Senior Staff Protocol Engineer at Base

Role Overview

The Senior Staff Protocol Engineer will lead the design, research, and development of new initiatives to scale Base’s throughput 100x.
This role sits within the Base Protocols team, responsible for the software and infrastructure powering all aspects of the Base chain, contributing to open-source OP-Stack improvements, and innovating on scaling mechanisms such as data availability reduction and ZK-based systems.

You’ll work deeply across client internals (Geth, Reth, Lighthouse) and distributed infrastructure to push the boundaries of Ethereum scalability.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead research and development of scaling initiatives to improve Base’s throughput and efficiency.

• Extend the capacity of execution and consensus clients (Geth, Reth, Lighthouse) to achieve next-generation performance.

• Reduce L1 data footprint and improve rollup data availability mechanisms (e.g., PeerDAS).

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams and external Ethereum ecosystem developers to align scaling goals.

• Drive technical direction, establish roadmaps, and communicate outcomes across teams and stakeholders.

Requirements

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, ideally in distributed systems, protocol design, or database internals.

• Proven leadership in scaling large, high-throughput systems.

• Experience with EVM client software (Geth, Reth) and Ethereum scaling fundamentals.

• Strong understanding of database internals, performance optimization, and concurrency models.

• Deep knowledge of blockchain architecture, consensus, and execution layer technologies.

• Excellent communication skills and ability to collaborate cross-functionally at an executive level.

Preferred Qualifications

• PhD in Distributed Systems or related field.

• Expertise in software parallelization, optimistic concurrency, or pipelined execution.

• Familiarity with Ethereum state management tools (Erigon, FirewoodDB, MonadDB, etc.).

• Proficiency in Rust and/or Go.

• Track record of open-source contributions in Ethereum or L2 projects.

• Publications, patents, or deep research background in distributed computing or protocol design.

Benefits

• Competitive base salary plus equity and annual bonus.

• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and 401(k).

• Paid time off and wellness benefits.

• Inclusive, remote-friendly culture with career growth support.

Equal Opportunity Statement

Coinbase and Base are equal-opportunity employers. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or veteran status. Reasonable accommodations are available for applicants with disabilities.