Senior Data Engineer, Data Lakehouse Infrastructure

Senior Data Engineer, Data Lakehouse Infrastructure

TRM is a blockchain intelligence company that’s on a mission to build a safer world 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.

We’re building the foundational data infrastructure powering next-generation analytics at scale. As part of our mission, we’re architecting a modern data lakehouse to support complex workloads, real-time data pipelines, and secure data governance—at petabyte scale.

We are looking for a Senior Data Engineer to help us design, implement, and scale core components of our lakehouse architecture. You will have ownership over data modeling, ingestion, query performance optimization, and metadata management using cutting-edge tools and frameworks like Apache Spark, Trino, Hudi, Iceberg, and Snowflake. We’re looking for engineers with deep expertise in at least one area and a solid understanding of the trade-offs among different technologies.

The impact you’ll have here:

• Architect and scale a high-performance data lakehouse on GCP, leveraging technologies like StarRocks, Apache Iceberg, GCS, BigQuery, Dataproc, and Kafka.
• Design, build, and optimize distributed query engines such as Trino, Spark, or Snowflake to support complex analytical workloads.
• Implement metadata management in open table formats like Iceberg and data discovery frameworks for governance and observability using Iceberg compatible catalogs.
• Develop and orchestrate robust ETL/ELT pipelines using Apache Airflow, Spark, and GCP-native tools (e.g., Dataflow, Composer).
• Collaborate across departments, partnering with data scientists, backend engineers, and product managers to design and implement

What we’re looking for:

• 5+ years of experience in data or software engineering, with a focus on distributed data systems and cloud-native architectures.
• Proven experience building and scaling data platforms on GCP, including storage, compute, orchestration, and monitoring.
• Strong command of one or more query engines such as Trino, Presto, Spark, or Snowflake.
• Experience with modern table formats like Apache Hudi, Iceberg, or Delta Lake.
• Exceptional programming skills in Python, as well as adeptness in SQL or SparkSQL.
• Hands-on experience orchestrating workflows with Airflow and building streaming/batch pipelines using GCP-native services.

About the Team:

• The Data Platform team is the funnel between all of TRM's data world and product world. We care about all layers of stack including petabyte of data stores, pipelines, and processes.
• We have quite a big scope as a the team with new and exciting projects every quarter. As a result, we collaborate across the board with most teams at TRM.
• We believe in async communication and are also not afraid to jump on a quick huddle if that helps to move things faster. We are both scrappy when the situation demands and also process-oriented when we need to achieve our OKRs.
• We are always looking for people who can elevate the quality our tech and our execution. If you enjoy a remote-first and async friendly environment to achieve efficacy and efficiency at petabyte scale, our team could be a great pick for you!
• Team members are based in the US across almost all timezones! Our on-call tends to be in EST/PST shift, whatever suits you the best.
• We do try to reserve some overlap in the day for meetings. Our north star - no IC spends more than 3-4 hours/week in meetings.

Learn about TRM Speed in this position:

• Build scalable engines to optimize routine scaling and maintenance tasks like create self-serve automation for creating new pgbouncer, scaling disks, scaling/updating of clusters, etc.
• Enable tasks to be faster next time and reducing dependency on a single person.
• Identify ways to compress timelines using 80/20 principle . For instance, what does it take to be operational in a new environment? Identify the must have and nice to haves that are need to deploy our stack to be fully operation. Focus on must haves first to get us operational and then use future milestones to harden for customer readiness. We think in terms of weeks and not months.
• Identify first version, a.k.a., " skateboards " for projects. For instance, build an observability dashboard within a week. Gather feedback from stakeholders after to identify more needs or bells and whistles to add to the dashboard.

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.

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

• Individual pay is determined by skills, qualifications, experience, and location. The compensation details listed in this posting reflect the US base salary only.
• The estimated base salary range for this role is $190,000 - $220,000.
• Additionally, this role may be eligible to participate in TRM’s equity plan.
• Please note – we factor in the different costs for geographies outside the United States.

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.

• 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.

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