Token & Governance Research Specialist

Base is planning to bring a million developers and a billion users onchain. We need your help to make that happen.

We believe that the onchain platform should be open source, free to use, and globally available. And we believe that in order to make it really work, we need all hands on deck, working together to scale in a secure, decentralized manner.
At Base, we live by our
Stay Based
values: we do the right thing, work hard, stay optimistic, prioritize the team, and push creative boundaries—all while building the future of onchain. We value a
Zone 3+ work ethic
, where our team rises to the challenge, embraces hard weeks, and makes small to significant personal tradeoffs when necessary to drive impact and innovation.
We are looking for a
Token & Governance Research Specialist
to join the Base Business Operations & Strategy team. In this role, you'll shape the long-term token and governance strategy for Base, ensuring it evolves as a credibly neutral, decentralized public good while maintaining its mission of building a global onchain economy. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to shape the future of Base and onchain protocols. You'll collaborate with technical, community, legal, product, and consumer-focused stakeholders to design governance systems that balance decentralization with growth.

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

• Explore the future token and governance design on Base
• Define potential token goals and develop a phased roadmap for decentralized governance across the Base chain and ecosystem prioritizing long term growth and effectiveness.
• Research and analyze token designs
• Explore learnings from past token efforts, analyze token economics, understand tradeoffs, create scenario analysis.
• Create the technology to govern for billions
• Create the Base constitution and legislative processes that empower aligned contributors (Coinbase, developers, and communities) to make transparent decisions.
• Operationalize governance systems
• Define tools, workflows, and norms for onchain governance (e.g., legislation process, onchain voting) and offchain consensus-building (e.g., expert communities, governance forums, working groups).
• Enable and educate the community
• Create systems, documentation, and engagement channels (e.g., in-app governance portals, tutorials, or community forums) to help contributors and app users understand and participate in Base governance.
• Collaborate with Legal + Risk Teams
• Work with internal experts to navigate regulatory and compliance considerations, ensuring decentralization evolves responsibly.

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

• Token and governance design
• You are passionate about token economics and governance design and are willing to bring new ideas that shape designs for the unique goals of Base.
• Project management
• Strong project management skills with experience working across stakeholders, influencing without authority, and managing complex workstreams.
• Strategic alignment
• You're skilled at building structure from ambiguity and driving alignment across diverse stakeholders, including technical teams, external contributors, and consumer communities.

Nice to haves:

• Community Engagement Experience
• Background in community management or user education in onchain contexts, especially for non-technical audiences.
• Governance experience
• You've designed or implemented governance systems for DAOs, protocols, or public goods, with experience in strategic design and operational execution.

Position ID:
P73466
Please be advised that each candidate may submit a maximum of four applications within any 30-day period. We encourage you to carefully evaluate how your skills and interests align with Coinbase's roles before applying.

Commitment to Equal Opportunity

Coinbase 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 Employee Rights and the Know Your Rights notices by clicking on their corresponding links. Additionally, Coinbase participates in the E-Verify program in certain locations, as required by law.

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AI Disclosure

For select roles, Coinbase is piloting an AI tool based on machine learning technologies to conduct initial screening interviews to qualified applicants. The tool simulates realistic interview scenarios and engages in dynamic conversation. A human recruiter will review your interview responses, provided in the form of a voice recording and/or transcript, to assess them against the qualifications and characteristics outlined in the job description.
For select roles, Coinbase is also piloting an AI interview intelligence platform to transcribe and summarize interview notes, allowing our interviewers to fully focus on you as the candidate.
The above pilots are for testing purposes and Coinbase will not use AI to make decisions impacting employment
. To request a reasonable accommodation due to disability, please contact accommodations[at]