---
title: 'Commercial Account Executive at Kong'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/commercial-account-executive-kong-california-f0w4vh9p9c36'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-11'
---

# Commercial Account Executive at Kong

- **Company:** [Kong](https://feeny.ai/companies/kong)
- **Location:** California, United States
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2026-07-09
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-11
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/kong/785be559-b35d-4722-89b5-c00cc4000926

## 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: We are seeking a committed Commercial Sales Executive with a successful background in sales and account management, ideally within open source or similar enterprise software environments. In this role, you will be a key driver of our growth strategy, directly impacting the stability and expansion of our recurring revenue. This position is ideal for a sales professional who has experience in landing new clients, retaining existing customers, and driving account expansion for early-stage enterprise products in a dynamic, entrepreneurial setting.

What You’ll Do:

- Develop and execute sales strategies to target commercial customers, focusing on building and maintaining a robust pipeline that drives long-term growth.
- Own the entire sales cycle, from prospecting and initial outreach to contract negotiations and closing deals, while consistently meeting or exceeding revenue targets.
- Collaborate with internal teams, including product, marketing, and customer success, to ensure a seamless sales experience and alignment on customer needs.
- Identify customer pain points and align our solutions to address these, delivering customized product demos and presentations tailored to their specific business needs.
- Build and nurture relationships with C-level executives and key decision-makers within target accounts, establishing yourself as a trusted advisor and ensuring customer satisfaction and retention.
- Lead account planning efforts by researching potential customers, understanding industry trends, and developing strategies to win new business and grow existing accounts.
- Monitor and manage sales activities and results, accurately forecasting opportunities and keeping detailed records of interactions and progress in CRM systems.
- Stay updated on industry trends, competitor offerings, and market changes to position our product effectively and maintain a competitive edge.
- Contribute to business growth initiatives, providing feedback to product and marketing teams to influence product development and go-to-market strategies.
- Represent Kong with professionalism, acting as a brand ambassador at industry events, conferences, and customer meetings.

What You’ll Bring:

- 5+ years of experience in commercial sales (<1k employees), with a proven track record of closing complex deals in a SaaS, cloud, or enterprise software environment.
- Demonstrated success in selling to small to medium enterprises, particularly to senior-level executives and across multiple departments.
- Strong consultative selling skills, with the ability to understand customer needs and present compelling solutions that drive business outcomes.
- Excellent communication and negotiation skills, capable of managing high-stakes conversations and building lasting relationships with stakeholders.
- A results-driven mindset, with a passion for meeting and exceeding sales goals and revenue targets.
- Experience working with CRM platforms (e.g., Salesforce) and leveraging data to forecast accurately and track sales metrics.
- Knowledge of open-source software, APIs, or infrastructure software is highly advantageous.
- Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment, taking ownership of your sales territory and adapting to changing market dynamics.
- Analytical and strategic thinking, with a knack for identifying business growth opportunities and devising plans to capitalize on them.

## #LI-JW1

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)

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