Senior or Staff Applied AI Engineer

TRM is a blockchain intelligence company that’s on a mission to build a safer financial system for billions of people. We’re a lean, high-impact team tackling some of the world’s most critical challenges, ranging from human trafficking and financial fraud to terrorist financing. We are builders who power governments, financial institutions, and crypto companies when the clock is running and the consequences are real. This is why every TRMer is a bet on our future and has the power to change our trajectory.

The AI Engineer (Models) will join our Model Engineering Team, a group focused on advancing model selection, fine-tuning, and evaluation strategies for production-scale AI systems. As a senior individual contributor, this person will lead technical efforts to push the boundaries of model performance and orchestration, directly impacting the competitiveness of our AI Engineering platform.

The impact you will have:

• Design, build, and own a production-grade evaluation system that drives measurable improvements in model accuracy and latency.
• Lead experimentation, fine-tuning, and feedback-based evaluation loops for continuous model optimization.
• Advance the orchestration of AI/ML systems, ensuring scalable, resilient, and high-impact deployments.
• Elevate technical standards through engineering craftsmanship, mentorship, and leadership as a senior IC.

What we’re looking for:

• Advanced programming expertise in Python and SQL, with strong system design skills.
• Deep experience deploying machine learning/deep learning models in production (LLM/GenAI strongly preferred).
• Strong foundation in experimentation frameworks, evaluation metrics, and ML Ops practices.
• Proven ability to own critical systems end-to-end and collaborate effectively with cross-functional partners.

About the Team:

• The AI Engineering team 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:

• Rapid Issue Resolution. TRM Engineers identify and resolve critical onsite issues in minutes to hours, not weeks. We create virtual war rooms, implement fixes, and share lessons with both customer stakeholders and internal teams within 48 hours.
• Navigating Bureaucracy. We anticipate and address procedural hurdles, build trust with key stakeholders, and find alternative pathways to approvals. This keeps projects moving even in complex environments.
• Efficient Knowledge Transfer. Engineers document and share updates in real time, ensuring the entire team—onsite and remote—has full visibility into plans, blockers, and resolutions. Knowledge sharing sessions and clear documentation reduce friction and accelerate delivery.

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:

• 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 $215,000 - $230,000.
• 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.

We build to protect civilization. That promise shows up in how we work every day.

TRM runs fast. Really fast. We’re a high-velocity team that expects ownership, clarity, and follow-through. People who thrive here are inspired by hard problems, experimentation, direct feedback. If it takes months elsewhere, it often ships here in days. If you are optimizing primarily for consistent work-life balance, use the interview process to pressure-test fit. We want teammates who thrive here, not just survive here.

We coach directly, assume positive intent, and play for the front of the jersey.

• 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.

Want to learn more about how we interview at TRM Labs? Check out more about our leadership principles and hiring process here.

This work has teeth. At TRM, your week might include:

• Driving critical investigations that can’t wait for typical business hours.
• Shipping products in days when others would schedule quarters.
• Partnering with teams across time zones to deliver insights while the story is still unfolding.
• Building new solutions from first principles when the playbook doesn’t yet exist.
• Protecting victims and customers by tracing illicit activity and disrupting criminal networks.

We look for people who want their work to matter, who build with speed and rigor, and who take pride in protecting others through their craft. If you’re excited by TRM’s mission but don’t check every box, apply anyway. We hire for slope, judgment, and the will to learn fast.

Build to protect civilization. Let’s do it together.

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TRM Labs does not accept unsolicited agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to TRM 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 without a signed agreement.

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