Staff Software Engineer, Auth/Accounts
About the role
The Auth/Accounts team builds the identity, authentication, authorization, and account capabilities on the critical path for Coalition’s products and internal operations.
As a Staff Software Engineer, you will provide technical leadership across a complex, multi-service domain. You’ll turn ambiguous business and security challenges into clear technical architecture, lead cross-team initiatives from design to production, and raise operating standards across the broader engineering organization.
Responsibilities
Technical Leadership: Lead major architecture and delivery initiatives across authentication, authorization, account lifecycles, and partner relationships.
Architecture & API Design: Define multi-service technical direction—including API contracts, data models, migration paths, and rollout strategies.
Cross-Functional Execution: Translate complex product, security, and business requirements into clear designs, managing dependencies and alignment across cross-functional partners.
Engineering Excellence: Build scalable backend services while improving testing, observability, deployment safety, and operational reliability.
Mentorship: Guide and grow engineers across teams, elevating technical design skills and multiplying engineering impact.
Representative Focus Areas
Centralized auth, token validation, and fine-grained/relationship-based access control (RBAC/ReBAC).
Account identity, deduplication, matching, and transfer workflows.
Legacy system decoupling and modernizing broker/partner relationship logic.
Scalable event-driven services and APIs supporting core business platforms.
Skills and Qualifications
Staff-Level Leadership: Proven track record of guiding cross-team architecture and resolving high-impact technical trade-offs.
Backend Fundamentals: Expertise in API design, distributed systems, data modeling, and production operations.
High-Stakes Problem Solving: Experience with high-risk domains where security, correctness, and performance are paramount.
Communication & Mentorship: Ability to write clear design docs, align non-technical stakeholders, and mentor senior engineers.
AI Fluency: Demonstrated ability to integrate AI tools into daily engineering work, including code exploration, design analysis, test generation, debugging, and documentation. Able to evaluate AI output critically, recognize its limitations, and establish appropriate review and safety practices for security-sensitive systems.
Bonus Points
Hands-on experience with OAuth/OIDC, JWTs, RBAC, or ReBAC systems (e.g., OpenFGA).
Proficiency with Go, Python, event-driven architecture (e.g., Kafka), and AWS/modern CI/CD stacks.
Background in security-sensitive environments, fintech, insurtech, or complex partner integration platforms.
Experience creating reusable AI-assisted engineering workflows, tools, prompts, or agent skills that improve team productivity and engineering quality.
Experience applying AI responsibly in security-sensitive or regulated environments, including protecting sensitive information and validating generated code and recommendations.
Compensation
Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several US geographic markets. The US base salary for this position ranges from $158,900/year in our lowest geographic market up to $234,125/year in our highest geographic market. Consistent with applicable laws, an employee's pay within this range is based on a number of factors, which include but are not limited to relevant education, skills, job-related knowledge, qualifications, work experience, credentials, and/or geographic location. Your recruiter can share more on target salary for your location during the interview process. Coalition, Inc. reserves the right to modify this range as needed.
Perks
100% medical, dental and vision coverage
Flexible PTO policy
Annual home office stipend and WeWork access
Mental & physical health wellness programs (One Medical, Headspace, Wellhub, and more)!
Competitive compensation and opportunity for advancement