Kong Architect

Job Summary

We are seeking an experienced KONG Architect with strong expertise in API Management, API Gateway Architecture, and Microservices within the Financial Services domain. The ideal candidate will lead the design, implementation, and governance of enterprise-grade API platforms using KONG Gateway while ensuring security, scalability, compliance, and high availability across banking/financial applications.

Candidates with prior experience in Banking, Financial Services, Insurance (BFSI), Payments, Trading Platforms, or FinTech environments will be highly preferred.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and architect enterprise API solutions using KONG Gateway / Kong Enterprise
• Lead API management strategy, governance, and lifecycle management
• Build scalable and secure API gateway architectures for financial applications
• Implement API security standards including:
• OAuth2
• OIDC
• JWT
• mTLS
• Rate Limiting
• API Threat Protection
• Work closely with cloud, DevOps, and application teams to integrate APIs across hybrid/cloud environments
• Configure and manage:
• Kong Gateway
• Kong Ingress Controller
• Kong Mesh / Service Mesh
• Developer Portals
• Develop CI/CD pipelines and automation for API deployments
• Ensure compliance with financial industry security and regulatory standards
• Perform API performance tuning, monitoring, troubleshooting, and optimization
• Define API standards, best practices, and reusable frameworks
• Collaborate with enterprise architects, security teams, and stakeholders for digital transformation initiatives

Required Skills

Core Technical Skills

• Strong hands-on experience with KONG Gateway / Kong Enterprise
• Expertise in:
• API Gateway Architecture
• API Management
• Microservices Architecture
• REST APIs
• gRPC APIs
• Strong understanding of:
• OAuth2
• OpenID Connect
• JWT
• SSL/mTLS
• SSO integrations
• Experience with Kubernetes and container platforms
• Hands-on experience with:
• Docker
• Kubernetes
• Helm
• Istio / Service Mesh concepts
• Strong cloud exposure:
• AWS / Azure / Google Cloud Platform
• Experience with CI/CD tools:
• Jenkins
• GitHub Actions
• GitLab CI/CD
• Knowledge of monitoring/logging tools:
• Prometheus
• Grafana
• ELK/Splunk

Programming/Scripting

• Java / Python / Go / Node.js
• Shell scripting

Domain Experience (Highly Preferred)

Candidates with experience in the following environments will be strongly preferred:

• Banking Platforms
• Financial Services Applications
• Payment Gateways
• Capital Markets
• Trading Platforms
• Insurance Systems
• FinTech Solutions
• PCI-DSS compliant environments

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor s or Master s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field
• 10+ years of experience
• 4+ years of KONG API Gateway experience
• Prior experience in enterprise API transformation projects
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills

• Kong Certification
• Cloud Certifications (AWS/Azure/Google Cloud Platform)
• TOGAF or Enterprise Architecture certifications
• Experience in regulated financial environments Preferred