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Senior Backend Engineer, Data Product

United States

Build to Protect Civilization

TRM is a blockchain intelligence company that’s on a mission to build a safer financial system for billions of people. We’re a lean, high-impact team tackling some of the world’s most critical challenges, ranging from human trafficking and financial fraud to terrorist financing. We are builders who power governments, financial institutions, and crypto companies when the clock is running and the consequences are real. This is why every TRMer is a bet on our future and has the power to change our trajectory.

About the Position

TRM Labs is seeking a Senior Backend Engineer to join our Data Product team, where you'll play a pivotal role in building and scaling backend systems that power real-time blockchain intelligence products. This is a deeply technical, backend-focused role ideal for engineers passionate about designing performant distributed systems and data platforms that serve high-throughput, low-latency use cases.

As a Senior Engineer, you will architect core services that analyze petabyte-scale blockchain data, power high-fidelity data products, and contribute to TRM’s mission to build a safer financial system.

The impact you’ll have here:

  • Design and implement scalable, reliable backend services and APIs that serve complex analytics and insights on blockchain activity.

  • Engineer data-centric microservices that power features across TRM’s intelligence platform, balancing performance, resilience, and modularity.

  • Own the full lifecycle of backend systems, from design and implementation to deployment, monitoring, and iteration.

  • Model and manage large-scale blockchain data, ensuring efficient access and rapid query performance across various products.

  • Collaborate across product, data science, and infrastructure teams to ensure seamless integration between backend systems and customer-facing features.

  • Drive technical architecture discussions for backend and data services, and mentor junior engineers on backend best practices.

What we’re looking for:

  • 5+ years of backend engineering experience, with deep expertise in designing and scaling backend systems for data-rich applications.

  • Strong Python development skills; bonus if you've worked with Go or other typed backend languages in production.

  • Experience designing and maintaining robust APIs, including schema design, versioning, and system observability.

  • Expertise in distributed data systems: You have hands-on experience with technologies like Spark, Kafka, Flink, or Dataflow for large-scale data ingestion and transformation.

  • Deep familiarity with data stores like BigQuery and Postgres, including performance tuning for large, complex queries.

  • Production experience with workflow orchestration tools such as Airflow or dbt, and containerized deployment (Docker, Kubernetes).

  • Understanding of cloud infrastructure (e.g. GCP, AWS), including CI/CD pipelines, Terraform-based deployments, and observability with tools like Datadog or Prometheus.

  • Demonstrated success building high-impact backend systems that shipped to production and scaled with user or data growth.

About the Team:

  • Our team is spread out over several countries and time zones. To leverage the opportunities and address challenges that come with this working model, we've built a culture grounded in trust, transparency, and adaptability. Even though we're scattered across different time zones, we stay closely connected through open communication and regular check-ins. Our use of digital tools helps us collaborate seamlessly and work at an impressive pace, delivering results at TRM speed while staying in sync.
  • The diversity of perspectives and expertise within our team sparks creative exchanges and enhances our problem-solving capabilities, allowing us to leverage our global synergy to drive innovation and efficiency.
  • We're driven by a deep sense of ownership, constant pursuit of improvement and an obsession with delivering magical experiences to our customers; these are a core part of our culture.
  • We're driven by the desire to continuously hone our craft and to this end, we regularly assess our processes, seek feedback, and embrace iterative development to refine what we do.
  • We structure problems and use the 80/20 rule(for many outcomes, roughly 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes) to identify where to direct our razor-sharp focus.
  • Each of us is passionate about excellence and growth, and we're encouraged to challenge the status quo and experiment with new methods. This mindset creates an environment where innovation is part of our daily routine and every team member is an impact-oriented trailblazer.
  • By celebrating our successes and learning from our setbacks, we stay agile and forward-thinking, always striving to elevate our performance and impact.

Learn about TRM Speed in this position:

  • The team received a request from customers to show the running balance for assets tied to an address within the product. They brainstormed to determine the minimal viable solution that could be delivered within two weeks. The team decided to develop a framework that would facilitate enabling this feature for each chain (such as BTC, ETH, etc.) individually. They successfully implemented and tested this solution for the BTC chain and delivered it to customers within the two-week timeframe. This approach allowed the team to quickly provide value to customers and establish a repeatable process.
  • The team was tasked with implementing a new feature that would enable TRM to gather feedback from the user community swiftly. Due to the company's goal of showcasing the feature at an upcoming event, the timeline was tight. The team quickly adjusted to the request, assessed the requirements, and developed a solution that addressed 80% of the needs and could be executed within a very short timeframe. They successfully delivered the feature on schedule, impressing customers with both the functionality and the speed of execution.
  • The team was tasked with developing a solution to reveal Indirect Exposure through cross-chain swaps in response to a competitor's similar feature. Before choosing the technical approach, the team consulted with stakeholders to establish a feasible timeline for the implementation. With this input, the team devised a solution that fit the timeline, communicated the tradeoffs to stakeholders, and successfully delivered the solution as promised.

About TRM's Engineering Levels:

Engineer: Responsible for helping to define project milestones and executing small decisions independently with the appropriate tradeoffs between simplicity, readability, and performance. Provides mentorship to junior engineers, and enhances operational excellence through tech debt reduction and knowledge sharing.

Senior Engineer: Successfully designs and documents system improvements and features for an OKR/project from the ground up. Consistently delivers efficient and reusable systems, optimizes team throughput with appropriate tradeoffs, mentors team members, and enhances cross-team collaboration through documentation and knowledge sharing.

Staff Engineer: Drives scoping and execution of one or more OKRs/projects that impact multiple teams. Partners with stakeholders to set the team vision and technical roadmaps for one or more products. Is a role model and mentor to the entire engineering organization. Ensures system health and quality with operational reviews, testing strategies, and monitoring rigor.

Individual pay is determined by skills, qualifications, experience, and location. The compensation details listed in this posting reflect the US base salary only. The following represents the expected range of compensation for this role:The following represents the expected range of compensation for this role:

  • The estimated base salary range for this role is $200,000 - $230,000.
  • Additionally, this role may be eligible to participate in TRM’s equity plan.

Life at TRM

We build to protect civilization. That promise shows up in how we work every day.

TRM runs fast. Really fast. We’re a high-velocity team that expects ownership, clarity, and follow-through. People who thrive here are inspired by hard problems, experimentation, direct feedback. If it takes months elsewhere, it often ships here in days. If you are optimizing primarily for consistent work-life balance, use the interview process to pressure-test fit. We want teammates who thrive here, not just survive here.

We coach directly, assume positive intent, and play for the front of the jersey.

Leadership Principles

  • Impact-Oriented Trailblazer: We put customers first, driving for speed, focus, and adaptability.
  • Master Craftsperson: We prioritize speed, high standards, and distributed ownership.
  • Inspiring Colleague: We value humility, candor, and a one-team mindset.

Want to learn more about how we interview at TRM Labs? Check out more about our leadership principles and hiring process here.

What You’ll Do Here

This work has teeth. At TRM, your week might include:

  • Driving critical investigations that can’t wait for typical business hours.
  • Shipping products in days when others would schedule quarters.
  • Partnering with teams across time zones to deliver insights while the story is still unfolding.
  • Building new solutions from first principles when the playbook doesn’t yet exist.
  • Protecting victims and customers by tracing illicit activity and disrupting criminal networks.

Join our Mission

We look for people who want their work to matter, who build with speed and rigor, and who take pride in protecting others through their craft. If you’re excited by TRM’s mission but don’t check every box, apply anyway. We hire for slope, judgment, and the will to learn fast.

Build to protect civilization. Let’s do it together.

Recruitment agencies

TRM Labs does not accept unsolicited agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to TRM employees. TRM Labs is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes and will not pay fees to any third-party agency or company without a signed agreement.

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