Kong Technical Data Architect - w2 only

Job Title: Kong Technical Data Architect - w2 only
Location:  ONSITE- Chicago, IL 
Duration: 6 months
Rate:  $60/w2

Job Description:
Need someone to carve out scope and requirement, define SLA, come up with own ideas and solution for Kong operationalizing.
Should be in a position to come with framework and baseline for others to follow in terms on onboarding to Kong support activity.
Teams can evolve into SRE Devops model in future.
should be in a position to upgrade , install if required new Kong dps.
Our product owner here has to Client a strong foundation and get this initiative going at Client end with right requirement

Role Overview : The Kong Technical Data Architect is responsible for designing, architecting, and operationalizing 
API gateway solutions using Kong (OSS/Enterprise) with a strong focus on data flows, security, governance, and performance.
The role ensures end‐to‐end architectural integrity across API traffic, data integration, routing, and analytics, while

Please provide the TOP skills, and the years of experience that you''ll consider:
6–10 years of experience in API architecture, gateway design, or integration platforms.
Strong hands‐on experience with Kong (OSS/Enterprise), plugins, routing, policies, declarative config, and hybrid/DB‐less modes.
Expertise in API security standards (OAuth2, JWT, mTLS), data protection, logging, and observability.
Deep understanding of distributed systems, microservices, containers, and Kubernetes.
Strong experience with CI/CD, Git, automation, and infrastructure‐as‐code.
Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform).
Familiarity with Lua or custom plugin development.
Knowledge of data engineering patterns, API analytics, and monitoring tools (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK, Splunk).
Architectural certifications are a plus.

Any additional information you would like to share about the project specs/nature of work:
Work closely with Product Owners, API teams, security architects, and platform engineers.
Provide technical leadership to developers in building or integrating APIs through Kong.
Review solution designs, plugin extensions, and architectural proposals.

Thanks and Regards,
Rahela Banu | IT Recruiter

ASCII Group, LLC
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