Y Combinator Strategic Intelligence Manager, Protective Intelligence
Ready to do the most impactful work of your career? At Coinbase, we are uncompromising on our mission to increase economic freedom. The bar is high, the environment is intense, and we like it that way. This isn't a place for complacency, it’s a place to be pushed past your perceived limits. If you're ready to build the future of finance alongside people who refuse to settle for "good enough," you belong here. Coinbase is a remote-first, but not remote-only company. Expect to get together quarterly for intense in-person working sessions called “surges.” learn more about working at Coinbase.
The Protective Intelligence team within Security helps protect Coinbase's people, assets, and reputation through intelligence, due diligence, and geopolitical risk analysis. As the team scales alongside Coinbase's global growth, this Strategic Intelligence Manager role serves as the individual-contributor expert and directly responsible individual (DRI) for the Strategic Intelligence program. You'll set the strategic direction for the program, lead high-impact due diligence for M&A and executive-level decisions, and deliver forward-looking geopolitical assessments that shape how Coinbase operates and grows around the world.
What you'll do:
- Own the strategic direction and governance of Coinbase's Strategic Intelligence program, serving as the recognized subject-matter expert across reputational due diligence, geopolitical intelligence, and first-party diligence.
- Lead Reputational Due Diligence for mergers and acquisitions, investments, and strategic partnerships, producing complex risk findings that inform Corporate Development and executive decision-making within defined SLAs and quality standards.
- Deliver forward-looking geopolitical intelligence, assessing how events and crises impact Coinbase offices, personnel, assets, and business strategy, and routing timely assessments to senior leadership, GSOC, Executive Protection, and Business Continuity teams.
- Source and establish open and closed-source intelligence streams while building deep relationships with public and private-sector intelligence partners to proactively identify threats targeting Coinbase and the crypto community.
- Design scalable, AI-enabled processes that increase program efficiency and reduce cost while maintaining appropriate human-in-the-loop safeguards, and define program metrics that communicate impact to senior leadership.
- Mentor analysts, specialists, and contractors, including senior teammates, providing high-signal feedback on judgment, influence, and craft and elevating standards across complex, ambiguous work.
Required Skills and Experience:
- 6+ years of experience in intelligence, due diligence, geopolitical risk analysis, investigations, or related fields, with recognized expertise in at least one intelligence domain.
- Proven track record producing investigation and geopolitical risk reports that have directly informed M&A, investment, or other business decisions at scale.
- Demonstrated ability to lead initiatives independently from problem identification through solution delivery, owning a defined capability within a broader program while holding cross-functional partners and vendors accountable.
- Communicates complex technical and business risks clearly to senior audiences in written and verbal formats, ensuring stakeholders are rarely surprised by outcomes.
- Applies systems thinking to anticipate second-order impacts and designs for long-term resilience and scale across intelligence operations.
- Utilizes generative AI responsibly, maintaining human oversight to deliver business-ready outputs and drive measurable improvements in workflow efficiency, cost, and quality.
Position ID: P77321
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Pay Transparency Notice: Base salary varies by location (see range below). Total compensation may also include equity and bonus eligibility, and benefits (medical, dental, vision, 401(k)).
- Application Limit: Candidates may submit a maximum of 3 applications within a 6-month period.
- Equal Opportunity Employer: Coinbase is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or genetic information. Applicants with criminal histories will be considered consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws.
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