Kong Developer

Role: Kong Developer

Location: Hybrid Chicago, IL

Need Kong experience.

Job Summary

• We are seeking exceptional engineering talent to help elevate and modernize our software engineering practices across the enterprise.
• This role goes beyond traditional development - it is an opportunity to shape how we design build secure test deploy and operate software at scale.
• You will play a key role in advancing reusable architecture reliability engineering cloud-native design DevSecOps maturity and next-generation testing practices.
• We are looking for engineers who bring deep expertise in API schema design enterprise SRE practices modern cloud platforms AWS infrastructure as code IaC CI/CD automation observability Dynatrace and service connectivity platforms such as Kong Gateway and Kong Mesh.
• This role will help embed quality automation and GenAI-assisted development into our day-to-day engineering workflows - enabling high-performing autonomous 2-pizza teams to deliver resilient scalable and secure software products.

What Youll Do

• Architect design and implement scalable reusable and highly reliable software systems for enterprise-scale platforms
• Lead API-first design practices including schema governance and service contract standards
• Advance modern Site Reliability Engineering SRE practices improving availability resilience observability and operational excellence
• Design and implement cloud-native solutions on AWS using Infrastructure as Code and automated CI/CD pipelines
• Drive DevSecOps practices by integrating security compliance and automated testing into the development lifecycle
• Elevate testing maturity through advanced automation performance engineering chaos testing and quality engineering principles
• Integrate GenAI tooling into engineering workflows to improve productivity code quality and documentation standards
• Leverage platforms such as Kong Gateway Kong Mesh and Dynatrace to strengthen API management service connectivity and observability
• Serve as a technical leader and subject matter expert across development initiatives
• Participate in full lifecycle engineering - from requirements and architecture through deployment and production support
• Mentor engineers and influence engineering standards governance and best practices
• Collaborate within high-performing 2-pizza teams enabling autonomy ownership and rapid delivery

Key Responsibilities:

• Design develop document test and debug enterprise-grade software systems
• Define and enforce modern engineering standards for reusability reliability and maintainability
• Conduct architecture reviews and provide strategic input on technology direction
• Analyze and refactor legacy systems to improve scalability performance and operational stability
• Develop and implement automated quality assurance processes and engineering metrics
• Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend strategic adoption where appropriate
• Work closely with product design QA security and platform teams to deliver high-quality outcomes
• Contribute to governance models that balance speed safety and compliance
• Support and continuously improve production systems through data-driven reliability practices

Who You Are

• Deep expertise in API design cloud-native architecture and enterprise integration patterns
• Strong experience with AWS IaC CI/CD pipelines and DevSecOps toolchains
• Hands-on knowledge of SRE principles including SLIs/SLOs error budgets observability and incident management
• Experience with Kong Gateway Kong Mesh Dynatrace or comparable enterprise platforms
• Advocate for advanced automated testing and quality engineering
• Passionate about integrating GenAI into development workflows responsibly and effectively
• Comfortable operating in autonomous cross-functional 2-pizza teams
• Strong technical communicator capable of influencing engineering practices at scale