Staff Detection Engineer, Insider Threat

At Coinbase, our mission is to increase economic freedom around the world, and we couldn’t do this without hiring the best people. We’re a group of hard-working overachievers who are deeply focused on building the future of finance and Web3 for our users across the globe, whether they’re trading, storing, staking or using crypto. Know those people who always lead the group project? That’s us.

There are a few things we look for across all hires we make at Coinbase, regardless of role or team. First, we look for candidates who will thrive in a culture like ours, where we default to trust, embrace feedback, and disrupt ourselves. Second, we expect all employees to commit to our mission-focused approach to our work. Most importantly, we seek people who are excited about crypto, because those are the folks who enjoy the intense moments in our sprint and recharge work culture. We’re a remote-first company looking to hire the absolute best talent all over the world.

Who you are:

  • You’ve got positive energy. You’re optimistic about the future and determined to get there.
  • You’re never tired of learning. You want to be a pro in bleeding edge tech like DeFi, NFTs, DAOs, and Web 3.0.
  • You appreciate direct communication. You’re both an active communicator and an eager listener – because let’s face it, you can’t have one without the other. You’re cool with candid feedback and see every setback as an opportunity to grow.
  • You can pivot on the fly. Crypto is constantly evolving, so our priorities do, too. What you worked on last month may not be what you work on today, and that excites you. You’re not looking for a boring job.
  • You have a “can do” attitude. Our teams create high-quality work on quick timelines. Owning a problem doesn’t scare you, but rather empowers you to take 100% responsibility for achieving our mission.
  • You want to be part of a winning team. We’re stronger together, and you’re a person who embraces being pushed out of your comfort zone.

Security is a primary competency at Coinbase, and the Security Operations team keeps a watchful eye over every aspect of it. Every day, we go to battle against some of the most sophisticated attackers in the world to protect billions of dollars worth of digital assets and ensure that our customers and employees can enjoy a safe, trusted experience. As Coinbase scales globally, our team is scaling along with it, using a blend of tooling, automation, and strategic team growth to ensure that we’re well-equipped to protect the next billion users of crypto.

What you’ll be doing (ie. job duties):

The Security Operations group is a multi-functional organization that includes our CSIRT, Trust & Safety, Threat Intelligence, and Insider Threat. While no two days will end up looking the same, generally-speaking you’ll be responsible for the following things:

  • Building and implementing detections, preventions, security controls, and automations to not only deter insider threats but improve holistic security posture
  • Testing and maintaining security tooling, particularly for endpoint detection and investigation
  • Collaborating cross-functionally with Security, Infrastructure, IT, and Legal to obtain necessary technical information and to evaluate and advise them of downstream impacts of their builds/deployments
  • Linking disparate information such that it can be aggregated, visualized, and interpreted for indications of threat (via query builds, table joins, etc.)
  • Assisting with investigations as needed (this may involve rapidly building tools or extending capabilities to aid response efforts).

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

You’ll be much more likely to be successful in this role if these bullet points seem like a good description of you:

  • You have experience designing and implementing Insider Threat technologies (such as Security Information Event Management – SIEM, User Behavioral Analytics – UBA, Data Loss Prevention – DLP) and an understanding of investigations and/or the intelligence cycle
  • You are comfortable manipulating logs, tables, and data lakes to engineer custom detections and dashboards
  • You’ve mastered SQL and coding languages like Python and regularly manipulate logs to create custom alerts and automations with SOAR
  • You are comfortable working cross-functionally with infrastructure, IT, and response teams to design and implement technical controls
  • You are actively aware of the insider threat landscape, and understand the legal, regulatory, and ethical considerations of working with sensitive information and situations
  • You are discreet, thoughtful, and seek to coordinate systemic, cross functional solutions to mitigate risk
  • You are adept at translating complex problems into ‘byte-sized’, readily implemented (and preferably automated) solutions
  • You have excellent verbal and written communication skills. Other team members ask for your input to communicate clearly and concisely and you are comfortable composing briefs and assessments consumed by leadership and training others
  • You prefer to play as a team and are equally comfortable as the ‘novice’ or the ‘expert’
  • You know that people aren’t stupid, but everyone makes mistakes. Your high degree of empathy means that your coworkers trust you to help tackle their security problems, because you never come across as judgmental or condescending.
  • You are a unicorn who is equally comfortable behind the keyboard or in front of security leaders
  • You bring 5-10 years or more of combined experience in security/technology or other analytic roles

Nice to haves:

  • Unicorns welcome! You would bring a diverse perspective to the team: for example, maybe you took an unconventional route to get into your current security career.
  • You’re familiar with blockchains, cryptocurrency, and onchain projects (or at least a good story about how you thought about investing in Bitcoin in 2014 but decided not to).
  • You love crafting metrics that make the intangible tangible
  • You’ve got experience in one or more of the following areas: incident response, data protectionrisk management, counterintelligence, fraud detection, intellectual property theft, access and identity management, or IT engineering

PID: P59473

Pay Transparency Notice: Depending on your work location, the target annual salary for this position can range as detailed below. Full time offers from Coinbase also include target bonus + target equity + benefits (including medical, dental, vision and 401(k)).
Pay Range:
$211,650—$249,000 USD

Commitment to Equal Opportunity

Coinbase is committed to diversity in its workforce and is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sex, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation or any other basis protected by applicable law. Coinbase will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. For US applicants, you may view the Know Your Rights notice here. Additionally, Coinbase participates in the E-Verify program in certain locations, as required by law.

Coinbase is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation because of a disability for any part of the employment process, please contact us at accommodations[at]coinbase.com to let us know the nature of your request and your contact information. For quick access to screen reading technology compatible with this site click here to download a free compatible screen reader (free step by step tutorial can be found here).

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Depending on your location, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) may regulate the way we manage the data of job applicants. Our full notice outlining how data will be processed as part of the application procedure for applicable locations is available here. By submitting your application, you are agreeing to our use and processing of your data as required. For US applicants only, by submitting your application you are agreeing to arbitration of disputes as outlined here.

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