Staff Software Engineer, Solana Staking Protocol

The Mission

At Coinbase, our mission is to increase economic freedom in the world. Staking is central to that mission — it enables anyone to participate in securing blockchain networks and earn rewards for doing so. Coinbase operates one of the largest Solana staking operations in the world, managing a validator fleet that represents approximately 9.25% of all staked SOL. We are committed to delivering industry-leading, risk-adjusted yield with world-class security, compliance, and reliability.

The Role

We are looking for a Staff Software Engineer to serve as Coinbase's Solana Staking Protocol CTO — the definitive technical authority on all things Solana staking across the company. This is not a typical engineering role. You will combine deep Solana protocol mastery with strategic technical leadership to shape Coinbase's Solana staking trajectory for years to come. You will own the technical strategy across validator operations, staking integrations, and protocol evolution — partnering directly with engineering leadership, product teams, and external ecosystem players including the Solana Foundation.  You will represent Coinbase on the world stage as a recognized Solana expert, speaking at conferences, engaging with the validator community, and influencing protocol direction. Internally, you will be the go-to expert for any Solana staking technical decision, from runtime-level optimizations to cross-product integration strategy.

What You'll Do

• Define Solana Staking Strategy: Own and drive Coinbase's multi-year technical strategy for Solana staking across validator performance, protocol participation, and product integration. Connect engineering decisions to business outcomes including yield optimization, cost efficiency, and customer growth.
• Maximize Validator Performance: Lead the engineering effort to achieve industry-leading APY through validator optimization — including vote accuracy, block production, MEV strategies, commission tuning, and stake distribution. Build systems and tooling that give Coinbase a durable performance edge.
• Own Protocol Expertise: Serve as Coinbase's foremost authority on the Solana runtime, consensus mechanism, staking economics, and validator client landscape (Agave, Firedancer, etc.). Evaluate protocol upgrades (e.g., SIMD proposals), assess risks, and proactively position Coinbase for changes before they land.
• Drive Cross-Product Integration: Partner with Retail Staking and Institutional Staking product and engineering teams to architect scalable staking integrations across Coinbase's product surface area. Ensure Solana staking is deeply embedded and differentiated in every Coinbase staking product.
• Build External Presence & Influence: Represent Coinbase in the Solana ecosystem. Maintain deep relationships with the Solana Foundation, core development teams, other major validators, and ecosystem partners. Speak at major conferences (Breakpoint, etc.) and contribute to protocol governance. Be Coinbase's voice on Solana staking.
• Lead Technical Execution: Write production code. Design and build critical infrastructure for validator operations, monitoring, automation, and reliability. Set the technical bar for the team — code reviews, architecture decisions, incident response.
• Expand Beyond Staking: Serve as a technical advisor on non-staking Solana initiatives where deep protocol knowledge is required (e.g., Solana tax infrastructure, token programs, new Solana-based products).
• Mentor and Scale the Team: Elevate a team of strong engineers (IC4-IC5) through mentorship, architectural guidance, and raising the bar on Solana-specific domain expertise. Define what great Solana engineering looks like at Coinbase.

What We Look For

• Deep Solana Protocol Expertise: You have extensive, hands-on experience with Solana's architecture — Eg: the runtime, validator mechanics, staking economics, consensus (Tower BFT), turbine, Gulf Stream, and the validator client ecosystem. You understand Solana at the source-code level, not just the API level.
• Technical Authority & Execution: You are a strong IC7-caliber engineer. You design and build complex distributed systems. You write production code in Rust and/or Go. You have deep experience with infrastructure at scale — bare metal, cloud, networking, observability.
• Strategic Vision: You can define year-long technical strategies and connect them to business goals. You break down ambiguous, large-scope problems into executable plans with measurable milestones. You think in terms of competitive advantage, not just engineering correctness.
• Ecosystem Presence & Influence: You are a known figure in the Solana ecosystem. You have existing relationships with the Solana Foundation, core contributor teams, and major validators. You have a track record of public speaking, community engagement, or protocol governance participation.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: You partner effectively with product, business, and executive stakeholders. You translate complex protocol dynamics into business-relevant terms for non-technical audiences. You drive alignment across multiple teams and functions.
• Passion for Solana: This isn't a role for a generalist who happens to know some Solana. You are genuinely passionate about the Solana ecosystem, follow protocol developments closely, and have a strong thesis on where Solana staking is headed.
• Demonstrates the ability to responsibly use generative AI tools and copilots (e.g., LibreChat, Gemini, Glean) in daily workflows, continuously learn as tools evolve, and apply human-in-the-loop practices to deliver business-ready outputs and drive measurable improvements in efficiency, cost, and quality.

Nice to Have

• Core contributor to Solana validator clients (Agave, Firedancer) or significant Solana ecosystem projects.
• Experience operating in highly regulated industries or security-first cultures.
• Background in financial services, fintech, or crypto custody.
• Track record of publishing technical content (blog posts, research, conference talks) on Solana or Blockchain in general
• Experience with Solana's evolving staking landscape — liquid staking, stake pools, restaking protocols.
• Familiarity with other PoS protocol staking operations (Ethereum, Cosmos ecosystem) for comparative perspective.

Job ID# P76265