At Coinbase, frontend engineering is at the heart of delivering seamless, high-impact experiences that millions of users rely on every day. From crafting fast and secure authentication flows to enabling teams to build new applications with confidence, frontend engineers play a vital role in shaping the platform.
We spoke with João Tonial, a frontend engineer on the Platform team who works remotely from Brazil, about his experience at Coinbase. “We’re not just building User Interface (UI). We’re working on critical parts of the product like authentication and onboarding, where every detail matters,” Tonial explains. His journey at Coinbase highlights why frontend engineering isn’t just an opportunity—it’s a critical role that drives innovation, ownership, and scalable impact across the company.
How has your work as a frontend engineer impacted user experience and the platform’s success at Coinbase?
My role as a frontend engineer centers on building critical surfaces, like Sign-In and 2FA, that are fast, intuitive, and secure. These experiences are key because they directly shape how millions of users interact with Coinbase’s products every day.
One of the most exciting examples of this is the Unified Login and Unified Sign-Up projects. My team took on the challenge of rebuilding fragmented authentication flows from the ground up, focusing on reusability, platformization, and user experience. It was a massive, multi-year effort that required close collaboration across multiple teams and involved both frontend and backend systems.
This work significantly improved security, reduced maintenance overhead, and increased development velocity across the company. By replacing fragmented flows with a single, standardized system, we ensured that other teams could plug into polished Sign-In and Sign-Up experiences instead of having to rebuild authentication from scratch.
Delivering high-quality, reusable frontend solutions is central to creating delightful user experience (UX) while enabling teams to move faster and ship with confidence. It’s deeply rewarding to contribute to systems that scale seamlessly across Coinbase while benefiting both users and engineers alike.
What sets frontend engineering at Coinbase apart?
It’s far more collaborative and high-impact than many people might think. We don’t just build UI—we solve critical problems tied to product infrastructure, security, and onboarding. Every detail matters because it directly impacts user trust and success.
Collaboration is essential to this role. I work closely with design, product, backend, and security teams to ensure everything we build is scalable, intuitive, and secure. Something I truly value is that engineers here aren’t boxed in by their titles. The best colleagues I work with aren’t just “frontend people,” they’re problem solvers who jump into UX, architecture, or infrastructure whenever needed, and that makes the work here both challenging and rewarding.
How does Coinbase ensure high-quality frontend systems?
Beyond design and development, we invest heavily in testing and monitoring infrastructure. My team alone maintains many critical user journey automated tests that run continuously in production. When failures occur, the system automatically alerts us, allowing for quick action.
For major feature releases, we also rely on QA manual testing and closely monitor key metrics like login success rate and time to sign up. These systems give us visibility into performance, accessibility, and stability, ensuring we maintain the high standard users expect with every interaction.
How does working remotely from Brazil influence your role as a frontend engineer?
Honestly, with Coinbase being a remote-first company, working from Brazil doesn’t feel all that different from being anywhere else. The culture is set up to support global teams really well, and I’ve always felt connected to my colleagues regardless of location.
One thing I really appreciate is Coinbase’s investment in regular offsites, even for international employees. Meeting people face-to-face a few times a year makes a big difference and helps us build stronger connections. That’s especially valuable for frontend engineering projects, which often require intense cross-team collaboration. Remote work flexibility combined with these in-person moments makes working globally at Coinbase incredibly rewarding.
How do Coinbase’s culture tenants shape your day-to-day experience?
Coinbase’s culture tenants guide everything from planning and execution to how we collaborate and measure our outcomes. Over time, they’ve become a mental framework that helps me approach challenges effectively.
For example, when planning a project, I naturally start asking: What does efficient execution look like here? How can I ensure clear communication across teams? These values encourage consistent and thoughtful reflection that allows us to deliver high-quality work while maintaining alignment with cross-functional teams.
After 3+ years, what continues to motivate you?
What keeps me engaged is the mix of tough, high-impact problems we constantly get to solve. These technical puzzles push me to think deeply and grow as an engineer, which makes every day rewarding.
I also find fulfillment in mentoring junior engineers and watching their careers grow. Knowing I’ve helped someone develop professionally—as mine has grown here—is incredibly rewarding. That sense of community and real impact is both unique to Coinbase and central to why frontend engineering remains so exciting after three years.
What do you wish people knew about being a frontend engineer at Coinbase?
Frontend engineering here is not just about building UI. It’s about solving critical problems that impact the success of the business and the experience for millions of users.
The work requires close collaboration across teams and an ability to think beyond your title. The best engineers I work with jump into areas like UX, architecture, or infrastructure as needed to solve problems. That problem-solving mindset is core to Coinbase’s engineering philosophy and makes the work challenging and incredibly rewarding.
What’s the best way to keep in touch and see all the incredible work you are doing?