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.
The MissionThe Control Plane team architects the central nervous system of Kong's entire ecosystem. We build the high-performance, resilient, and scalable services that enable our users to configure and manage billions of API calls with confidence. This role is at the heart of delivering a world-class developer experience, ensuring our platform is not just powerful, but also intuitive and reliable at enterprise scale.
What You’ll DoDesign and implement core features for the Kong Gateway Control Plane, primarily using Golang.
Own the full lifecycle of services, from architectural design and implementation to deployment and operational excellence.
Lead technical discussions and architectural decisions to prevent technical debt and ensure our commitment to 99.99% uptime.
Influence the technical roadmap for our cloud-native components, advocating for best practices in a distributed systems environment.
Mentor other engineers through thoughtful code reviews and design sessions, fostering a culture of high-quality code and developer delight.
Collaborate with product managers and other engineering teams to architect and deliver impactful solutions for our global user base.
Resolve complex bugs and performance bottlenecks in our core networking and configuration management components.
Significant professional experience writing and deploying production services in Golang.
Deep understanding of distributed systems, microservices architecture, and API design principles.
Hands-on experience with Kubernetes (K8s) and the cloud-native ecosystem.
Proficiency with relational databases, such as PostgreSQL.
Familiarity with modern CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure-as-code practices.
Ownership: A proactive, self-starting mindset with a bias for action and a sense of responsibility for the end-to-end user experience.
Urgency: The ability to thrive in a fast-paced, pre-IPO environment, delivering high-impact work on ambitious timelines without sacrificing quality.
Collaboration: Excellent communication skills and a team-first attitude, adept at working across functions to achieve common goals.
Experience with API gateways, service mesh (like Kuma), or related networking technologies.
Active contributions to open-source projects.
Knowledge of Lua or NGINX internals.
Experience building and managing large-scale SaaS platforms.
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About Kong:
Kong Inc., the AI Connectivity Company, is building the connectivity layer of 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. For more information, visit www.konghq.com.
Skills Required
- Significant professional experience writing and deploying production services in Golang
- Deep understanding of distributed systems, microservices architecture, and API design principles
- Hands-on experience with Kubernetes and the cloud-native ecosystem
- Proficiency with relational databases such as PostgreSQL
- Familiarity with modern CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure-as-code practices
- Experience with API gateways, service mesh, or related networking technologies
- Active contributions to open-source projects
- Knowledge of Lua or NGINX internals
- Experience building and managing large-scale SaaS platforms
- Excellent communication skills and a team-first attitude
- Ownership mindset and ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment
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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