Want to know if this job is worth applying to?
Reston, Virginia, United States
Onsite
Babel Street is the trusted technology partner for the world’s most advanced identity intelligence and risk operations. We deliver advanced AI and data analytics solutions providing unmatched, analysis-ready data regardless of language, proactive risk identification, 360-degree insights, high-speed automation, and seamless integration into existing systems. Babel Street empowers government and commercial organizations to transform high-stakes identity and risk operations into a strategic advantage. The actionable insights we deliver safeguard lives and protect critical assets around the world. Babel Street is headquartered in Reston, Virginia, with regional offices in Boston, MA and Cleveland, OH, and international offices in Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, and the U.K. For more information, visit www.babelstreet.com.
Role Summary
We are seeking a Principal Engineer to lead Babel Street’s API and MCP platform strategy and delivery as we evolve toward an AI-native, agent-driven platform.
This is a hands-on, senior technical leadership role responsible for defining and delivering API-first platform capabilities that enable both developers and AI agents to interact with Babel Street’s services. You will lead the design and implementation of semantic APIs, Model Context Protocol (MCP) integrations, and context-aware service patterns that power next-generation intelligence workflows.
This role requires a finger-on-keyboard engineer who can both define direction and deliver foundational systems. You will partner closely with AI, Data, and Platform teams to ensure Babel Street’s APIs and services are consistent, discoverable, scalable, and optimized for agentic workflows.
You will work in close partnership with the Architecture function to align on long-term technical direction, ensuring API and MCP platform decisions are consistent with the company’s broader architectural vision while maintaining a strong focus on execution and delivery.
This is a hybrid role working out of either our Reston, VA or Somerville, MA office. Full remote may be considered.
Why This Role Matters
This role will be instrumental to Babel Street’s AI-native technology strategy. The API and MCP platform will serve as the interface layer between data, AI, and product capabilities, enabling agents, developers, and systems to interact seamlessly.
This is a high-impact, senior technical leadership role with broad influence across the organization and the opportunity to shape the future of Babel Street’s platform. The position spans four core domains:
API Platform & Strategy
You will define and lead Babel Street’s API-first platform strategy, establishing consistent patterns for service design, versioning, discoverability, and governance.
You will help evolve the platform toward agent-ready APIs, ensuring services are consumable by both human developers and AI agents. You will establish standards for API consistency, reliability, and performance across the organization.
You will also work closely with product and engineering teams to ensure APIs are designed as first-class platform capabilities, not just service interfaces.
MCP & Agent Integration
You will lead Babel Street’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) strategy and implementation, enabling agents and AI systems to interact with services in a standardized and scalable way. This includes defining patterns for:
You will partner closely with AI and platform teams to enable agent-native workflows across the organization.
Semantic APIs & Agent-Ready Interfaces
You will lead the design of semantic, agent-friendly APIs, where documentation becomes a first-class interface for AI-driven systems. This includes defining standards for:
You will establish best practices for documentation-as-code, ensuring APIs are designed for both developers and AI systems.
Context Management & Runtime Patterns
You will define patterns for context-aware APIs and services, including:
You will help design scalable context-aware systems leveraging technologies such as Vertex AI Context Caching and related frameworks.
Key Responsibilities
Required Qualifications
Preferred Qualifications
What Success Looks Like
30 Days
60 Days
90 Days
Benefits at Babel Street (just to name a few...)
Babel Street is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law. Further, Babel Street will not discriminate against applicants for inquiring about, discussing or disclosing their pay or, in certain circumstances, the pay of their co‐worker, Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination. In addition, Babel Street's policy is to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified employees who have protected disabilities to the extent required by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances where a particular employee works. Upon request, we will provide you with more information about such accommodations.
