Staff Software Engineer, Data Incrementalization

TRM Labs

TRM Labs

Software Engineering
United States · Remote
Posted on Jun 29, 2024

TRM is on a mission to build a safer financial system for billions of people. We deliver a blockchain intelligence data platform to financial institutions, crypto companies, and governments to fight cryptocurrency fraud and financial crime. We consider our business — and our profit — as a way to move towards our mission sustainably and at scale.

The Data Platform team collaborates with an experienced group of data scientists, engineers, and product managers to build highly available and scalable data infrastructure for TRM's products and services. As a Senior Engineer on the Core Data team, you will help to develop internal tools to empower the Data Science and Machine Learning Engineers to refine Blockchain Data into Blockchain Intelligence at petabyte scale.

The impact you’ll have here:

  • Design and build our Cloud Data Warehouse with a focus on incremental updates to improve cost efficiency and scalability.
  • Research innovative methods to incrementally optimize data processing, storage, and retrieval to support efficient data analytics and insights.
  • Develop and maintain ETL pipelines that transform and incrementally process petabytes of structured and unstructured data to enable data-driven decision-making.
  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams to design and implement new data models and tools focused on accelerating innovation through incremental updates.
  • Continuously monitor and optimize the Data Platform's performance, focusing on enhancing cost efficiency, scalability, and reliability.

What we’re looking for:

  • Bachelor's degree (or equivalent) in Computer Science or a related field.
  • 5+ years of experience in building distributed system architecture, with a particular focus on incremental updates from inception to production.
  • Strong programming skills in Python and SQL.
  • Deep technical expertise in advanced data structures and algorithms for incremental updating of data stores (e.g., Graphs, Trees, Hash Maps).
  • Comprehensive knowledge across all facets of data engineering, including:
    • Implementing and managing incremental updates in data stores like BigQuery, Snowflake, RedShift, Athena, Hive, and Postgres.
    • Orchestrating data pipelines and workflows focused on incremental processing using tools such as Airflow, DBT, Luigi, Azkaban, and Storm.
    • Developing and optimizing data processing technologies and streaming workflows for incremental updates (e.g., Spark, Kafka, Flink).
    • Deploying and monitoring scalable, incremental update systems in public cloud environments (e.g., Docker, Terraform, Kubernetes, Datadog).
    • Expertise in loading, querying, and transforming large datasets with a focus on efficiency and incremental growth.

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.

The following represents the expected range of compensation for this role:

  • The estimated base salary range for this role is $240,000 - $270,000.
  • Additionally, this role may be eligible to participate in TRM’s equity plan.

Life at TRM Labs


Our Principles

TRM's culture is shaped by how we make decisions, how we execute, and how we treat each other

  • 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.

Build a Career

Joining TRM means being part of a mission-driven team comprised of industry leaders.

At TRM, you'll experience:

  • Purpose: Have a real-world impact, from disrupting terrorist networks to returning stolen funds.
  • Growth: Professional advancement opportunities through clearly defined career pathways and biannual performance reviews.
  • Ownership: Take pride in your work. Have a large breadth and scope of contributions and impact.

Work Environment

  • Remote First: Our headquarters is online but we highly value in-person interactions, organizing regular meetups and offsites for team building.
  • Async Communication: Clear communication is key in our decentralized setup. We use tools such as Slack, Notion, and Loom, to promote transparency and efficiency.
  • High Ownership: Small teams drive big goals at TRM with ownership, responsibility, and a direct impact. There's no strict clocking in or out. Team members are trusted to balance personal schedules with team needs.
  • TRM Speed: We move “surprisingly fast” while maintaining a high bar in service of our customers and mission. This can feel both intense and rewarding. Our unique approach emphasizes quick wins, rapid iterations, and constant feedback.
  • Diversity and Inclusion: Diversity at TRM encompasses backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. Every day is an opportunity to learn from a colleague, whether they're a law enforcement expert or a tech pioneer.
  • Annual Company Offsite: Once a year, TRMers come together from around the world to attend a 1-week mandatory company offsite. This is designed to foster in-person relationships, creativity, and strategic alignment. Employee attendance is required of all TRMers.

Benefits and Perks

At TRM, we know that supporting our team members can take many forms. Our goal is to enable you to care for yourself, your family, and your community with a diverse and curated benefits package for full-time employees.

  • Remote-first work environment
  • Competitive salaries and stock options
  • Premium health, dental, and vision insurance
  • FSA, HSA, and 401K programs
  • Life & disability coverage
  • Generous paid time for vacation, holidays, and parental leave
  • Fertility, professional coaching, and mental health resources

Join Us

We are looking for team members who love building from the ground up and want to work hard in a fast-paced and ambitious environment. We are remote-first, with exceptionally talented team members located around the world. If you like solving tough problems quickly and seeing your work improve the lives of billions of people, we want you at TRM.

We encourage you to reach out even if your experience doesn't precisely match the job description. Don't worry about picking exactly the right job; we can always explore other options after starting the conversation. Your passion and interests will set you apart, especially if your background or career is unconventional.

To all recruitment agencies: TRM Labs does not accept unsolicited agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to TRM Labs 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 that does not have a signed agreement with the Company.