Principal Engineer, API & MCP Platform

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 http://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:  MCP service exposure  Tool and service discovery   Agent-to-service communication   Context-aware interactions   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:  API descriptions optimized for agents  Schema consistency and semantic modeling   Tool and service discoverability   API documentation optimized for agent consumption   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:  Context management and retrieval  Context caching   Session and state management   Memory-aware service interactions   You will help design scalable context-aware systems leveraging technologies such as Vertex AI Context Caching and related frameworks.  Key Responsibilities  Partner closely with Architecture to define and lead Babel Street’s API and MCP platform strategy  Design and deliver semantic, agent-ready APIs   Establish MCP standards and implementation patterns   Define context management patterns for agent workflows   Partner with AI and Data teams to enable agent-native architectures   Establish API governance and platform standards   Build foundational frameworks and reusable components   Provide hands-on technical leadership and mentorship   Partner with Google and other vendors on platform capabilities   Drive adoption of API and MCP standards across engineering teams   Required Qualifications  10+ years of software engineering experience  Experience operating at Principal Engineer or Staff+ level  Strong hands-on experience building distributed systems   Experience designing and building API-first platforms  Experience with cloud-native architectures (GCP preferred)   Experience building developer platforms or service-oriented architectures   Strong system design and architectural thinking skills  Proven ability to lead cross-team technical initiatives   Preferred Qualifications  Hands-on work with Google Cloud Platform (GCP)  Familiarity with Vertex AI Agent Engine   Background in ADK and reasoning frameworks such as LangChain  Understanding of the Model Context Protocol (MCP)   Exposure to data warehouse technologies like BigQuery and Snowflake  Knowledge of Apigee or similar API gateway solutions   Proven ability to design semantic APIs for AI or agent-driven use cases   Experience managing context or building memory systems   Development of agent-based architectures or orchestration frameworks   Exposure to Anti-Gravity  What Success Looks Like  30 Days  Assess current API and platform architecture  Define API and MCP platform strategy   Identify early opportunities for standardization   60 Days  Deliver initial platform frameworks and standards  Begin rollout of semantic API patterns   Establish MCP integration approach   90 Days  Agent-ready APIs in production  MCP-enabled services deployed Clear platform standards adopted across teams Measurable improvement in API consistency and developer velocity   Benefits at Babel Street (just to name a few...) Health Benefits: Babel Street covers 85-100% monthly premium costs for Medical, Dental, Vision, Life & Disability insurances – for you and your family! Retirement Plans: Babel Street offers both a Traditional and Roth 401(K) with a very competitive match. Unlimited Flexible Leave: We trust our employees to manage their own time and balance their personal and work lives. Holidays: Babel Street provides employees with 12 paid Federal Holidays Tuition Reimbursement: We are committed to investing in our employees. One way we do that is with our Tuition Reimbursement Program for continuing education.                  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, https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/pdf/pay-transp_%20English_formattedESQA508c.pdf. 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.  Range for this position based on qualifications and experience$220,000—$250,000 USD       Offices: Reston, Virginia, United States (Reston, VA - Hybrid); Somerville, Massachusetts, United States (Somerville, MA - Hybrid);