Senior Software Engineer, Database Engineer

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. 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 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 you’re considered. WHAT TO EXPECT FROM OUR INTERVIEW PROCESS Our process is designed to understand how you think, solve problems, and deliver impact, while giving you the opportunity to evaluate TRM. Most interview processes include a case study, AI skills assessment, and Leadership Principles interview. - Recruiter Intro: Explore your experience, motivations, and alignment with the role. - Hiring Manager: Dive deeper into your relevant experience, skills, and impact. - First Round: Typically 1–2 interviews focused on the skills most critical to the role. - Final Round: Typically 3–5 interviews to go deeper on your craft, problem-solving, and alignment with TRM. - References: We’ll speak with former colleagues who can provide perspective on your work and impact. - Offer: If it’s a mutual fit, your recruiter will walk you through your offer and answer your questions. - Welcome to TRM: Once you sign, we’ll get you ready for your first day and onboarding. Your recruiter will share your specific interview plan and preparation guidance along the way. Learn more about interviewing at TRM https://www.trmlabs.com/resources/blog/interviewing-at-trm-how-we-hire-and-what-success-looks-like LIFE AT TRM We are building a safer world. That promise shows up in how we work every day. TRM moves quickly. 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 as we experiment and iterate - Work that often requires 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 comfort navigating ambiguity, adjusting course as new information emerges, and maintaining focus and positivity in a fast-moving and intense environment. We also recognize that this style of operating is not for everyone. If you are primarily optimizing for predictability or a consistently balanced workload, we encourage you to use the interview process to pressure test whether this environment is truly the right fit. We want teammates who thrive here, not just survive here. At the same time, many people find this work deeply rewarding. If you are excited by meaningful problems, motivated by ambitious goals, and energized by working alongside mission-driven colleagues, there is a good chance you will find TRM to be an exceptional place to grow and contribute. Learn more about Interviewing at TRM https://www.trmlabs.com/resources/blog/interviewing-at-trm-how-we-hire-and-what-success-looks-like   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. LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES We hire and grow against three leadership principles. They’re the standards for how we operate, treat each other, and make decisions. - Impact-Oriented Trailblazer: We put customers first and move with speed, focus, and adaptability. We treat every plan like an experiment – test, ship, measure, and iterate quickly. - Master Craftsperson: We care deeply about our craft. We balance speed with high standards, own outcomes end‑to‑end, and invest in getting better everyday. - Inspiring Colleague: We add clarity and energy, not noise. We bring humility, candor, and a one‑team mindset — giving and receiving feedback to make the team stronger. JOIN OUR MISSION At TRM, we care deeply about our craft. We are looking for individuals who want their work to matter, who experiment with speed and rigor, and who take pride in building a safer world for billions of people. If you’re excited by TRM’s mission but don’t check every box, we encourage you to apply — we hire for slope, judgment, and the will to learn fast. TRM is a Series C company with $220M in total funding, backed by Goldman Sachs, Bessemer, Y Combinator, Thoma Bravo, and others. Headquartered in San Francisco, TRM operates as a distributed-first company with hubs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Washington D.C., London, and Singapore. Learn more about building tools for defenders https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/refactoring-podcast/id1719137305?i=1000790467591. PRIV…