Kong

Staff Customer Success Manager at Kong (France)

Kong· France·

Role details

Work type
Onsite
Employment
Full-Time

Kong at a glance

Kong runs the unified API and AI platform that connects, secures, governs, and monetizes APIs, events, and AI traffic.

Kong provides a unified API and AI platform. Its open-source Kong Gateway handles API traffic at the edge, while Kong Konnect adds a managed control plane to design, secure, observe, and monetize APIs, events, and AI requests across any cloud. The AI Gateway extends the same governance model to LLMs, MCP servers, and agents.

$345M raised · latest: Series E · $175M · 2024 (at $2B valuation) · backed by Tiger Global, Balderton, Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures

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: As a Staff/Senior Customer Success Manager, you will set the standard of what great looks like in our CS organization. You will master your craft by focusing on the disciplined execution of the Customer Post-Sales Process, directly driving adoption, expansion, and risk mitigation. This role is strategic, requiring you to blend technical knowledge with an executive mindset to deliver exceptional business value.

What You'll Do:

  • Drive Strategic Customer Success: Develop comprehensive success plans covering use cases, roadmaps, and positive business outcomes.
  • Value realization: Take customers through a value-based engagement model, and gain a clear understanding of Kong’s impact on their business.
  • Navigate Complex Organizations: Map customer organizations by building power and influence charts to identify key champions and decision-makers.
  • Leverage Partner Ecosystems: Utilize partners to uncover new personas within the customer organization and expand stakeholder alignment.
  • Harness Data & Analytics: Use utilization metrics, Leading Indicators, and tools like Tableau, SFDC, Clari, and Hex to monitor health, identify risks, and extract actionable insights.
  • Master the Message: Run impactful QBRs/EBRs by adopting an executive mindset, clearly articulating the value of the Kong platform in alignment with the customer’s business needs.
  • Command the Platform: Confidently articulate the unique value of Kong's components (Dedicated Cloud Gateway, API Gateway, AI Gateway, Mesh Manager, etc.).
  • Manage Renewals & Forecasting: Collaborate closely with the broader account team to validate renewal timelines, surface cross-sell opportunities, and maintain strong SFDC hygiene

What You'll Bring:

  • Grit & Determination: Customer obsession and the resilience to bounce back from setbacks, relentlessly pursuing customer goals and overcoming issues.
  • Curiosity: An inquisitive mindset paired with active listening and probing skills to ask layered, open-ended questions that uncover root causes.
  • Team-Oriented Mindset: A deeply collaborative approach to achieving shared company goals, rather than focusing solely on individual wins.
  • Prioritization: Experience managing multiple customers at a time while focusing on attention to detail and delivering results across multiple initiatives, such as driving expansion, customer satisfaction, feature adoption, and retention.

#LI-TR1

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.

Why work at Kong

  • Remote‑first culture – 600+ employees across 25+ countries; strong emphasis on global collaboration.
  • Perks & benefits (from careers page):
    • 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.

Application questions