Senior Director of Engineering, Head of Developer Experience

Ready to be pushed beyond what you think you’re capable of?

At Coinbase, our mission is to increase economic freedom in the world. It’s a massive, ambitious opportunity that demands the best of us, every day, as we build the emerging onchain platform — and with it, the future global financial system.

To achieve our mission, we’re seeking a very specific candidate. We want someone who is passionate about our mission and who believes in the power of crypto and blockchain technology to update the financial system. We want someone who is eager to leave their mark on the world, who relishes the pressure and privilege of working with high caliber colleagues, and who actively seeks feedback to keep leveling up. We want someone who will run towards, not away from, solving the company’s hardest problems.

Our work culture is intense and isn’t for everyone. But if you want to build the future alongside others who excel in their disciplines and expect the same from you, there’s no better place to be.

While many roles at Coinbase are remote-first, we are not remote-only. In-person participation is required throughout the year. Team and company-wide offsites are held multiple times annually to foster collaboration, connection, and alignment. Attendance is expected and fully supported.

The Mission

At Coinbase, our mission is to increase economic freedom in the world. Achieving that ambitious goal requires more than just code - it requires world-class engineering velocity, quality, and security.

Coinbase is accelerating its strategic commitment to AI-driven development. We believe that the deep integration of artificial intelligence will fundamentally rewrite the laws of software engineering efficiency. The Developer Experience (DevX) organization sits at the center of this transformation, tasked with turning this conviction into reality.

The Role

We are looking for a Senior Director of Engineering to lead the evolution of software development at Coinbase.

In this role, you will lead Coinbase’s advancement in AI-driven engineering. You will determine how the organization leverages this technology to not just enhance workflows, but to reimagine them for the next decade.

You will build a powerful, intelligent ecosystem for thousands of engineers, blending resilient infrastructure fundamentals with cutting-edge AI agents. Your goal is to 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 be doing (ie. job duties):

• • Mastery of the Fundamentals: The success of our AI strategy depends on an unshakeable foundation. You will modernize and maintain our core systems - CI/CD pipelines, testing frameworks, source control, and compliance engines - guaranteeing they are robust, secure, and performant enough to support high-velocity automation.
  • 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.
  • Define the AI-Native Engineer: As AI handles more implementation tasks, you will define the changing skills, workflows, and hiring profiles required for the next generation of engineering at Coinbase.
  • Platform as a Product: 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.
  • Quality at Speed: Leverage automation to drive high velocity without sacrificing quality. Implement systems where security and reliability are standard, enabling frequent, safe deployments at massive scale. Measure this success for the business.
  • Strategic Leadership: Lead and scale a ~100-person organization. You will mentor leaders and foster a culture that balances aggressive innovation with the operational discipline required of a financial institution.
  • Executive Impact: Partner with executives to align our AI technical strategy with broader business goals, ensuring Coinbase sets the industry standard for engineering efficiency.

What we look for in you (ie. job requirements):

• Strategic Vision & Execution: You can envision the long-term future of developer workflows while maintaining the operational discipline to keep current pipelines running smoothly.
• Proven Platform Leaders