Talent Development & Engagement Specialist

Are you ready to power the World's connections?

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.

About the role:

Kong is seeking a Talent Development & Engagement Specialist that will play a critical role in driving the professional growth and development of our employees. You will be responsible for designing, delivering, and evaluating training programs that enhance the skills, knowledge, and performance of our workforce. Your work will directly contribute to creating a culture of continuous learning and innovation at Kong. This role will partner closely with the HR Business Partners, other members of the People team, and business leaders.

Key Projects in the First Year:

• Field Onboarding Improvement: Partner with the field enablement team to uplevel the Field onboarding experience
• Onboarding Administration: Manage the pre-boarding and onboarding administration
• Administer Engagement & Listening Strategy : Manage the quarterly engagement and pulse surveys and provide targeted training interventions 
• Onboarding Revamp: Manage the corporate onboarding program and improve the program by adding new hire cohorts, AMAs, and workshops on Kong education. In addition, build new hire and manager onboarding Journeys in Workday
• Enhance Leadership Development: Build leadership courses on specific skill gaps identified in the business, i.e. coaching and performance management. 
• Support Talent Management: Support the evaluation of the Talent Management process at Kong by creating role-specific training plans and functional personas

Learning & Development:

• Partner with the HR business partners to deliver training based on regional and department needs 
• Lead training sessions and workshops, both in-person and virtually
• Utilize and manage learning management systems (LMS) and other digital platforms to deliver and track training initiatives
• Measure and evaluate the effectiveness of training programs through feedback, assessments, and performance metrics
• Partner with HR and leadership teams to ensure alignment of learning initiatives with overall business strategies and goals
• Ensure Kong’s onboarding programs meets the needs of scaling a global workforce

Talent Management:

• Support the HR business partners and Senior Director of Talent Development to deliver targeted training for the annual and mid-year performance cycle
• Continue to build out Kong’s job architecture and supporting infrastructure

Employee Communication:

• Provide education and resources to employees on talent development programs 
• Develop and deliver communication strategies to ensure employees understand Kong values, ways of working, key HR initiatives, and programs

Organizational Behavior:

• Create, revamp, and socialize remote-first and hybrid best practices for individuals, teams & leaders
• Build new processes for asynchronous work, tasks, and performance management
• Innovate and redesign conventional work practices

Employee Engagement:

• Develop, distribute, and analyze employee engagement and pulse surveys and other feedback mechanisms to assess the overall engagement levels and identify areas for improvement
• Develop and execute communication plants to keep employees informed and engaged with action areas, company initiatives, values, and goals 
• Use data and analytics to measure the effectiveness of engagement initiatives and make data-driven recommendations for improvement
• Serve as a liaison between employees and management, advocating for employee needs and concerns to ensure they are heard and addressed 

Diversity and Inclusion Strategy:

• Championing inclusion and diversity programs

Kong has different base pay ranges for different work locations within the United States, which allows us to pay employees competitively and consistently in different geographic markets. Compensation varies depending on a wide array of factors, including but not limited to specific candidate location, role, skill set and level of experience. Certain roles are eligible for additional rewards including sales incentives depending on the terms of the applicable plan and role. Benefits may vary depending on location. US based employees are typically offered access to healthcare benefits, a 401(k) plan, short and long term disability benefits, basic life and AD&D insurance, among others. The typical base pay range for this role in the US is $110,000 - 130,000.

About Kong: 

Kong is THE cloud native API platform with the fastest, most adopted API gateway in the world (over 300m downloads!). Loved by developers and trusted with enterprises’ most critical traffic volumes, Kong helps startups and Fortune 500 companies build with confidence – allowing them to bring solutions to market faster with API and service connectivity that scales easily and securely. 

83% of web traffic today is API calls! APIs are the connective tissue of the cloud and the underlying technology that allows software to talk and interact with one another. Therefore, we believe that APIs act as the nervous system of the cloud. Our audacious mission is to build the nervous system that will safely and reliably connect all of humankind!  

For more information about Kong, please visit konghq.com or follow @thekonginc on Twitter.

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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