Staff Data Engineer - AI Platform

BUILD A SAFER WORLD.

TRM Labs provides AI-powered intelligence solutions that help public and private sector agencies investigate and disrupt crime. TRM's platforms enable investigators to trace illicit activity, build cases, and construct operating pictures of threat networks. Leading agencies and businesses worldwide rely on TRM to make the world safer and more secure.

TRM's government cloud environment gives public sector investigators the same real-time analytical power our commercial customers rely on, and this role keeps that environment fast, reliable, and compliant as it scales. You'll join the Data Platform Serving team, working on the StarRocks-backed serving layer that sits underneath government cloud investigations, alongside the engineer who currently owns this domain solo. This is a chance to build hands-on distributed systems experience in one of the most operationally demanding environments at TRM: a regulated, high-availability government cloud deployment.

The impact you will have:

• You will own performance tuning on the StarRocks serving layer, using AI-assisted query profiling (Claude, internal tooling) to find and fix slow query patterns before they become customer-facing incidents.
• You will build and harden data pipelines feeding government cloud investigations, using AI code review workflows to ship reliable changes faster in a high-compliance environment where mistakes are costly.
• You will reduce single-point-of-failure risk on GovCloud data infrastructure by becoming the second engineer who can independently operate and troubleshoot the serving layer, cutting incident response time when the primary owner is unavailable.
• You will use AI-assisted debugging and log analysis to triage production issues in a regulated environment, turning multi-hour investigations into rapid root-cause fixes.

What we’re looking for

• U.S. citizenship is required for this role due to government cloud data access requirements.
• Hands-on experience operating distributed OLAP or serving-layer systems (StarRocks, Trino, ClickHouse, or similar), including query tuning and performance optimization at scale.
• Experience owning data pipeline reliability and incident response, and comfort using AI tools (Claude, Cursor, or similar) to accelerate debugging, code review, and documentation.
• Independent ownership mindset: you can pick up an unfamiliar piece of production infrastructure, use AI-assisted research and code exploration to ramp quickly, and take on-call responsibility with minimal oversight.

About the Team

• The Data Platform Serving team owns the layer that turns TRM's data into fast, reliable answers for the teams and systems built on top of it.
• We're distributed, not distant: the team communicates constantly across Slack and async docs, with a bias toward direct, evidence-based technical discussion.
• Decisions are made close to the data: engineers who operate the systems make the calls on architecture and tradeoffs, with input from the broader Data Platform org.
• We work closely with Forward Deployed Engineering and Product teams to keep the government cloud environment at parity with our commercial platform.

Team Operating Rhythms

• Weekly team sync to review open incidents, in-flight infrastructure work, and upcoming compliance milestones.
• Async daily updates in Slack on pipeline health, ongoing tickets, and blockers.
• Sprint-based planning cycles with clear ownership assigned per workstream.
• Retro after any production incident to capture learnings and adjust runbooks.

Learn about TRM Speed in this position:

• A production database migration broke search-attribute registration across two environments right before a critical audit deadline. The on-call engineer traced the root cause, shipped a fix, and had both environments passing smoke tests again within the same day.
• With a compliance deadline days away, the team needed off-cluster backups for the government cloud database with zero prior tooling in place. An engineer designed and shipped the full backup and restore pipeline — three stacked PRs — in under two weeks.
• Audit log retention needed to jump to meet a new compliance floor with no advance notice. The engineer used AI-assisted config generation to update retention policies across the environment and verify compliance the same week.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

If you’re interested in joining TRM, we encourage you to apply directly. Every application is reviewed by our Talent team.

Before applying, review the job description carefully and highlight the experience and impact that best demonstrate the required qualifications. Please also provide thoughtful and accurate answers to the application questions, as these will be used to evaluate your skills and qualifications for the role.

If you send your resume directly to someone at TRM, we can’t guarantee it will reach the appropriate hiring team. Applying directly is the best way to ensure your application will be considered.

INTERVIEWING WITH TRM

Our process is designed to understand how you think, solve problems, and deliver impact, while allowing you to evaluate TRM. Most interview processes include a case study, an AI skills assessment, and a Leadership Principles interview.

• Recruiter Intro: Qualifications, motivations, and alignment with the role.
• Hiring Manager: Deep dive into your relevant experience, skills, and impact.
• First Round: 1–2 interviews focused on the skills most critical to the role.
• Final Round: Hands-on case study. This is usually a panel-style session where we go deeper into your craft, problem-solving, and alignment with TRM.
• References: Former colleagues who can provide insight into your work and impact.
• Offer: Congrats! Your recruiter will present the offer and compensation details.
• Welcome to TRM: We're excited to build a safer world with you!

Your recruiter will share your specific interview plan and preparation guidance along the way.

AI FLUENCY AT TRM

AI fluency is a baseline expectation at TRM.

We believe AI meaningfully changes how top performers operate. We expect every team member to use AI to accelerate and reimagine their craft, not just automate surface tasks.

At TRM, AI fluency means you are among the top 10 percent of operators in your function in how you apply AI to:

• Accelerate repeatable workflows
• Structure and solve problems
• Improve output quality
• Increase speed and leverage

You will be evaluated on applied AI fluency during the interview process.

LIFE AT TRM

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

TRM moves FAST. We are a high-velocity, high-ownership team that expects clarity, follow-through, and impact. People who thrive here are energized by hard problems, experimentation, and continuous feedback. If something takes months elsewhere, it will ship here in days.

Our work sits at the intersection of AI, national security, and fighting crime. The problems are complex, the stakes are real, and the environment evolves quickly. The pace and intensity of the work reflect the importance of the mission. As a result, the way we operate requires a high level of ownership, adaptability, collaboration, and creative problem-solving.

At TRM, you should expect:

• Priorities and targets to change quickly
• Operating with a high degree of ambiguity
• A high level of personal ownership and accountability
• Close collaboration across teams and functions
• Frequent, high-touch communication
• Creative problem-solving and out-of-the-box thinking
• A pace that rewards urgency, adaptability, and outcomes

This environment is energizing for people who enjoy building, solving hard problems, and making progress in situations that are not always fully defined. It also requires thriving in ambiguity, adjusting course as new information emerges, and maintaining focus and positivity in