--- title: 'Senior Software Engineer, Konnect Control Plane at Kong' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-konnect-control-plane-kong-italy-tzykx9j8tkxv' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-11' --- # Senior Software Engineer, Konnect Control Plane at Kong - **Company:** [Kong](https://feeny.ai/companies/kong) - **Location:** Italy - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-07-17 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-11 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/kong/b93fc7a3-cf5f-4004-aea5-843cbd7b75c0/application **Skills:** Server-side programming, Distributed systems, Linux systems troubleshooting, Linux networking stack, Computer systems programming, API design, Low-level optimization, Performance tuning, NGINX, OpenResty, Kong, LuaJIT, Envoy, Istio, Rust, AI LLM concepts, Application development > Design, build, and maintain API management software and core features such as proxying, load balancing, and database support. The role involves low-level optimization, troubleshooting, and extending Kong's offerings to support industry trends within a distributed team. ## 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. The Mission: At Kong, we are pioneering the Agentic Era of service connectivity by building the infrastructure that powers the modern API world. As a Software Engineer on the Konnect Control Plane team, you will architect the next-generation cloud-hosted control plane that manages global customer configurations seamlessly. Your work will directly empower developers worldwide, ensuring high availability, speed, and seamless connectivity for Kong's flagship service connectivity platform. What You’ll Do: - Architect and scale microservices that power Kong Konnect's cloud-hosted control plane to manage global customer configurations seamlessly. - Design, implement, and maintain highly performant, low-latency APIs and services that deliver exceptional Developer Delight. - Drive solutions for technical problems of moderate complexity, keeping an active focus on preventing technical debt. - Prevent regressions and guarantee product stability by writing robust, automated tests. - Own the reliability and uptime of services in production by participating in an active on-call rotation. - Collaborate closely with Product Management, Solutions Architects, and cross-functional engineering teams to implement impactful business features. What You’ll Bring: The Toolkit - 3+ years of experience working in a team environment to develop, deliver, and maintain complex, distributed software solutions. - Solid proficiency in Go (Golang) and designing relational database data models. - Practical experience building, debugging, and maintaining microservices architectures at scale. - Demonstrated experience performing DevOps monitoring, observability, and supporting a large-scale SaaS platform running on Kubernetes and containerized environments. - Working knowledge of L4/L7 proxies such as Nginx, HA-proxy, or Envoy. - Firm grasp of API lifecycle management, design standards, and testing frameworks (TDD/automated testing). - Excellent written and verbal communication skills. The Kong DNA - Ownership: You act as a driver, not a passenger, and take complete accountability for the quality of your systems and outcomes. - Urgency: You thrive in a high-growth environment, iterating quickly and pushing for results with passion and grit. - Collaboration: You break down silos, communicate transparently, and model the true spirit of a team player. Bonus Points: - Deep experience with Go standards and writing idiomatic, highly optimized Go. - Direct experience with Nginx, OpenResty, LuaJIT, or the Kong gateway core. - Experience with cloud-native observability stacks, specifically Datadog or OpenTelemetry. - Active contributions to open-source software projects. ## #LI-EA1 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 - [Senior Technical Customer Success Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-technical-customer-success-manager-kong-texas-ytqxg9d6sqp1) — Texas, United States - [Staff Forward Deployed Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-forward-deployed-engineer-kong-california-r06a36wa37mh) — California, United States - [Senior Staff Forward Deployed Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-staff-forward-deployed-engineer-kong-california-fz66z8w2anb4) — California, United States - [Renewal Account Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/renewal-account-manager-kong-singapore-syrs38z7qw9z) — Singapore - [Staff Technical Customer Success Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-technical-customer-success-manager-kong-california-g18831yc2z0p) — California, United States - [Site Reliability Engineer 2, Managed Gateways](https://feeny.ai/job/site-reliability-engineer-2-managed-gateways-kong-bengaluru-b9a6d345xvrw) — Bengaluru, India - [Senior Field Sales Enablement Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-field-sales-enablement-manager-kong-singapore-tjt4kh96a7dy) — Singapore - [Strategic Account Director – PSU/Government](https://feeny.ai/job/strategic-account-director-psu-government-kong-delhi-p8rer2gf3ha9) — Delhi, India - [GTM Sourcing Recruiter (Contract)](https://feeny.ai/job/gtm-sourcing-recruiter-contract-kong-united-states-kq45jbkatvsa) — United States - [GTM Technical Sourcing Recruiter (Contract)](https://feeny.ai/job/gtm-technical-sourcing-recruiter-contract-kong-united-states-svmx5vae8mje) — United States