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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 MissionAt Kong, we are building the future of AI connectivity, empowering developers to connect, secure, govern, and scale their AI applications with speed and intelligence. As a Staff Product Manager for AI Management, you will own the product direction for our fastest-growing agentic AI portfolio—including our flagship AI Gateway—serving as a critical strategic lever in the Agentic Era. You will bridge high-impact technical innovation with enterprise runtime governance, context management, and developer platform experience to turn APIs and AI connectivity into an organizational innovation factory.
What You’ll DoArchitect and execute the product vision and roadmap for AI Management modules, driving core capabilities around agentic harnesses, LLM routing, policies, context, guardrails, and evaluation.
Lead cross-departmental strategy as a multiplier across engineering, design, product marketing, and executive leadership to align shared roadmaps without operational friction.
Own the full lifecycle of your product modules by writing precise specs, prioritizing backlogs, and balancing new feature delivery against technical debt and platform dependencies.
Drive cross-product work connecting AI Management to Kong’s core platform infrastructure, enabling seamless data plane and control plane integration.
Speed up the clock on high-velocity delivery cadences in close partnership with engineering leads to scope work, navigate trade-offs, and accelerate time to market.
Support regional field activities, customer-facing technical engagements, and sales enablement to validate product-market fit and ensure developer delight.
7-10 years of technical product management experience owning and shipping technical products in developer tools, API platforms, or AI infrastructure.
Demonstrated ability to translate complex technical challenges—such as Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, request routing, data plane architectures, and transport trade-offs—into actionable product requirements.
Proven track record driving execution and managing dependencies across globally distributed R&D teams.
Strong written and verbal communication skills to articulate technical strategy across multiple functions and seniority levels.
Deep project management instincts to track work, surface blockers early, and keep cross-functional roadmaps on schedule.
Ownership: You act as a driver, not a passenger, holding yourself accountable for product outcomes, runtime performance, and customer success.
Urgency: You model speed and efficiency in everything you do, navigating the fast-paced pre-IPO landscape with grit and focus.
Collaboration: You lead like an API by working cross-functionally, breaking down silos, and building alignment across global teams.
Direct experience with agentic AI development, including AI agents, AI gateways, LLM routing, AI observability, prompt management, guardrails, MCP servers, and A2A communications.
Familiarity with enterprise platform engineering, Kubernetes, cloud-native architectures, control planes, and data planes.
#LI-MP1
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
- 7-10 years of technical product management experience owning and shipping technical products in developer tools, API platforms, or AI infrastructure
- Ability to translate complex technical challenges, including MCP servers, request routing, data plane architectures, and transport trade-offs, into product requirements
- Experience driving execution and managing dependencies across globally distributed R&D teams
- Strong written and verbal communication skills across functions and seniority levels
- Strong project management skills, including tracking work, surfacing blockers, and maintaining roadmaps
- Direct experience with agentic AI development, AI agents, AI gateways, LLM routing, AI observability, prompt management, guardrails, MCP servers, or A2A communications
- Familiarity with enterprise platform engineering, Kubernetes, cloud-native architectures, control planes, and data planes
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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