Director of Design Engineering

Babel Street is the trusted technology partner for the worlds 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 .

ROLE SUMMARY

Babel Street is building mission-ready intelligence applications that help analysts move from signal to insight faster with higher trust. As the Director of Design Engineering you will own theend-to-end product experience key workflowsdesigning intuitive interfaces and shipping production-grade front-end codethat integrates AI directly into the user journey.

This is a builder role: you will pairhuman-centered designwith strong front-end engineering to deliver experiences that feel simple fast and trustworthyeven when the underlying systems (data fusion entity resolution AI agents multimodal analytics) are tightly with Product Platform and AI teams to operationalize AI in the UI withguardrails transparency and human-machine teaming.

This is a hybrid role working out of either our Reston VA or our Somerville MA office

WHAT YOULL DO (KEY RESPONSIBILITIES)

Own the AI-first user experience for intelligence workflows

• Design and implement workflows where AI meaningfully reduces cognitive load (e.g. investigation setup triage summarization entity linking report generation alert review).

• Build AI-in-the-flow patterns: inline suggestions copilots agent task panels explainable recommendations smart defaults and guided wizardswithout turning the product into a chat box.

• Define interaction patterns for agentic experiences (tasking progress tool calls approvals undo/redo auditability and fail-safe fallbacks).

Human-Centered Design (HCD) with real users and real constraints

• Conduct lightweight user research (interviews usability tests workflow observation) and translate insights into journey maps task flows wireframes prototypes and shipped UI.

• Partner with Product to clarify user problems success criteria and tradeoffsthen execute quickly and iteratively.

• Ensure the UX supports novice-to-expert progression (discoverability fornew usersspeedand power features for experts).

Build and ship high-quality front-end software

• Implement designs in a modern front-end stack (typicallyReact TypeScript) delivering clean testable accessible performant UI.

• Build reusable components and patterns; contribute to (or lead) a design system using tools likeFigma Storybook.

• Instrument experiences with analytics/telemetry to measure adoption workflow success and time-to-insight improvements.

Trust safety and transparency in AI experiences

• Design for evidence-first outputs: citations sources confidence indicators what-changed diffs and clear user controls.

• Implement guardrails in the UI: policy-aware interactions redaction/PII-aware patterns (where applicable) and safe failure modes.

• Close the loop with feedback: capture user ratings corrections and outcomes to improve models and workflows over time.

Cross-functional execution and leadership

• Work daily with Product AI/ML and Backend teams to define API contracts data needs latency targets and UX acceptance criteria.

• Raise the bar on craft: advocate for coherent UX consistent patterns and high-quality deliverywhile keeping momentum and pragmatism.

• Mentor others informally through design critiques code reviews and clear communication.

WHAT YOU BRING (REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS)

• 10 years of experience deliveringUX/UI design front-end engineeringfor modern web applications (or equivalent depth).

• Strong portfoliodemonstratingshipped product work(not just concepts)including complex workflows and/or data-rich applications.

• Proficiencybuilding production UIs withReact and TypeScript(or comparable modern framework experience).

• Fluency in HCD methods: user interviews task analysis prototyping usability testing and iterative delivery.

• Strong product instincts: can translate ambiguity into clear workflows make smart tradeoffs and ship in increments.

• Experienceintegrating with APIs and data services; comfort collaborating on interface contracts and edge cases.

• Working knowledge of accessibility (WCAG fundamentals) performance basics and secure UI patterns (auth RBAC-aware UX).

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 anequalopportunity/affirmative actionemployer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration foremploymentwithout regard to sex gender identity sexual orientation race color religion national origin disability protected Veteran status age or any other characteristic protected by law. FurtherBabel Street will not discriminate against applicants for inquiring about discussing or disclosing their pay or in certain circumstances the pay of their coworkerPay Transparency Nondiscrimination.In addition Babel Streets 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.