Global AI-Driven Quality Engineering Manager

Kong; Milano; On-site; EUR 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Kong Inc. is seeking a Senior Engineering Manager to lead quality engineering across its runtime platforms. You will architect AI-driven testing, drive self-healing test substrates, and oversee a distributed SDET organization to deliver low-latency, high-throughput data-plane testing.

The role emphasizes shift-left governance, integration of LLMs into testing lifecycles, and collaboration with engineering and product teams to raise testability standards from design onward.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in software engineering or SDET roles.
• 4+ years in engineering management or leading distributed teams.
• Hands-on experience applying AI/LLMs or autonomous test agents to software quality workflows.
• Proven ability to manage end-to-end testing, CI/CD integration, and operational cadence.

Responsibilities

• Lead a geographically distributed SDET team across multiple regions.
• Define and execute AI-driven testing strategy across runtimes (C/Lua/Rust data planes).
• Modernize testing frameworks and CI/CD pipelines with GitHub Actions, Docker, and Kubernetes.
• Drive shift-left quality and governance by embedding testability in architecture.
• Define QE health metrics: automation coverage, defect density, time-to-triage, release stability.

Skills

SDET leadership

Engineering management

AI integration vision

Operational excellence

Tools

GitHub Actions

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

Kong Inc. is seeking a Senior Engineering Manager to lead quality engineering across its runtime platforms. You will architect AI-driven testing, drive self-healing test substrates, and oversee a distributed SDET organization to deliver low-latency, high-throughput data-plane testing.

The role emphasizes shift-left governance, integration of LLMs into testing lifecycles, and collaboration with engineering and product teams to raise testability standards from design onward.