Are you ready to unlock intelligence?
If you don’t think you meet all of the criteria below but are still interested in the job, please apply. Nobody checks every box - we’re looking for candidates that are particularly strong in a few areas, and have some interest and capabilities in others.
Are you ready to join the API revolution?
About the role:
You will be working at a dynamic and fast paced Startup as a manager in the Technical Support Engineering (TSE) team. This team is responsible for assisting Kong customers in resolving complex technical issues in production and pre-production environments.
The Sr. Manager, Technical Support Engineering is responsible for managing a team that provides high quality service to Kongs customers. This individual will thrive while motivating, recognizing and rewarding, coaching and training members of the team. They will act as an escalation point for customers that require managerial intervention and will work to provide robust feedback and guidance to our Product and Engineering teams while being a voice for our customers, community, partners and the broader Customer Experience (CX) team.
You want to make our customers and partners successful while strengthening their relationship with Kong. You can make a huge impact and have real ownership for the work you do.
What you’ll be doing:
Manage a team of 6 to 10 TSE’s who are servicing the requests and ongoing needs of our customers
Provide daily direction through coaching, one-on-ones and quality feedback to employees so that requests are handled in a timely, efficient and knowledgeable manner
Provide continual evaluation of processes and procedures.
Responsible for suggesting new methods to streamline operations through improved processes and additional technology
Work cross-functionally with customer experience, product and engineering teams to continuously improve the customer experience using Kong products
Manage customer escalations and performance management of the TSE team
Work as a member / leader of special or ongoing projects that are important to the TSE team
What you bring:
10+ years of experience in Technical Support, Customer Engineering, Solutions Engineering, SRE, SaaS, cloud infrastructure, or enterprise software.
3+ years managing technical teams, preferably teams supporting enterprise customers.
Strong leadership skills with the ability to guide teams through periods of high growth
Strong ability to multi-task and prioritize tasks in fast paced environment, real-time environment
Strong understanding of enterprise technologies such as APIs, networking, cloud infrastructure, Kubernetes, containers, and distributed systems.
Demonstrated experience handling high-severity customer escalations and production-impacting issues.
Strong proficiency with tools commonly used in a business environment including Salesforce service cloud CRM, JIRA and ConfluenceStrong analytic skills with the ability to identify trends and present information in a succinct and actionable manner
Strong communication proficiency and skilled at offering both verbal and written feedback to agents
Bachelor’s degree or relevant experience is highly preferred
Why Kong:
Kong is building the connectivity layer for the AI and API-driven world.
As organizations adopt cloud-native applications, microservices, APIs, and AI, the number of services that need to securely communicate with each other is growing rapidly. Kong helps organizations connect, secure, manage, and observe APIs, services, and AI traffic across their environments.
From Kong Gateway and API Management to Konnect and Kong AI Gateway, our platform helps engineering teams manage the complexity of modern connectivity — whether workloads run across cloud, on-premises, or hybrid environments.
Kong is trusted by organizations around the world to handle some of their most critical application traffic. Our technology sits at the intersection of APIs, networking, cloud infrastructure, and AI, giving our engineers the opportunity to work on infrastructure that directly impacts how modern software is built and operated.
We are an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status.
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About Kong:
Kong Inc., a leading developer of API and AI connectivity technologies, is building the infrastructure that powers the agentic era. Trusted by the Fortune 500 and startups alike, Kong's unified API and AI platform, Kong Konnect, enables organizations to secure, manage, accelerate, govern, and monetize the flow of intelligence across APIs and AI models. For more information, visit www.konghq.com.
Skills Required
- 10+ years of experience in an enterprise software company
- At least 3 years of leadership experience
- Strong leadership and team coaching skills
- Experience handling high-severity customer escalations and production-impacting issues
- Understanding of APIs, networking, cloud infrastructure, Kubernetes, containers, and distributed systems
- Proficiency with Salesforce Service Cloud, JIRA, and Confluence
- Strong analytical, communication, and feedback skills
- Bachelor's degree or relevant experience
Kong Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Kong and has not been reviewed or approved by Kong.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Flexible PTO, company-wide Unplug Days, and a four‑week paid sabbatical after five years are prominently offered to support rest and work–life balance. These programs are presented as meaningful perks beyond base pay and are highlighted across official materials and third‑party summaries.
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Healthcare Strength — U.S. medical, dental, and vision coverage is described as strong, with plan quality drawing positive sentiment. Solid healthcare appears to contribute meaningfully to overall satisfaction with the total package.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Stock options are offered to most employees, creating ownership upside alongside cash compensation. Equity is positioned as a visible component that helps keep offers competitive for certain technical and go‑to‑market roles.
Kong Insights
What We Do
Kong Inc., a leading developer of API and AI connectivity technologies, is building the connectivity layer for AI. Trusted by the Fortune 500 and AI-native startups alike, Kong’s unified API and AI platform enables organizations to secure, manage, accelerate, govern, and monetize the flow of intelligence across APIs and AI traffic — on any model, any cloud. No AI without APIs.
Why Work With Us
It starts with how we show up for each other. We’ve created a workplace that’s intentionally flexible, deeply inclusive, and built for meaningful collaboration — whether virtual or in person. We trust our teams to own their work, and we give them the support, tools, and freedom to grow.
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