TRM Labs is hiring a

Senior/Staff Research Data Scientist

Remote

TRM Labs is a blockchain intelligence company dedicated to fighting crime and creating a safer world for billions of people. By leveraging blockchain data, threat intelligence, and advanced analytics, our products empower governments, financial institutions, and crypto businesses to safeguard communities from illicit activity and global security threats.

At TRM Labs, you’ll be part of a mission-driven, fast-paced environment where your work directly contributes to building a safer future. Our team combines expertise in law enforcement, data science, engineering, and financial intelligence to address complex challenges. Whether you're analyzing blockchain data, developing cutting-edge tools, or collaborating with global organizations, every day brings the opportunity to make a meaningful and lasting impact.

As a Senior Research Data Scientist, you will have end-to-end ownership of custom models, heuristics, algorithms, and other data products that feed directly into TRM’s UX. In collaboration with a highly skilled team of engineers, data scientists, and research scientists, your goal will be to uncover valuable and defensible information that can be used to detect, prevent, and mitigate cryptocurrency fraud and financial crime.

The models and algorithms you create will be specifically designed to identify new threat vectors that are unique to cryptocurrencies and blockchains. These tools will be consumed by prestigious entities such as former FBI, Secret Service, and other law enforcement agencies, enabling them to stay ahead of evolving criminal activities in the cryptocurrency space.

In particular, the Traceability Team is responsible for investigating and tracing illicit actors that utilize technologies intentionally designed to obscure their blockchain transactions. The problems we face are exciting, challenging, and open-ended, requiring strong research-minded focus and curiosity. If you like solving hard problems with smart people, this is the place for you!

The impact you will have here:

  • As leader of the Traceability team, you will drive technical data science investigations & research, resulting in statistical models tailored to identify patterns and anomalies associated with cryptocurrency fraud and financial crime. These models will help detect potential threats and provide valuable insights for law enforcement agencies.
  • Research novel methods to parse blockchain data & “crack” obfuscating technologies, to consistently derive insights & learnings from huge amounts of data.
  • Develop custom models, algorithms, and interactive visualizations that will be consumed by former FBI, Secret Service, and Europol agents and analysts to detect new threat vectors unique to cryptocurrencies and blockchains
  • Collaborate with engineers and research scientists to design algorithms to analyze complex data structures inherent to cryptocurrencies and blockchains.
  • You will stay up to date with the latest developments in the field of blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies, and financial crime. This will involve continuous learning, attending conferences, and exploring research papers to incorporate cutting-edge techniques into your work.

What we’re looking for:

  • Your academic background is in a quantitative field such as Computer Science, Statistics, Engineering, Economics . Advanced degree preferred.
  • You have 4+ years of experience working in a data science role, and leading research projects E2E
  • You have strong proven experience with data science programming languages in production environments (Python & SQL heavily preferred)
  • You have a high tolerance for ambiguity. You find a way through. You anticipate. You connect and synthesize.
  • Experience with investigating financial data is preferred. Experience with and/or interest in blockchain technologies, cryptocurrencies is preferred.
  • Experience with Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) such as Monero, Z-Cash, Coin Mixing, MimbleWimble, and/or Full Chain Membership Proofs a huge plus
     

About the Team:

  • TRM operates with a high level of collaboration and interdependence, fostering an inclusive culture where connections extend beyond work. We value diverse personalities and seek someone who is both results-driven and sociable, with strong communication, leadership, and teamwork skills, along with a positive, solutions-oriented mindset.
  • As a globally distributed team, members may observe different timezones. However, most of the team will overlap between the hours of 7am-12pm PST for meetings and collaboration.
  • All team members, regardless of location must have at least 4 hour overlap with PST business hours.
  • The team is involved in 2 different on-calls
    • Analytics on-call: only requires focus on working time (average of < 1 hour a day every month)
    • Data Science on-call: full week on-call to ensure Data Science pipelines are running smoothly (average of 1-2 hours a day every 3 months)

Learn about TRM Speed in this position:

  • Deliver a last minute impactful project for a key customer
  • Build complex products effectively with tight timeframes (1-2 sprints for MVP)
  • Work on several projects in parallel with different priorities and stakeholders

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

  • The estimated base salary range for this role is $170,000 - $190,000. Please note that the base range is applicable to the US and will be different depending on the country.
  • Additionally, this role may be eligible to participate in TRM’s equity plan.

 


Life at TRM Labs

Leadership Principles

Our Leadership Principles are foundational elements of our strategy, guiding how we make decisions, how we treat each other, and how we behave day-to-day.

  • 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.

Build a Career 

Joining TRM means being part of a mission-driven team comprised of industry leaders. At TRM, you'll experience:

  • Purpose – Have a real-world impact, from disrupting terrorist networks to returning stolen funds.
  • Inspiring Colleagues – Collaborate with industry leaders and learn something new daily.
  • Career Growth – We embrace a growth mindset and provide development opportunities that increase skills relevant to your position.

Thriving at TRM

At TRM Labs, being a remote-first company is fundamental to our identity and operations. We are intentional about building a culture that thrives across time zones and continents, where communication is clear, documentation is thorough, and relationships are meaningful.

Building strong, trust-based relationships is a core value. Through thoughtful investments in offsites, regional hub meetups, virtual coffee chats, and onboarding buddies, we foster connections that enable effective collaboration. By creating spaces for meaningful interactions, we support a culture of high trust and belonging, essential to a thriving remote-first team.

This remote-first model enables us to derive the unique value of a globally distributed team while staying true to our mission and values, ensuring impact, alignment, and a culture of continuous improvement.

Join Us

We're looking for team members who love building from the ground up and want to work hard in a fast-paced and ambitious environment. We are remote-first, with exceptionally talented team members located around the world. If you like solving tough problems quickly and seeing your work improve the lives of billions of people, we want you at TRM.

We encourage you to reach out even if your experience doesn't precisely match the job description. Don't worry about picking exactly the right job; we can always explore other options after starting the conversation. Your passion and interests will set you apart, especially if your background or career is unconventional.  

To all recruitment agencies: TRM Labs does not accept unsolicited agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to TRM Labs employees. TRM Labs is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes and will not pay fees to any third-party agency or company that does not have a signed agreement with the Company.

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