Introduction
A career in IBM Software means you’ll be part of a team that transforms our customer’s challenges into solutions.
Seeking new possibilities and always staying curious, we are a team dedicated to creating the world’s leading AI-powered, cloud-native software solutions for our customers. Our renowned legacy creates endless global opportunities for our IBMers, so the door is always open for those who want to grow their career.
IBM’s product and technology landscape includes Research, Software, and Infrastructure. Entering this domain positions you at the heart of IBM, where growth and innovation thrive.
Your Role And Responsibilities
We are looking for highly motivated Python Developers to join the ContextForge MCP \& A2A Gateway team.
ContextForge is an open-source production-grade gateway, proxy, and registry for Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers and A2A Agents. It federates MCP and REST services, providing unified discovery, auth, rate-limiting, observability, virtual servers, multi-transport protocols, plugins and an Admin UI: https://github.com/IBM/mcp-context-forge
As a Python Developer, you will build FastAPI services for MCP protocol implementation, multi-tenancy features, A2A agent integration, federation logic, and virtual server composition. You will work closely with a distributed engineering team to deliver high-quality, well-tested code that powers cutting-edge AI infrastructure.
Your Role And Responsibilities
Core Development
Implement MCP protocol handlers: JSON-RPC endpoints, tools/prompts/resources registries
Build virtual server composition logic to aggregate tools and resources from multiple sources
Develop multi-tenant authentication: OAuth2, JWT, SSO (OIDC), RBAC middleware
Create A2A agent integration: OpenAI/Anthropic wrappers, metrics collection, agent lifecycle management
Design federation logic: Redis pub/sub, mDNS discovery, peer health checks, cross-cluster tool aggregation
Implement multi-transport protocols: SSE, WebSocket, stdio, streamable-HTTP with session management
Code Quality \& Testing
Write comprehensive tests: pytest unit tests, integration tests, end-to-end tests
Achieve and maintain 90%+ test coverage on all code contributions
Follow strict linting standards: Black (formatting), mypy strict (type checking), Ruff, Pylint
Participate in code reviews: provide constructive feedback and learn from senior engineers
Write clear documentation: docstrings, API documentation, architectural decision records
Technology Stack
FastAPI for building high-performance async REST APIs
SQLAlchemy 2.0 for database ORM with PostgreSQL/SQLite
Alembic for database migrations
Redis for caching and federation pub/sub
Async Python patterns for concurrent request handling
pytest for comprehensive testing with fixtures and mocks
Collaboration
Work with Engineering Manager and senior engineers to translate requirements into implementation
Collaborate with Product Manager to understand feature specifications and acceptance criteria
Participate in daily standups, sprint planning, and retrospectives
Contribute to technical discussions and architecture decisions
Help maintain and improve CI/CD pipelines and development tooling
Preferred Education
Master's Degree
Required Technical And Professional Expertise
Python Development (2-4 years)
Few years of software development experience in Python
Strong understanding of Python 3.11+ features: type hints, async/await, dataclasses
Experience with FastAPI or similar async web frameworks (Flask, Django, Starlette)
Knowledge of RESTful API design and JSON-RPC protocol patterns
Understanding of database concepts: SQL, ORM patterns, migrations, indexing
Web Services \& APIs
Experience developing integration solutions with web service APIs using REST/JSON
Understanding of authentication mechanisms: OAuth2, JWT, API keys
Knowledge of HTTP protocol: methods, headers, status codes, content negotiation
Familiarity with API documentation tools: OpenAPI/Swagger, Postman
Development Practices
Proficiency with version control: Git workflows, branching, pull requests, code reviews
Experience with automated testing: unit tests, integration tests, test fixtures, mocking
Understanding of CI/CD concepts: automated builds, test pipelines, deployment automation
Ability to debug complex issues using logging, debuggers, and profiling tools
System Knowledge
Working knowledge of Linux environments and bash/sh shell scripting and Makefiles
Basic understanding of networking: HTTP/HTTPS, DNS, firewalls, proxies
Familiarity with containerization: Docker basics, container networking
Understanding of relational databases: PostgreSQL or SQLite
Professional Skills
Ability to learn quickly and adapt to new technologies and frameworks
Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail
Good communication skills for team collaboration and documentation
Ability to work independently and manage time effectively
Eagerness to receive and provide constructive feedback
Preferred Technical And Professional Experience
Advanced Python Skills
Experience with async Python: asyncio, aiohttp, async context managers
Knowledge of Python packaging and dependency management: pip, uv, poetry
Familiarity with Python performance optimization and profiling
Experience with Python type checking: mypy, Pydantic, type stubs
Distributed Systems
Understanding of distributed system concepts: caching, message queues, service discovery
Experience with Redis for caching or pub/sub messaging
Knowledge of microservices architecture patterns
Familiarity with API gateway or proxy technologies
AI/ML Infrastructure
Interest in AI infrastructure, agentic systems, or LLM applications
Experience with OpenAI API, Anthropic API, or similar AI service integrations
Knowledge of prompt engineering or AI agent orchestration
Understanding of observability for AI systems: metrics, tracing, telemetry
Security \& Best Practices
Understanding of security best practices: input validation, SQL injection prevention, secrets management
Knowledge of authentication/authorization patterns: OAuth2 flows, RBAC, JWT validation
Familiarity with security scanning tools: Bandit, pip-audit
Understanding of OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities