Senior or Staff Blockchain Protocol Engineer

Build a Safer World. 

TRM Labs provides blockchain analytics and AI solutions to help law enforcement and national security agencies, financial institutions, and cryptocurrency businesses detect, investigate, and disrupt crypto-related fraud and financial crime. TRM’s blockchain intelligence and AI platforms include solutions to trace the source and destination of funds, identify illicit activity, build cases, and construct an operating picture of threats. TRM is trusted by leading agencies and businesses worldwide who rely on TRM to enable a safer, more secure world for all.

TRM’s Network Intel team is responsible for monitoring the flows of data on blockchain networks. We are looking for a Senior Engineer with a deep understanding of network protocols, infrastructure, systems engineering, distributed systems, and architectural design that will lead projects from research and ideation to feasibility in production. In this role, you will have the opportunity to expand your existing expertise in software engineering and applied research, and ultimately help build a safer financial system for billions of people.  

The impact you’ll have here:

• Architect and build highly scalable, reliable, and data-heavy distributed systems that will integrate a variety of data sources
• Build performant, and reliable production-grade systems, from whiteboard to production
• Design and optimize protocol implementations, including consensus algorithms, peer-to-peer networking, and data validation mechanisms
• Work across the stack (db, cache, code, deploy) to address technical challenges anywhere in the system
• Mentor fellow team members and participate in code reviews and design reviews
• Collaborate cross-functionally with data scientists, designers, and product managers to define and implement services.
• Create novel approaches to tackling blockchain-specific challenges around scale, security, and privacy.

What we’re looking for:

• Bachelor's degree (or equivalent) in Computer Science or related field
• Experience building real-time and distributed system architecture, from whiteboard to production
• Proficiency in Python or Java; other technologies used on the team include C++, Kafka, gRPC, Elasticsearch, MongoDB, Kubernetes, Docker, and network protocols.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills; clear documentation and succinct communication are very important.
• Ability to work independently, be proactive, prioritize, communicate, and set and meet goals
• Mastery of time management skills and attention to detail
• Flexibility in work schedule to coordinate amongst global timezones
• Excellent intrapersonal skills to foster relationships with developers
• Strong interest in acquiring knowledge in any Blockchain at the protocol level and Networks
• Strong interest in protocol development, node engineering, and peer-to-peer networking
• Familiarity or interest in p2p networking, libp2p, block propagation, and chain re-org detection strategies

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 $190,000 - $220,000.
• Additionally, this role may be eligible to participate in TRM’s equity plan.

Life at TRM

We are building a safer world. That promise shows up in how we work every day.

TRM runs fast. Really fast. We’re a high‑velocity, high‑ownership team that expects clarity, follow‑through, and impact. People who thrive here are energized by hard problems, experimentation, and direct feedback. If something take