--- title: 'NLP/Linguistics Software Engineer at Hatch IT' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/nlp-linguistics-software-engineer-hatch-it-somerville-gyrgjd7cy81r' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-10' --- # NLP/Linguistics Software Engineer at Hatch IT - **Company:** Hatch IT - **Location:** Somerville, MA - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** hybrid - **Posted:** 2026-06-23 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-10 - **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/hatchit/a23a592b-edc0-498a-b90e-a521a706120e ## Job description hatch I.T. is partnering with Babel Street to find an NLP/Linguistics Software Engineer. Please see details below: ## About the Role Babel Street is looking for a Software Engineer to join their Analytics Group. This is an execution-focused "builder" role for an engineer early in their career who wants to work at the intersection of NLP algorithms, search engines, and data science techniques. In this role, you will help create the next generation of architecture and components for their analytics platform, focusing specifically on their record matching functionality. You will bridge the gap between linguistic theory and practical AI applications, helping us implement practical, innovative text analytics and AI-driven features. You will work closely with senior engineers to learn how to deliver software that is safe, reliable, and production-ready. ## About the Company Babel Street is the trusted technology partner for the world’s most advanced identity intelligence and risk operations. They 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. What you will do: - Implement and Maintain: Write high-quality, maintainable code to support the analytics platform and its record matching components. - Bridge Theory and Practice: Take theoretical ideas from linguistics and data science and implement them as practical software features. - Support Search Internals: Help optimize and maintain search engine components, including Elasticsearch data modeling and performance tuning. - Collaborate and Learn: Participate in agile sprint planning and work daily with senior partners to translate project requirements into technical solutions. - Build Scalable Systems: Assist in designing and shipping robust APIs and scalable architectures that integrate into our AI-native platform. What you will bring: Required: - 2–4 years of professional software engineering experience (including high-impact internships or projects). - Proficiency in Java (our core analytics language) or Python (for AI/ML integrations). - Problem Solver: Ability to work across teams and make steady progress in ambiguous problem spaces. - Educational Foundation: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Linguistics, or a related technical field. Preferred (Nice to Have): - Foundation in Data Science: Experience with data quality evaluation, data annotation, or guideline design, preferably for linguistics. - Familiarity with Elasticsearch internals or other search/retrieval-based systems. - Exposure to computational linguistics or natural language processing (NLP). - Interest in Kubernetes and cloud-native architectures. What success looks like: - Month 1–2: Ramp up on the analytics stack and record matching architecture; ship your first initial changes to production. - Month 3–4: Take ownership of a specific component or pipeline improvement with guidance, including full testing and documentation. - Month 5–6: Deliver a measurable improvement to record matching quality or pipeline reliability and contribute to team design discussions. Why this role matters: The record matching functionality is where Babel Street’s signals become usable intelligence. Do you care about provenance, explainability, and trust? When a match decision affects whether someone is onboarded or investigated, "the model said so" is not good enough. You will help build systems where every match is defensible, auditable, and tunable — a rare luxury in modern ML-heavy stacks. Do you speak multiple languages? Since our platform processes data from around the globe, your linguistic insights can directly inform how we build and polish the NLP and computational linguistics components that make our record matching world-class. ## About Hatch IT ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Hatch I.T. is a specialized tech recruiting partner that connects mission-driven startups with engineering, data, and product talent through flexible hiring models. - **Entity Type**: Private (Bootstrapped) - **Headquarters**: Tysons, Virginia, United States - **Founded**: 2012 - **Founders**: Tim Winkler (Founder & CEO) ## Core Business - Primary industry: Staffing and Recruiting, with a focus on technology roles for startups in defense, healthcare, AI, cybersecurity, and space. - Target customers: B2B – early-stage and high-growth startups, especially those with a national security, healthcare, or dual-use mission. - Mission or purpose statement: "Where talent meets mission" – connecting companies with skilled talent who are deeply aligned with the company’s mission and values. ## Products & Services - **RPO / Embedded Recruiting**: Dedicated recruiters embedded in the client’s culture, managing full-cycle hiring from sourcing to onboarding. - **Contingency Hiring**: Pay-only-when-you-hire model for hard-to-fill roles. - **Contract-to-Hire**: Evaluate talent on the job before committing to a full-time hire. - **Executive Search**: Finding leadership for mission-driven startups. - **Scale**: Technical consulting and recruiting services for high-growth startups. - **Stride**: Technical strategy and consulting for early-stage startups. - **hatchpad**: An online community platform for startup technologists to network, learn, and advance their careers. ## Market Standing - **Valuation**: Not publicly available (no disclosed funding rounds). - **Key Metric**: 20 employees (down 12% YoY); 94% 1-year retention rate; 28 days average time to hire. - **Notable Investors/Partners**: No external investors identified. Partners include startups across defense, healthcare, and cyber sectors. - **Growth Signals**: Active hiring for 5+ roles (Senior Data Engineer, Senior Software Engineer, etc.) with a 25% monthly increase in job postings; expanding remote/hybrid options; offices in the US and distributed team across 6 countries. ## Competitive Advantages - Specialized focus on mission-driven startups (defense, national security, healthcare, AI) – a niche that traditional staffing firms often overlook. - Flexible pricing and engagement models (contingency, contract-to-hire, RPO) tailored to startup budgets. - High retention rates (94%) and fast hiring cycles (28 days) demonstrate effective matching. - Proprietary community (hatchpad) and content (The Hatch Pad newsletter) to attract and engage technologists. ## Strategic Focus - Deepen partnerships within defense, healthcare, AI, and cybersecurity verticals. - Scale the hatchpad community to become a go-to resource for startup technologists. - Maintain a distributed remote/hybrid workforce to access talent globally while supporting clients primarily in the Washington D.C. metro area. ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: Emphasis on mission alignment, relational (not transactional) approach, and collaborative small-team environment. - **Work Policy**: Hybrid and remote roles available depending on position; some on-site roles in Washington, DC, Arlington, VA, Reston, VA, and Somerville, MA. - **Perks & Engineering Culture**: Not extensively documented, but employee reviews on LinkedIn rate Work-Life, Compensation, and Culture all at 5.0/5.0 (3 reviews). The company invests in professional community through hatchpad. - **Team**: Small (20–25 employees), with a high proportion of HR and recruiting specialists. Distributed across the US, South Africa, Canada, Romania, Bangladesh, and the Philippines. ## Sources 1. [hatchit.io](https://www.hatchit.io/) 2. [LinkedIn - hatch I.T.](https://www.linkedin.com/company/hatch-it) 3. [Built In - hatch I.T.](https://builtin.com/company/hatch-it) 4. [Lever careers page - Hatch IT](https://jobs.lever.co/hatchit) 5. [The Org - hatch IT](https://theorg.com/org/hatch-it) ## Other roles at Hatch IT - [Sr. Account Executive](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-account-executive-hatch-it-australian-capital-territory-4a8fb6ryqaq1) — Australian Capital Territory - [Test Engineer (DEA)](https://feeny.ai/job/test-engineer-dea-hatch-it-arlington-vnycf13r0fsx) — Arlington, VA - [Data Engineer (DEA)](https://feeny.ai/job/data-engineer-dea-hatch-it-arlington-m3bbdfcrsgsq) — Arlington, VA - [Junior Data Engineer (DEA)](https://feeny.ai/job/junior-data-engineer-dea-hatch-it-arlington-1n3x009qbb53) — Arlington, VA - [Senior UX Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-ux-designer-hatch-it-reston-va-or-somerville-sh62gsp78rva) — Reston VA OR Somerville, MA - [Sr. Full Stack Developer](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-full-stack-developer-hatch-it-washington-25eyq6wmwbw2) — Washington, DC - [Full Stack Developer](https://feeny.ai/job/full-stack-developer-hatch-it-washington-w74m01wjmhea) — Washington, DC - [Sr. DevSecOps](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-devsecops-hatch-it-washington-5v1htt7xaqh5) — Washington, DC - [Database Administrator](https://feeny.ai/job/database-administrator-hatch-it-washington-tqg0tfsaqdh2) — Washington, DC - [Data Platform Architect](https://feeny.ai/job/data-platform-architect-hatch-it-falls-church-tht2rpa89r21) — Falls Church, VA