About the Role
Coinbase is on a mission to increase economic freedom for more than 1 billion people. The company is accelerating its strategic commitment to AI-driven development, believing that the deep integration of artificial intelligence will fundamentally rewrite the laws of software engineering efficiency. The Developer Experience (DevX) organization is tasked with turning this conviction into reality.
Coinbase is looking for a highly visionary, and hands-on, Principal Software Engineer to lead the technical evolution of software development at Coinbase. While DevX leadership focuses on organizational scale, this role will be one of the key architects and technical pioneers driving Coinbase’s advancement in AI-driven engineering.
In this role, you will determine how to leverage this technology to not just enhance workflows, but to reimagine them for the next decade. You will design and build the architecture for a powerful, intelligent ecosystem for thousands of engineers, blending resilient infrastructure fundamentals with cutting-edge AI agents. Your goal is to build the tools and systems that enable our teams to move faster and more reliably than any other engineering organization in the industry, shifting focus from routine implementation to high-value architecture and product creation.
What you’ll do (job duties)
- Architect an AI-First Ecosystem: Deeply embed AI agents into the development loop - automating test generation, refactoring legacy code, proactively detecting bugs, and optimizing performance before code ever hits production.
- Pioneer LLM Integration: Execute on our strong thesis on how LLMs and agents will rewrite the SDLC. You will prototype, build, and deploy the next generation of autonomous engineering tools.
- Bridge the Gap Between AI and Fundamentals: You understand that advanced AI tools require a stable, rigorously tested underlying architecture. You will partner closely with infrastructure counterparts to ensure AI tools scale securely and performantly.
- Treat Platform as a Product: Guide the technical direction to build and scale a best-in-class Internal Developer Platform that treats internal engineers as customers. The platform must be an enabler of speed, removing friction so engineers can focus on solving crypto’s hardest problems.
- Define the AI-Native Engineering Standard: As AI handles more implementation tasks, you will help define the changing workflows, technical standards, and best practices required for the next generation of engineering at Coinbase.
What we look for in you (job requirements)
- Deep AI Conviction & Application: You have a strong thesis on how LLMs and agents will rewrite the SDLC. You have experience or a clear plan for practically applying AI to solve engineering bottlenecks.
- Principal-Level Technical Authority: Deep technical judgment in engineering fundamentals - CI/CD, public cloud (AWS/GCP), container orchestration, and modern testing methodologies. You have a proven track record of driving cross-organizational architectural shifts that impact thousands of engineers’ productivity.
- Product Mindset: You possess deep empathy for developers. You treat the platform as a product, consistently gathering feedback and iterating to reduce friction and improve user satisfaction.
- AI Agents: Direct experience deploying internal AI assistants, "Copilot-at-scale" initiatives, or autonomous coding agents.
- Quality at Speed: You know how to leverage automation to drive high velocity without sacrificing quality. You design systems where security and reliability are standard, enabling frequent, safe deployments at massive scale.
Nice to haves
- Previous experience at a fast-paced, high-growth stage internet/software company.