Principal Engineer, MCP Framework

Netskope • Santa Clara, CA

5d

About The Position

About Netskope
Today, there's more data and users outside the enterprise than inside, causing the network perimeter as we know it to dissolve. We realized a new perimeter was needed, one that is built in the cloud and follows and protects data wherever it goes, so we started Netskope to redefine Cloud, Network and Data Security. Since 2012, we have built the market-leading cloud security company and an award-winning culture powered by hundreds of employees spread across offices in Santa Clara, St. Louis, Bangalore, London, Paris, Melbourne, Taipei, and Tokyo. Our core values are openness, honesty, and transparency, and we purposely developed our open desk layouts and large meeting spaces to support and promote partnerships, collaboration, and teamwork. From catered lunches and office celebrations to employee recognition events and social professional groups such as the Awesome Women of Netskope (AWON), we strive to keep work fun, supportive and interactive. Visit us at Netskope Careers. Please follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @Netskope . About the Role The Netskope MCP Framework team is a newly formed, high-impact initiative dedicated to building the bridge between Netskope’s massive API ecosystem and the world of Generative AI. Netskope aims to develop a Model Context Protocol (MCP) framework to provide a standardized middleware layer, enabling Large Language Models (LLMs) and AI agents - such as Claude, Microsoft Security Copilot, Amazon Bedrock, etc. to securely consume over 3000+ endpoints from Netskope's API platform. As a Principal Engineer, you will be the technical and organizational lead for this project. You will design and build a modular framework that allows 30+ service teams to autonomously create and maintain MCP tools for their respective services, ensuring security, scalability, and a unified strategy for both internal and external AI consumption. What’s in it for you This is a rare opportunity to lead a zero-to-one project at the intersection of Cybersecurity and AI within the Control Plane Core Services organization. If you thrive on technical complexity, enjoy setting architectural direction, and can comfortably switch between high-level strategy and hands-on implementation, this role is for you. Lead the Vision: Drive the end-to-end design of the MCP framework, from technical architecture to organizational roll-out. Scale for AI: Build the infrastructure that enables AI agents to perform real-time investigations, retrieve policy data, and execute actions across the entire Netskope platform. Collaborate and Influence: Work closely with stakeholders across AI, Threat, DLP, and IaaS teams to ensure alignment and drive adoption of the MCP standard. Hands-on Impact: Stay close to the code, driving implementation while also coordinating the efforts of other engineers.

Requirements

• Experience: 10+ years of software engineering experience, with at least 3 years in a technical leadership or strategy-setting role.
• Distributed Systems: Deep architectural knowledge of distributed systems, multi-tenant architectures, and high-concurrency environments.
• Technical Proficiency: command of modern programming languages, such as Go, Python, TypeScript, and JavaScript .
• API Expertise: Strong experience with API design standards (REST, OpenAPI/Swagger, gRPC) and API security protocols (OAuth2, OIDC).
• Technical Depth: Solid understanding of concurrency management, data structures, and algorithms.
• Communication: Exceptional ability to build consensus among diverse stakeholders and "crisply" communicate technical vision in an ambiguous context.
• AI Interest: strong interest in LLM ecosystems, agentic workflows, and the Model Context Protocol is highly desired.
• Education BSCS or equivalent required, MSCS or equivalent strongly preferred.

Nice To Haves

• MCP Adoption: Prior experience with Model Context Protocol (MCP) adoption or implementation is a strong plus .

Responsibilities

• Architecting the Framework: Design a highly available, scalable, and modular MCP middleware that supports self-service for service owners across the company.
• Technical Leadership: Set the strategy for how AI agents interact with Netskope data, ensuring consistency, reliability, and security.
• Stakeholder Alignment: Communicate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders to ensure organizational buy-in.
• Documentation & Standards: Author comprehensive documentation, design specifications, and developer guides to facilitate the internal adoption of the MCP framework.
• Implementation: Lead by example with high-quality, performant code, focusing on core framework components and concurrency management.
• Security & Governance: Implement robust security measures, including RBAC, rate-limiting, data masking, and audit logging for all AI-driven API access.
• Mentorship: Guide and mentor engineers across different teams, fostering a culture of technical excellence and innovation.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal