How to interview at Coinbase

At Coinbase, top talent is our #1 operating priority. We want people who push us to be better, who raise our energy, and who are far better than us in at least one area. We value the quality of hires over all else, and would rather leave a role unfilled than risk compromising our standard for talent.

In November, our Chief People Officer shared an update on talent density at Coinbase and introduced a number of new measures we’re taking to ensure each new hire raises the average on our team. With these measures now in place, we want to provide transparency on what to expect when interviewing at Coinbase and a few insights on what we’re looking for.

Interviewing at Coinbase

On average our hiring process takes about 60 days, and involves six key stages. These stages are typically ordered as outlined below, though can vary depending on the role.  

1) Application Review

At application review, we’re looking closely at your resume and LinkedIn profile to assess skill match for the role requirements. All applications are reviewed, though only approximately 5% of applications progress beyond this stage.

Things that stand out are demonstrated examples of high impact work, additive career steps, and tenure with companies that may best prepare someone for the realities of working at Coinbase. We value clear communication explicitly and red flags include verbose, generic or careless resumes / LinkedIn profiles, and recommend providing an explanation for any work gaps or short tenures.

2) Recruiter Screening

Candidates who pass application review are scheduled for a recruiter screening call. This is an opportunity for us to share more about the role and learn more about you. Our recruiters will ask a number of questions specific to your experience and the role, and may also include; how you resonate with the Coinbase mission, your familiarity and alignment with Coinbase’s cultural tenets, and your current level of crypto experience or interest. 

During this conversation we will share the leveling and compensation for the role so you aren’t left guessing and can holistically assess the opportunity. Beyond that important info, we recommend you come prepared to this meeting with any questions you may have and consider reading some of the resources shared on the Coinbase blog.

Recommended reading:

• Coinbase culture doc

• Coinbase is a mission focused company

• Talent density at Coinbase

• How Coinbase is rethinking its approach to compensation

3) Structured Assessments

Applicants who progress are then asked to complete a structured assessment. We believe setting benchmarks on these assessments help drive consistency in evaluation, reduce bias, and foster a meritocracy. The assessments have been rigorously validated to predict performance outcomes across a wide array of jobs by our vendor, and we intend to continuously evaluate how they raise our bar for talent at Coinbase.

The assessment takes approximately 30 minutes to complete and measures cognitive ability and culture alignment. These results provide us with signal on candidate’s general intelligence (ie. logical / spatial reasoning, verbal reasoning and mathematical reasoning) as well as likelihood for performance within Coinbase’s culture. 

We recommend that you best prepare yourself for these assessments by taking them in a quiet space without distraction and at a time of day that you are most alert. Results are benchmarked against internally set standards and serve as an input to overall talent assessment. This is intended to complement, not replace, live interviews and work trials.

Note: For applications for Product, Engineering and Design roles, candidates will also be asked to complete CodeSignal - a standard assessment for technical ability.

4) Interviews

At this point in the process, we will schedule up to four 1:1 interviews to have a deeper conversation about your suitability for the role. Each interview is prescriptive and intentional, and individual interviewers will have a clear differentiated focus to their questions of you - which is shared with you in advance.

As a remote-first company, all of these interviews will take place virtually over Google Meets. They may also be scheduled in a block (ie. back-to-back meetings) where possible. We have multiple interviewers meet with candidates individually because we want multiple points of view and don’t intend for managers to make hiring decisions unilaterally.

5) Work Trial

The final component of most interview panels is a work trial. This is designed to provide us with a sample of how you apply your thinking to real business challenges at Coinbase. You’ll be provided with a scenario for which you will be asked to prepare a solution and short presentation. You will present this solution to the panel of interviewers you’ve already met in a 30-minute call. You should expect to present for 10-15 minutes and field questions from the panel for the remaining time. 

This is an opportunity to show us how you’d tackle real Coinbase scenarios. We recommend focusing on clear communication, keeping your presentation succinct and to no more than half of the allotted time, leaving plenty of room for questions. 

Note: For Engineering roles, we do not request work trials in this format. Engineering applicants will participate in a live coding interview as part of the prior application stage.

6) Offer Review

Finally, the interview panel meet to share their feedback on each candidate. Hiring panels are in place to maintain consistent high standards, check for biases, and raise concerns or risks.  An offer does not require a unanimous panel decision, but it does require thoughtful mitigation of any risks or concerns raised before final offer submission. The hiring manager, or executive, makes the decision on whether to proceed to offer. 

At this very final stage, an offer packet is collated and sent for executive review. Our CEO, Brian Armstrong or COO, Emilie Choi review every candidate offer we make. All of the inputs from each stage of the hiring process above are holistically evaluated. Every new hire can be assured that our most senior executives have individually signed off on them joining the team.

Summary

We know our interview process is intense, but so is working at Coinbase. We are committed to taking extraordinary measures to have exceptional people in every seat. For those who this appeals to, who want to work with outlier talent and who are passionate about driving economic freedom in the world - there is no better place to be.  

Check out our Careers page for open positions.