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FinTech, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, Financial Services

Senior Staff Software Engineer, Institutional Exchange

United StatesHybridFull TimeStaff$262,650–$309,000 /yrPosted 1 day agoVisa sponsorship available

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Role summary

Coinbase is seeking a Senior Staff Software Engineer for its Institutional Exchange team. This role will define the architecture for critical trading systems, including the matching engine, order management, and market data. The engineer will lead technical strategy, drive multi-quarter initiatives, and ensure quality and resilience in ultra-low-latency, event-sourced systems. Responsibilities include cross-team alignment, hands-on contribution, and mentoring other engineers. The ideal candidate has 10+ years of experience in low-latency distributed systems, expertise in languages like Java, C++, or Go, and experience with production trading systems in both cloud and colocated environments. A genuine interest in crypto and institutional markets is beneficial.

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.

Coinbase is building the future of institutional trading as part of the Institutional Everything Exchange, powering the systems that let the world's largest financial institutions trade across markets with speed, depth, and trust. As a Senior Staff Software Engineer on the Exchange team, you'll set the architectural direction for the matching engine, order management, market data, and unified trading systems that clear billions of dollars in daily volume. You'll operate as the most senior technical voice across multiple teams, making the calls on latency, correctness, and resilience that everything else depends on. It's a rare chance to shape a trading platform from the ground up, with the ownership of a startup and the reach of Coinbase.

What you'll do:

  • Own the technical strategy and architecture for a core Exchange domain, driving multi-quarter initiatives from ambiguity through incremental milestones to delivery.
  • Lead the design of ultra-low-latency, event-sourced trading systems spanning matching, risk, and market data across cloud and colocated environments.
  • Drive cross-team technical alignment across Exchange, Prime, and Derivatives, securing commitment from senior engineering and product leadership.
  • Set and inspect the quality bar across teams - deterministic testing, failover design, incident leadership, and operational standards for 24/7 markets.
  • Maintain significant hands-on contribution while leading execution through other senior engineers and tech leads.
  • Mentor L5-L6 engineers and build the next rung of technical leadership on a lean, high-leverage team.

    • Required Skills and Experience:

  • 10+ years of software engineering experience, including significant ownership of production trading, exchange, or market-data systems at scale.
  • Deep expertise in low-latency distributed systems and a backend language such as Java, C++, or Go, with fluency in JVM/Linux performance tuning.
  • Demonstrated architectural ownership of an end-to-end trading platform - order management, multi-venue connectivity, and real-time risk - not a single component.
  • Proven track record influencing technical direction across multiple teams without direct authority.
  • Experience operating latency-sensitive systems in on-prem/colocated and cloud environments, including incident command and safe production change.
  • Genuine interest in crypto and institutional markets, with the ability to ramp quickly; deep crypto experience is a plus, not a requirement.
  • 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):
    $262,650—$309,000 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.

    • Sample Coinbase interview questions

    • 1

      Design a Crypto Exchange

      system designmedium
    • 2

      Design a cryptocurrency dashboard using LLMs.

      system designaverage
    • 3

      Design a system for managing a distributed message broker.

      system designmedium
    • 4

      Design a system for managing a social network's newsfeed.

      system designmedium
    • 5

      How would you manage a large number of users in the database to ensure scalability?

      system designaverage

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