Director of Engineering, API Management
United States
Engineering – Cloud Applications /
Full-time /
Remote
Are you ready to power the World's connections?
About The Role
Join us at a pivotal moment in Kong’s journey. As we scale our flagship API Management capability within the Konnect platform, we're seeking a seasoned engineering leader to shape the future of an integrated SaaS offering that includes our Developer Portal, Service Catalog, and API Productization capabilities. These products are not only critical to our growth strategy—with independent revenue targets and strong early traction—but they also represent our vision to lead the API Management space. This is a rare opportunity to have an outsized impact on a high-visibility, high-growth part of the business at a company shaping the future of connectivity.
In this role, you’ll lead a 30-person engineering organization across three core teams:
Developer Portal, Service Catalog, and Integrations. You’ll bring strong architectural instincts, hands-on engineering leadership, and the operational rigor to scale a fast-growing platform. Engineering Managers at Kong are technical leaders, expected to engage deeply in design reviews, architectural decisions, and strategic planning. You’ll work closely with Product leadership to drive innovation and define market direction—this is not just about running an existing product line, but about building what’s next. We invite you to take the Dev Portal & Service Catalog for a spin and collaborate with us on your user experience.
This role will report to the Vice President of Cloud Engineering.
What you'll Do:
- Lead and grow a high-performing team of engineers who are passionate about building world-class developer experiences and API infrastructure.
- Collaborate closely with Product to define and execute a bold, forward-thinking roadmap that sets the standard for API Management across the industry.
- Establish yourself and your team as visionary leaders in the API Management space, shaping the direction of the market with innovative thinking and execution.
- Build for resilience and scale, ensuring our SaaS platform is robust, reliable, and ready for global demand.
- Engage with some of the world’s largest enterprises, helping Fortune 1000 companies solve complex API Management challenges at scale.
- Drive tangible business impact by contributing directly to revenue goals in one of Kong’s fastest-growing product areas.
- Monitor and manage infrastructure and operational costs to ensure we scale efficiently without compromising performance or reliability.
What You'll Bring:
- Deep, hands-on experience building and scaling SaaS products from the ground up: you’ve done this before and know what both success and misfires look like.
- A strong track record of leading high-uptime, customer-facing SaaS platforms, with experience delivering software that operates at 99.99% reliability or better.
- Proven ability to manage costs while maintaining performance and healthy margins.
- 10+ years of engineering leadership experience, including 5+ years as a manager of managers and prior ownership at a Director-level or higher.
- Demonstrated success operating and scaling engineering teams within fast-paced, high-growth environments.
- Deep familiarity with SaaS architecture and operational practices on AWS. Experience specifically on AWS is a hard requirement.
- A steady, seasoned presence—you’ve “been around the block,” know how to navigate ambiguity, and thrive when leading through change and complexity.
About Kong
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 $215,460 -$280,040.
About Kong
Kong Inc., a leading developer of cloud API technologies, is on a mission to enable companies around the world to become “API-first” and securely accelerate AI adoption. Kong helps organizations globally — from startups to Fortune 500 enterprises — unleash developer productivity, build securely, and accelerate time to market. For more information about Kong, please visit www.konghq.com or follow us on X @thekonginc.
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