Technical Certification Developer

Kong; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Job summary

Kong seeks a precision-oriented Technical Certification Developer to drive high-stakes assessment programs for its platform. You will merge complex API architectures with psychometric standards to ensure credential credibility and real-world relevance.

You’ll lead end-to-end item development, blueprint design, security controls, and lab content that maps to core certification domains, collaborating with SMEs and instructional designers in a structured, governance-driven environment.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of hands-on experience with API development, API gateway configuration, or API platform engineering.
• Strong Kubernetes knowledge.
• Demonstrated experience writing technical documentation, assessments, or instructional content at a professional level.
• Strong understanding of the full API lifecycle: design, specification (OpenAPI/AsyncAPI), publishing, versioning, security (OAuth 2.0, API keys, mTLS), monitoring, and deprecation.
• Ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear, scenario-based assessment items that measure applied competency rather than recall.
• Meticulous attention to detail, with the ability to identify ambiguous, flawed, or biased exam questions.
• Comfortable working in a structured, process-driven environment with documented review cycles and governance checkpoints.

Responsibilities

• Exam architecture & lifecycle management: Lead end-to-end development initiatives, from defining JTA outputs to establishing weighted blueprint structures and item specifications.
• Item development & review: Collaborate with instructional designers and SMEs to craft and iterate on a bank of high-quality, scenario-based exam items—aligned with learning objectives.
• Quality assurance: Facilitate technical review workshops with SMEs to calibrate accuracy, clarity, and difficulty relevance.
• Security & integrity: Enforce exam security best practices, including item bank management, version control, and response protocols for content exposure incidents.
• Lab & content development: Collaborate with instructional designers and lab engineers on labs and official study guides mapped to high-stakes domains.
• Program operations: Review flagged items for appeals and document content development processes, style guides, and item writing standards.

Skills

API development

API gateway configuration

API platform engineering

Kubernetes

Technical documentation

API lifecycle design/spec/publishing

Translate complex concepts to scenario

Attention to detail

Process-driven environment

Tools

OpenAPI

AsyncAPI

OAuth 2.0

mTLS

API keys

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 looking for a precision-oriented Technical Certification Developer to drive the creation and evolution of high-stakes assessment programs for Kong’s platform. This role is central to validating deep professional expertise by merging complex technical architectures with rigorous psychometric standards, ensuring our credentials maintain maximum credibility and real-world relevance.

What You’ll do

• Exam architecture & lifecycle management: Lead end-to-end development initiatives, from defining job task analysis (JTA) outputs to establishing weighted blueprint structures and item specifications.

• Item development & review: Collaborate with instructional designers and subject matter experts to craft and iterate on a bank of high-quality, scenario-based exam items—including multiple choice and performance-based formats—aligned with specific learning objectives.

• Quality assurance: Facilitate technical review workshops with subject matter experts to calibrate on accuracy, clarity, and difficulty relevance.

• Security & integrity: Enforce exam security best practices, including rigorous item bank management, version control, and response protocols for content exposure incidents.

• Lab & content development: Collaborate with instructional designers and lab engineers on the production of hands-on practice labs and official study guides that map directly to high-stakes assessment domains.

Program operations

• Support the appeals process by reviewing flagged items and providing documented technical rationale for scoring decisions

• Document content development processes, style guides, and item writing standards for the program

What You’ll Bring

Required

• 3+ years of hands-on experience with API development, API gateway configuration, or API platform engineering

• Strong Kubernetes knowledge

• Demonstrated experience writing technical documentation, assessments, or instructional content at a professional level

• Strong understanding of the full API lifecycle: design, specification (OpenAPI/AsyncAPI), publishing, versioning, security (OAuth 2.0, API keys, mTLS), monitoring, and deprecation

• Ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear, scenario-based assessment items that measure applied competency rather than recall

• Meticulous attention to detail, with the ability to identify ambiguous, flawed, or biased exam questions

• Comfortable working in a structured, process-driven environment with documented review cycles and governance checkpoints

Preferred

• Familiarity with psychometric principles: item difficulty, discrimination indices, content validity, and standard-setting methods (Angoff, bookmark)

• Experience with exam-authoring or item-banking platforms (e.g., FastTest, Questionmark, Caveon, Trueability)

• Prior involvement in developing or contributing to a formal certification or accreditation program

• Hands‑on experience with one or more API lifecycle management platforms (e.g., Kong, Apigee, MuleSoft, AWS API Gateway, Azure API Management)

• Exposure to instructional design frameworks (e.g., Bloom’s Taxonomy, Kirkpatrick Model, ADDIE)

• Relevant industry certification (e.g., AWS Certified Developer, Google Cloud Professional, CKAD, or equivalent)

What success looks like in year one

• Exam blueprint finalized and approved by the certification advisory board

• Initial item bank of 200+ validated items across all blueprint domains, ready for pilot

• Pilot exam completed, cut score established, and live exam launched

• Official study guide published and aligned to blueprint

• First exam refresh cycle initiated based on item analysis data

#LI-AP1

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.