Senior Software Engineer

Kong; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 4,000,000 - 6,500,000; Full time

Job summary

Kong is hiring a Senior Engineer to design, develop, and expand the API Operations toolset, starting with the deck CLI. You will stay aligned with API runtimes, push new features, and drive the technical direction in a fast-paced, hybrid Bangalore team.

You’ll collaborate with leadership and mentor teammates while building scalable API tooling. Requirements include 5+ years of Go experience, cloud platform familiarity, and IaC exposure.

Qualifications

• Bachelors or Masters in Computer Science or related field.
• 5+ years of experience building high-performance software with Go (Golang).
• Hands-on experience with at least one major cloud platform (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
• Experience with Infrastructure-as-Code tools and API workflows.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop and build the API Operations toolset for Kong, starting with deck.
• Keep up with Kong’s API runtimes and enable new features in the toolset.
• Shape the technical direction for API Operations evolution.
• Make CLI tools usable by humans and automation (GitHub Actions, Jenkins).
• Ship API changes to multiple tools simultaneously and reduce manual toil.
• Collaborate with product leadership to align engineering with business goals.
• Assist in hiring and mentoring the team.

Skills

Golang

Cloud platforms

API design

Collaboration

Mentoring

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in CS

Tools

Terraform

deck CLI

GitHub Actions

Jenkins

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

Kong’s API Management suite includes the Kong Enterprise Gateway, the Konnect SaaS platform and a variety of Managed Gateways in public clouds like AWS, Azure and GCP. This suite of products helps customers in different industries (like finance, banking, eCommerce, airlines, etc.) manage their API platforms and operations at scale. Our customers expect secure, reliable, high scale, low latency offerings from Kong whether running on-premise or in the public cloud.

A critical need for all our customers is to manage API Operations via Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) tools. Kong provides an Open Source CLI – deck – that is the centerpiece of API Operations. (Source code for deck is at GitHub – Kong/deck: decK: Configuration management and drift detection for Kong.) Some of the other products that the API Operations toolset are:

• Terraform-provider: Terraform provider for Kong Konnect – Kong’s SaaS product
• SDK for Go: Go SDK for Kong Konnect
• SDKs in other languages and tooling to generate SDKs from APIs
• API specification and tooling for all products of Kong
• Build a CLI-first experience for Kong Konnect

We are looking to expand our Bangalore-based API Operations team by hiring a Senior Engineer to join the team and build out the API Operations toolset. We expect you to work in hybrid fashion with three days a week in the office.

What You'll Do

• Design, develop and build the API Operations toolset for Kong, starting with deck.
• Keep up with all of Kong’s API runtimes (HTTP gateway, AI gateway, Event gateway, etc.) and enable new features in the API Operations toolset.
• Play a pivotal role in shaping the technical direction for the evolution of API Operations.
• Make CLI tools work for humans as well as automation (inside Github Actions, Jenkins, etc.)
• Ship API changes to multiple tools at the same time without manual toil
• Make and consistently raise the bar for world-class APIs for a company that helps the world build and run APIs
• Collaborate closely with product leadership to define and refine strategy, roadmap, and objectives for the API Operations toolset, ensuring alignment between engineering efforts and business goals.
• Assist in the hiring process and help grow and mentor the team.

What You'll Bring

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science or a related field.
• 5+ years of experience in building high performance software with Golang.
• Hands‑on experience with at least one of the major cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
• Prior operations experience with Infrastructure-as-Code tools.
• Experience building APIs, standardizing APIs in large organizations, and creating API workflows.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills to effectively collaborate across teams.
• Desire to join a fast‑paced pre‑IPO startup and the ability to move with high velocity to get things done.

About Kong

Kong Inc., a leading developer of API and AI connectivity technologies, is building the infrastructure that powers the agentic era. Trusted by the Fortune 500 and startups alike, Kong's unified API and AI platform, Kong Konnect, enables organizations to secure, manage, accelerate, govern, and monetize the flow of intelligence across APIs and AI models. For more information, visit www.konghq.com.