Kong API Gateway developer

Role & responsibilities

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Senior API Engineer/Architect with 7+ years of software development and infrastructure experience, including extensive expertise in Kong API Gateway. As a senior team member, you will play a key role in designing, building, and optimizing API-driven solutions, while leading initiatives related to Kong deployment, API architecture, and microservices. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams to build highly scalable, secure, and efficient systems, providing mentorship to junior engineers and helping shape the future of our platform.

**Key Responsibilities:**

• Architect, design, and implement Kong API Gateway solutions, focusing on scalability, security, and performance.
  
• Lead and oversee API gateway architecture, including authentication, authorization, and traffic management.
  
• Collaborate with development and operations teams to integrate Kong into CI/CD pipelines and ensure smooth deployment.
  
• Drive the development of API and microservices architectures, ensuring best practices in API design, versioning, and security.
  
• Provide technical leadership and mentoring to junior engineers, including reviewing designs, code, and architecture decisions.
  
• Proactively monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize the performance of Kong and related infrastructure.
  
• Contribute to the development of policies, processes, and technical standards around API management and microservices architecture.
  
• Work with DevOps teams to manage and optimize Kubernetes, Docker, and other cloud-native technologies.
  
• Continuously explore new tools and technologies to enhance Kong API management and improve platform capabilities.
  
• Stay up-to-date on industry trends and best practices in API management, microservices, and cloud-native development.
  

**Qualifications:**

• 10+ years of professional experience in software development or infrastructure engineering.
  
• Strong expertise with **Kong API Gateway** (enterprise or community edition), including deployment, configuration, and plugin development.
  
• Experience designing and managing **API-first** architectures, with a deep understanding of REST, gRPC, GraphQL, and API versioning.
  
• Deep understanding of **API security** standards and best practices (e.g., OAuth 2.0, JWT, API key management, rate limiting).
  
• Hands-on experience with **cloud-native technologies** (Kubernetes, Docker) and **cloud platforms** (AWS, GCP, or Azure).
  
• Proficiency in one or more programming languages such as **Go, Lua, Python, or Java** used for developing Kong plugins and microservices.
  
• Experience with **CI/CD pipelines** and tools like Jenkins, GitLab CI, or CircleCI for automating deployment processes.
  
• Proven ability to troubleshoot and optimize high-traffic, low-latency API services.
  
• Familiarity with logging, monitoring, and alerting tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, and ELK/EFK stacks.
  
• Strong experience with both relational and NoSQL databases (e.g., PostgreSQL, Cassandra, Redis).
  

**Nice to Have:**

• Contributions to the **Kong** open-source community or similar open-source projects.
  
• Experience with **Service Mesh** technologies (e.g., Istio, Linkerd) and API observability.
  
• Knowledge of **message queues** (e.g., Kafka, RabbitMQ) and event-driven architectures.
  
• Experience working in high-volume, distributed systems or microservices environments.
  
• Strong problem-solving, communication, and leadership skills.