--- title: 'AI Evangelist - EMEA at Kong' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/ai-evangelist-emea-kong-england-sze8p4gvzzxa' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-11-06' --- # AI Evangelist - EMEA at Kong - **Company:** [Kong](https://feeny.ai/companies/kong) - **Location:** England, United Kingdom - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-11-04 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-06 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/kong/5d8b92a9-3fd9-4b7a-810d-b1eb2d3b6adb ## Job description Are you ready to unlock intelligence? If you don’t think you meet all of the criteria below but are still interested in the job, please apply. Nobody checks every box - we’re looking for candidates that are particularly strong in a few areas, and have some interest and capabilities in others. About the Role: If you don't think you meet all of the criteria below but are still interested in the job, please apply. Nobody checks every box - we're looking for candidates that are particularly strong in a few areas, and have some interest and capabilities in others. The infrastructure layer for the AI shift is being decided now. Kong's edge is field-earned enterprise trust, and you'll extend it into the AI conversation: fluent in where AI is going, and unwavering as an enterprise infrastructure company. As our AI Evangelist, you'll lead AI acceleration across EMEA, moving customers from AI experimentation to governed, production-grade AI and agents. You'll be the trusted technical advisor to CTOs, CIOs and AI leaders, framing the value of AI connectivity as cost, risk and revenue. You'll work alongside our Account Executives and Solutions Engineers, not instead of them. They own the deal. You lead the conversation that gets the economic buyer to say yes, and every engagement you run moves AI traffic and AI revenue forward. What You'll Do: - Act as a trusted technical advisor to CTOs, CIOs and AI leaders, and sponsor strategic deals. - Lead the AI Connectivity Workshop once the AE has qualified the opportunity. Each one ends in a documented use case and a technical handoff that accelerates the deal. - Frame AI connectivity in terms executives care about: cost, risk and revenue. - Run executive briefings and join AI ecosystem conversations when a customer pulls you in. - Support AEs and SEs in reaching the economic buyer and in building multi-stakeholder buy-in, including the security leader. - Replicate wins between EMEA and set up use-case sharing across both regions. - Upskill AEs and SEs on AI and agentic positioning. - Route field use cases, blockers and competitive intel into Product, and track how AI budget ownership is evolving inside customers. - Work within International GTM strategy, in close partnership with Sales, SE leadership and Product. What You'll Bring: - Deep technical credibility in AI, LLMs and agentic systems, plus a solid grounding in APIs, networking and enterprise infrastructure. - Experience advising or selling to CTOs, CIOs and AI leaders at large enterprises, in a pre-sales, solutions, field CTO, technical evangelist or similar role. - Proven ability to translate complex technical concepts into a clear business case that lands with executives and with practitioners. - Strong facilitation skills: you can run a workshop with senior stakeholders and leave with a documented use case and clear next steps. - Comfort working through others. You influence deals without owning them and build trust through expertise and follow-through. - A collaborative, enabling style: you make AEs and SEs sharper on AI conversations. - Experience working across regions and cultures, ideally in both EMEA. - Excellent written and verbal communication in English; additional EMEA languages are a plus. - Willingness to travel across EMEA for customer engagements and events. Bonus points: - Experience at an API management, cloud infrastructure, security or AI platform company. - A public profile in the AI or developer community, such as speaking, writing or open source. - Familiarity with AI ecosystem players and how enterprise AI budgets are owned and funded. ## #LI-JF1 About Kong: Kong Inc., the AI Connectivity Company, is building the connectivity layer of AI. Trusted by the Fortune 500® and AI-native startups alike, Kong’s unified API and AI platform enables organizations to secure, manage, accelerate, govern, and monetize the flow of intelligence across APIs and AI traffic — on any model, any cloud. For more information, visit [www.konghq.com](http://www.konghq.com). ## About Kong ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Kong provides a unified API and AI platform that connects, secures, and manages APIs, events, and AI agents for modern architectures. - **Entity Type**: Private – Series E, post‑money valuation $2B (2023) - **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States - **Founded**: 2017 (company formalized; roots as Mashape go back to 2009) - **Founders**: Augusto “Aghi” Marietti (CEO) and Marco Palladino (CTO) ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: API management, AI connectivity, cloud infrastructure - **Target customers**: B2B – enterprises, platform engineering teams, developers, and product managers building API‑driven or AI‑agent applications - **Mission / Purpose**: To be the AI connectivity company – enabling organizations to connect, govern, and monetize APIs, events, and AI workloads at scale. ## Products & Services - **[Kong Konnect](https://konghq.com/)**: Managed, unified API and AI platform covering the full lifecycle – design, test, publish, govern, monetize – across any cloud or environment. SaaS. - **[Kong Gateway](https://konghq.com/)**: Open‑source (and enterprise) API gateway, the world’s most adopted, used for traffic management, security, and observability. Open‑source hybrid. - **[Kong AI Gateway](https://konghq.com/)**: Extension for managing and securing AI traffic – token consumption, cost control, and agent governance. SaaS / add‑on. - **[Kong Mesh](https://konghq.com/)**: Enterprise service mesh for Kubernetes and VMs (based on Kuma, donated to CNCF). Infrastructure. - **[Insomnia](https://konghq.com/)**: API design and testing tool (acquired and integrated into the Kong ecosystem). Desktop / CLI. - **[OpenMeter](https://konghq.com/)**: Usage‑based billing, entitlements, and invoicing for APIs, events, and AI (acquired 2025). SaaS. ## Market Standing - **Valuation / Market Cap**: $2 billion (as of late 2023 Series E round) – not publicly traded. - **Key Metric**: Surpassed **$100M ARR** in late 2023; processes **+1 trillion API/AI requests per day**; **600+ employees** in 25+ countries (LinkedIn reports 738 employees with +23.5% YoY growth). - **Total Funding**: **$344.1M** across 6 rounds (including Series D $100M at $1.4B, and Series E $175M led by new investors). - **Notable Investors / Partners**: Include large institutional investors; partners include cloud providers and enterprises such as United Airlines (cited as customer). Open‑source community with 182K+ community users. ## Competitive Advantages - **Most adopted open‑source API gateway** – strong developer mindshare and large community. - **Unified platform** covering the entire API lifecycle plus AI agent management, reducing fragmentation for enterprises. - **High‑performance, low‑latency** – proven at hyper‑volume (+1T requests/day), 99.99% availability SLA. - **Strategic acquisitions** (Kuma, Insomnia, OpenMeter) that plug gaps in service mesh, developer tooling, and usage‑based billing. - **Strong enterprise DNA** – trusted by global brands for mission‑critical applications. ## Strategic Focus - **AI connectivity** – building the layer to manage LLM traffic, agent security, token cost, and real‑time data streams. - **Monetization** – enabling customers to monetize APIs and AI consumption (chargeback, entitlements, pricing). - **Developer productivity** – accelerating onboarding and reducing costs (claims 15% faster development, 57% operational cost reduction). - **Global scale** – growing remote workforce and entering new geographic markets (e.g., Italy, ANZ roles posted). ## Why Work Here - **Remote‑first culture** – 600+ employees across 25+ countries; strong emphasis on global collaboration. - **Perks & benefits** (from [careers page](https://konghq.com/company/careers)): - Stock options for most employees - 4‑week paid sabbatical every 5 years - Flexible time off - Home office stipend - Regular “unplug days” (company‑wide long weekends) - Virtual events (Donut chats, trivia, fitness challenges) - **Engineering culture** – values “owners, explorers, real, unstoppable” and encourages individual innovation. Focus on shipping fast and high trust. - **Growth trajectory** – company is scaling (+23.5% headcount YoY) and is a unicorn with clear product‑market fit in a hot market (AI + API management). - **Open roles** – 93 open positions across engineering, sales, solutions, customer success, and marketing. ## Sources 1. [konghq.com](https://konghq.com/) 2. [konghq.com/company/careers](https://konghq.com/company/careers) 3. [konghq.com/company/about-us](https://konghq.com/company/about-us) 4. [linkedin.com/company/konghq](https://www.linkedin.com/company/konghq) 5. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/kong](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/kong) ## Other roles at Kong - [Partner Sales Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/partner-sales-manager-kong-illinois-qs2tkmteyrby) — Illinois, United States - [Partner Sales Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/partner-sales-manager-kong-texas-dj4bp91n9s77) — Texas, United States - [Commercial Account Executive](https://feeny.ai/job/commercial-account-executive-kong-singapore-2hwrft68j9kj) — Singapore - [Commercial Account Executive](https://feeny.ai/job/commercial-account-executive-kong-australia-bfhqkn00krqb) — Australia - [Manager, Sales Development - Austin, TX](https://feeny.ai/job/manager-sales-development-austin-tx-kong-texas-m6gz0yvdjbyk) — Texas, United States - [Staff Solutions Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-solutions-engineer-kong-united-arab-emirates-cj1g6cnw7a64) — United Arab Emirates - [Staff Solutions Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-solutions-engineer-kong-england-qqqp6v9kseb4) — England, United Kingdom - [Staff Engagement Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-engagement-manager-kong-california-dmxmf22b4bxn) — California, United States - [Staff Solutions Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-solutions-engineer-kong-new-york-py5qhd870rw9) — New York, NY - [Senior Director, GTM People Business Partner](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-director-gtm-people-business-partner-kong-california-x9qt14cjx3xg) — California, United States