Senior Cryptocurrency Intelligence Scientist

Responsibilities

• Develop and own an expert understanding of identity and non-identity signals and data points necessary to characterise complex on-chain threats, going beyond wallet ownership to understand behavioural patterns, transactional rhythms, routing choices, bridge usage, and smart contract interaction patterns.
• Lead end-to-end complex research and investigation efforts, from scoping and data collection through to written output, presenting findings rigorously and confidently to clients, partners, and internal stakeholders.
• Evaluate Elliptic's attribution coverage across threat areas and lead projects that define and prioritise intelligence collection efforts, identifying where gaps are most material and driving durable remediation.
• Develop processes and tooling that empower analysts and data scientists to actively contribute to the development of straightforward heuristics, including documentation standards, peer review processes, and monitoring for drift or degradation.
• Maintain an opinionated, well-evidenced view of the future of cryptocurrency, the evolution of criminal typologies, and the emergence of new obfuscation techniques, and translate that into actionable intelligence priorities.
• Summarise conclusions from your work into reports, briefings, and marketing content, calibrating depth and framing to the target audience.
• Work closely with the Principal Cryptocurrency Intelligence Scientist and Professional Services team to deliver actionable intelligence to government partners and the broader crypto industry.
• Build and invest in strong working relationships across Elliptic and develop good external relationships within the blockchain intelligence and financial crime research community.
• Coach and mentor more junior colleagues, sharing technical and analytical expertise and contributing to a high standard of intelligence practice across the team.

Requirements

• Mission-driven with a passion for securing the future of cryptocurrency.
• Deep, active personal interest in the cryptocurrency space, staying current on developments across protocols, ecosystems, and criminal typologies.
• Enthusiastic about deploying data science skills to explore new domains and solve problems that do not yet have established solutions.
• Familiar with OSINT techniques and understand the importance of operating safely, responsibly, and with rigorous attention to bias.
• Collaborative team player who enjoys mentoring others and can work productively across functional areas including product, marketing, and customer success.
• Take initiative and are comfortable operating with significant autonomy, owning your domain without waiting for direction.
• Strong understanding of data science fundamentals, with working knowledge of SQL and Python sufficient to conduct and automate analytical workflows independently.
• Expert, demonstrable proficiency across a variety of blockchains, including layer 1 and layer 2 networks, with direct personal experience bridging cryptocurrency between chains and self-custodying cryptocurrency.
• Competency as an intelligence professional: understand the role of cognitive bias, can apply structured analytic techniques, and accurately communicate uncertainty in written and verbal outputs.
• Excellent communication skills: can distil complex technical matters clearly for audiences with a wide range of technical understanding, from engineers to executives.
• Previous experience holding, or the ability to obtain, security clearance in the UK or US.
• AI fluency is essential: demonstrate ability to effectively apply AI tools and approaches to intelligence analysis workflows, including using AI to accelerate data processing, pattern identification, heuristic development support, and the drafting of written outputs.

Nice-to-Haves

• Relevant postgraduate qualification in a technical or intelligence-adjacent discipline.
• Experience working in a formal intelligence setting, including law enforcement, government, or academic research.
• Commercial or research experience with cryptocurrencies, including complex transaction tracing, demixing, and cross-chain attribution.
• Experience working for or with public-sector entities, including law enforcement or regulatory bodies.
• Strong familiarity with key threat typologies, including thefts, scams, ransomware, nation-state activity, terrorism financing, and sanctions evasion.

Benefits

• Hybrid working: option to work from almost anywhere for up to 90 days per year.
• Remote Work Budget: $650 budget to set up your home office space.
• L&D Budget: $1,000 annual Learning & Development budget.
• 25 days of annual leave + 8 US Public Holidays.
• Birthday Leave: extra day off for your birthday.
• Enhanced Parental Leave: 16 weeks fully-paid leave.
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with generous premium contributions.
• 401k with company match.
• Full access to Spill mental health support.