Forward Deployed Engineer

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If you dont think you meet all of the criteria below but are still interested in the job please apply. Nobody checks every box - were looking for candidates that are particularly strong in a few areas and have some interest and capabilities in others.

Join the global leader in API and AI governance in the era of Artificial Intelligence!

API traffic now outnumbers human traffic online and a significant portion of that traffic is powered by the Kong platform the worlds most popular API gateway. As organizations modernize for AI-driven connectivity Kong is uniquely positioned at the center of enterprise transformation.

We are seeking a Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) to join Kongs growing Professional Services organization. This is a highly strategic customer-facing engineering role focused on helping enterprise customers accelerate adoption of Kongs API and AI Connectivity platform through hands-on implementation automation migration tooling and solution engineering.

About the Role:

As an FDE you will work directly alongside customer engineering teams to solve complex technical challenges accelerate migrations build reusable automation and deliver production-grade solutions in real-world enterprise environments. You will operate at the intersection of software engineering architecture platform engineering and customer delivery.

This role is ideal for engineers who enjoy building coding solving ambiguous problems and working directly with customers on mission-critical initiatives involving APIs AI gateways service connectivity modernization and cloud-native platforms.

You will collaborate closely with Solutions Architects Engagement Managers Product Engineering Customer Success and Product teams to ensure successful customer outcomes while also influencing Kongs product direction based on field experience.

Working at Kong is a unique opportunity to make a massive impact on Fortune 50/500 customers as they modernize mission-critical systems for the AI era.

Whats in it for you

Impact

Work directly with some of the worlds largest enterprises to modernize API infrastructure and accelerate AI adoption through Kongs connectivity platform.

Growth

Accelerate your technical and professional growth through exposure to cutting-edge cloud-native technologies distributed systems AI connectivity automation frameworks and large-scale enterprise architectures.

Opportunity

Be part of a rapidly growing Professional Services organization that is shaping how enterprises adopt APIs AI gateways and modern connectivity platforms globally.

What Youll Do

• Partner directly with enterprise customers to design build and implement Kong-based solutions across cloud hybrid and on-premise environments.

• Lead hands-on implementation efforts for API gateways AI gateways service mesh developer portals and related connectivity technologies.

• Build automation frameworks migration tooling custom integrations and reusable accelerators to simplify customer adoption and modernization efforts.

• Drive migration initiatives from legacy API management platforms to Kong.

• Work closely with customer developers platform teams architects security teams and executives to solve complex technical and operational challenges.

• Develop production-grade code scripts plugins CI/CD integrations Kubernetes automation and infrastructure tooling as part of customer engagements.

• Collaborate with Kong Product and Engineering teams to influence roadmap priorities based on real-world customer feedback and implementation learnings.

• Create reusable best practices technical assets reference architectures documentation and design patterns to scale delivery excellence across the organization.

• Support strategic customer initiatives involving AI connectivity governance platform modernization and cloud-native transformation.

What Youll Bring

Experience

• 8 years in customer-facing engineering platform engineering professional services site reliability engineering or software engineering roles.

• Strong hands-on software engineering and implementation experience.

• Experience with API gateways API management integrations or distributed systems platforms.

• Strong Kubernetes and cloud-native infrastructure expertise.

• Experience building automation frameworks deployment tooling CI/CD pipelines or migration tooling.

• Strong proficiency in Linux networking cloud infrastructure and DevOps practices.

• Experience with major cloud providers including AWS Azure or GCP.

• Programming experience in languages such as Python Go Java JavaScript or Lua.

• Experience with Infrastructure-as-Code and automation tooling such as Terraform Helm Ansible or GitOps frameworks.

• Prior experience working in API Management Open Source Middleware SaaS or Infrastructure software companies is highly preferred.

Preferred Attributes

• Strong builder mindset with the ability to solve complex technical problems with minimal supervision.

• Comfortable operating in ambiguous fast-moving enterprise environments.

• Passion for working directly with customers and delivering measurable business outcomes.

• Excellent communication and collaboration skills across technical and executive audiences.

• Highly organized with strong prioritization and execution skills.

• Passion for innovation modern infrastructure APIs AI and cloud-native technologies.

• Team-oriented with a strong sense of ownership and accountability.

#LI-KH1

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 Kongs 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 .

Required Experience:

IC