Kong Inc., a leading developer of API and AI connectivity technologies, is building the infrastructure that powers the agentic era. Trusted by Fortune 500 companies 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. Kong is known for making the world's most popular API gateway.

About the Position

Introduction

Are you ready to unlock intelligence? Join Kong, a global leader in API and AI governance, and become a Staff Solutions Architect. In this role, you will lead and guide enterprise customers through their technical and innovation journey with Kong, ensuring they derive maximum value from our products. You'll act as a technical advisor, consulting on architecture, implementation, and deployment of Kong technology to ensure long-term success. We're looking for a US Citizen to support Government/Public Sector Customers from a West Coast base, with 10-25% travel.

Responsibilities

Help customers with API and AI governance lifecycle journeys, involving remote delivery and leading virtual/in-person technical workshops for customer architects, developers, security, and operations teams.
Design and create end-to-end solution architectures, address technical challenges, and provide hands-on technical implementation across the Kong platform.
Engage with customers on projects, guiding them through the installation and implementation of Kong solutions in various environments (hyperscalers, hybrid, on-prem).
Lead customer discussions, driving outcome-based professional services and providing technical thought leadership throughout the customer adoption journey.
Collaborate internally with product engineering, customer success, and account teams to maximize customer value from their Kong investment.
Build reusable tools, author technical documentation, white papers, reference architectures, blogs, and design patterns based on customer experiences.

Requirements

8+ years of experience in customer-facing technical roles (professional services/product support).
Hands-on experience with the implementation of API gateways/integrations.
Strong understanding of the API governance lifecycle.
Experience building infrastructure with VMs or Kubernetes containers.
Knowledge of DevOps, Security, and Networking fundamentals.
Proficiency in Linux, Cloud, and Development tooling.
Kubernetes proficiency.
Experience with major cloud providers (GCP, AWS, Azure).
A strong desire and proven ability to solve complex technical problems with minimal supervision.
Excellent communication skills, with the ability to concisely explain complex technical solutions.
Passion for technology.
Team-oriented and collaborative nature.
Self-aware with strong communication skills.
Exceptional organizational and change management skills; ability to manage competing demands.

Nice to Have

Application development experience.
Prior experience in Open Source, API Management, Middleware, or SaaS software companies.
Software development experience in Java, Python, or Lua.

Benefits

Opportunity for significant impact and career growth.
Equity rewards in addition to a strong cash compensation.
Great benefits.
Contribute to an outstanding collaborative culture.
Work on cutting-edge technology and develop future-proof skills.
Flexible career pathways.

About Company

How to Apply

If you are interested in this role and believe you meet some, if not all, of the criteria, please apply. We encourage candidates to apply even if they don't meet every single requirement.