TRM Labs is a blockchain intelligence company committed to fighting crime and creating a safer world. By leveraging blockchain data, threat intelligence, and advanced analytics, our products empower governments, financial institutions, and crypto businesses to combat illicit activity and global security threats. At TRM, you'll join a mission-driven, fast-paced team made up of experts in law enforcement, data science, engineering, and financial intelligence, tackling complex global challenges daily. Whether analyzing blockchain data, developing cutting-edge tools, or collaborating with global organizations, you'll have the opportunity to make a meaningful and lasting impact.
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:
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Design and implement scalable, reliable backend services and APIs that serve complex analytics and insights on blockchain activity.
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Engineer data-centric microservices that power features across TRM’s intelligence platform, balancing performance, resilience, and modularity.
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Own the full lifecycle of backend systems, from design and implementation to deployment, monitoring, and iteration.
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Model and manage large-scale blockchain data, ensuring efficient access and rapid query performance across various products.
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Collaborate across product, data science, and infrastructure teams to ensure seamless integration between backend systems and customer-facing features.
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Drive technical architecture discussions for backend and data services, and mentor junior engineers on backend best practices.
What we’re looking for:
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5+ years of backend engineering experience, with deep expertise in designing and scaling backend systems for data-rich applications.
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Strong Python development skills; bonus if you've worked with Go or other typed backend languages in production.
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Experience designing and maintaining robust APIs, including schema design, versioning, and system observability.
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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.
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Deep familiarity with data stores like BigQuery and Postgres, including performance tuning for large, complex queries.
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Production experience with workflow orchestration tools such as Airflow or dbt, and containerized deployment (Docker, Kubernetes).
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Understanding of cloud infrastructure (e.g. GCP, AWS), including CI/CD pipelines, Terraform-based deployments, and observability with tools like Datadog or Prometheus.
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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 decision 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 Labs
Leadership Principles
Our Leadership Principles shape everything we do—how we make decisions, collaborate, and operate day to day.
- 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.
Accelerate your Career
At TRM, you’ll do work that matters—disrupting terrorist networks, recovering stolen funds, and protecting people around the world. You will:
- Work alongside top experts and learn every day.
- Embrace a growth mindset with development opportunities tailored to your role.
- Take on high-impact challenges in a fast-paced, collaborative environment.
- Thrive in a culture of coaching, where feedback is fast, direct, and built to help you level up.
What to Expect at TRM
TRM moves fast—really fast. We know a lot of startups say that, but we mean it. We operate with urgency, ownership, and high standards. As a result, you’ll be joining a team that’s highly engaged, mission-driven, and constantly evolving.
To support this intensity, we’re also intentional about rest and recharge. We offer generous benefits, including PTO, Holidays, and Parental Leave for full time employees.
That said, TRM may not be the right fit for everyone. If you're optimizing for work life balance, we encourage you to:
- Ask your interviewers how they personally approach balance within their teams, and
- Reflect on whether this is the right season in your life to join a high-velocity environment.
- Be honest with yourself about what energizes you—and what drains you
We’re upfront about this because we want every new team member to thrive—not just survive.
The Stakes Are Real
Our work has direct, real-world impact:
- Jumping online after hours to support urgent government requests tracing ransomware payments.
- Delivering actionable insights during terrorist financing investigations.
- Collaborating across time zones in real time during a major global hack.
- Building new processes in days, not weeks, to stop criminals before they cash out.
- Analyzing blockchain data to recover stolen savings and dismantle trafficking networks.
Thrive as a Global Team
As a remote-first company, TRM Labs is built for global collaboration.
- We cultivate a strong remote culture through clear communication, thorough documentation, and meaningful relationships.
- We invest in offsites, regional meetups, virtual coffee chats, and onboarding buddies to foster collaboration.
- By prioritizing trust and belonging, we harness the strengths of a global team while staying aligned with our mission and values.
Join our mission!
We’re looking for team members who thrive in fast-paced, high-impact environments and love building from the ground up. TRM is remote-first, with an exceptionally talented global team. If you enjoy solving tough problems and seeing your work make a difference for billions of people, we want you here. Don’t worry if your experience doesn’t perfectly match a job description— we value passion, problem-solving, and unique career paths. If you’re excited about TRM’s mission, we want to hear from you.
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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