinbase. This team builds and operates distributed services at the intersection of security, identity, developer infrastructure, and customer experience. You'll design foundational authentication and authorization capabilities that balance strong security with a simple experience, creating leverage across every Coinbase product and partner integration.

What you’ll do:

• Own end-to-end design, implementation, and operation of capabilities across authentication, OAuth, sessions, tokens, 2FA, account recovery, and edge authorization.
• Build secure, low-latency Go and gRPC services used across Coinbase's web, mobile, API, and partner experiences, with strong observability, failure testing, and measurable SLOs.
• Lead technical designs for complex initiatives such as signed authorization tokens, passkeys, biometric recovery, device-aware authentication, and mobile OAuth.
• Partner with product, security, fraud, and infrastructure teams to balance customer conversion, account protection, regulatory requirements, and engineering constraints.
• Simplify integration patterns and build self-service tooling that enables product teams to adopt access and authorization capabilities safely at scale.
• Mentor engineers and raise the technical bar through design reviews, pairing, code reviews, and on-call participation.

Required Skills and Experience:

• 8+ years of backend software engineering experience with strong proficiency in Go or a comparable systems-oriented language, including building and operating reliable, high-throughput distributed services in production.
• Demonstrated experience designing secure APIs and reasoning about authentication, authorization, session management, trust boundaries, and token handling (OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, JWTs, PKCE, or related standards).
• Proficiency with gRPC, Protocol Buffers, and data stores such as Redis or DynamoDB, with strong operational instincts using metrics, logs, traces, alerts, and SLOs to run critical services.
• Track record of delivering complex, cross-functional projects from technical design through production rollout, with clear written and verbal communication that aligns engineering, security, product, and infrastructure partners.
• 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):

$218,025—$256,500 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.