Senior Software Engineer, Data Infrastructure (RDBMS)

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.

The Data Platform team builds and owns highly available, scalable data infrastructure for TRM's products and services. As a Senior Software Engineer on Data Infrastructure (RDBMS), you will develop, operate, and scale the relational database systems that serve data at petabyte scale, helping build a safer financial system for billions of people. This role is uniquely broad at TRM: you own the serving layer end to end, from query performance to cost to availability, on infrastructure that product teams depend on every day.

The impact you will have:

• Keep customer-facing APIs fast and available at five-nines by owning query tuning, index design, and schema optimization on petabyte-scale Postgres/Citus, directly determining whether product teams can serve data in real time

• Cut storage and compute costs materially by using AI-assisted analysis (pganalyze paired with Claude) to detect compression and data-model opportunities, then shipping validated changes to production

• Remove team toil by building agentic automation for routine database operations, such as self-serve pgbouncer provisioning, disk scaling, and blue-green deployments, so any engineer can run them safely

• Protect data integrity and latency by driving agentic validation of database changes before they reach production

• Keep real-time data flowing by managing CDC pipelines (PeerDB, Fivetran, Debezium) and using AI tooling to debug replication failures faster

• Shape the next-generation platform by migrating workloads off first-gen infrastructure and prototyping new data stores with AI-accelerated spikes

• Raise the whole team's leverage by codifying your workflows into AI-native runbooks and internal tooling that teammates reuse

What we're looking for:

• 5–8 years building and operating production PostgreSQL (Citus, Aurora, AlloyDB, or equivalent distributed Postgres)

• Deep SQL optimization skills (Explain Plans, CTEs, window functions, partitioning, index design, query-planner behavior in distributed environments), increasingly paired with AI-assisted query analysis

• Hands-on experience with CDC tools (PeerDB, Fivetran, Debezium, Datastream, Airbyte) and comfort using AI tooling to debug replication failure modes

• Fluency with database profiling (pganalyze or equivalent) to interpret metrics and logs, including using LLMs to summarize performance findings

• Production automation experience in Python or Go, including agentic automation of routine database tasks; Postgres extension development is a plus

• Daily use of AI coding tools (Claude, Copilot) to accelerate development and produce higher-quality output faster, with the judgment to know when to trust or reject AI output

• A track record of using AI-assisted analysis to drive measurable cost or performance improvements in production database systems

About the Team:

• The Data Platform team is distributed, not distant. We operate async-first across US and Canada working hours with intentional synchronous touchpoints when speed demands it

• We own the petabyte-scale data infrastructure that powers TRM's products. The scope is large, the mission is real, and the work is technically demanding

• Team culture is product-focused, customer-focused, coaching-oriented, scrappy when needed, and process-oriented when executing against OKRs

• You will work alongside senior engineers who care deeply about their craft and hold high standards for code quality, operational excellence, and cross-team communication

Team Operating Rhythms:

• Distributed, not distant: most collaboration happens async in Slack, Notion, and GitHub, and meetings are purposeful and minimal

• Primary timezone overlap across US and Canada working hours; our north star is no IC spending more than 3–4 hours per week in meetings

• Written-first culture: technical specs and decision docs drive alignment before code

On Call Requirements:

• ⚠️ On Call Requirements — Pending Regional Compliance Review. This role carries an on-call rotation (approximately once every 15 days; each shift is a 24-hour window across 2 days). On-call is clear to proceed for United States; the Canada portion requires People Ops / Deel provincial confirmation before this section is finalized and posted. See the On-Call Compliance note in the Post-Fill Summary.

Learn about TRM Speed in this position:

• Within 30 days, eliminate a single point of failure by shipping self-serve scaling automation (pgbouncer provisioning, disk resizing) that any teammate can run, freeing senior engineering time

• Within the first quarter, identify a compression opportunity with AI-assisted analysis, validate it with a proof of concept, and ship it to production for a measurable storage-cost reduction with zero availability impact

• Within 90 days, coordinate a schema change across three product-engineering teams in parallel and deliver the platform changes ahead of a product deadline so a customer feature ships on time

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 $200,000 - $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.

Work Week Travel: This role requires participation in in-person R&D work weeks, typically 1–2 times per quarter, at a TRM hub or other designated location. Work weeks may be scheduled with as little as 14 days’ notice, and some roles may require additional travel based on team and cross-functional needs. TRM coordinates and covers approved travel, lodging, and workspace. Accommodations are available for legitimate caregiving, health, immigration, and similar constraints.

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.

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