Software Engineer 2, AI Gateway

Kong; Milano; Remote; EUR 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Kong is seeking a Software Engineer to join the AI Gateway team in Milano to build and maintain the Kong AI gateway for scalable API management across AI and LLM workflows.

You will work on core features such as multi-LLM routing, semantic caching, and performance optimizations, collaborating with a remotely distributed team and contributing to documentation.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in server-side programming.
• Hands-on experience with Golang or Rust.
• Experience building and debugging highly scalable, distributed systems.
• Strong Linux troubleshooting and profiling skills.
• Familiarity with AI/LLM concepts and APIs.
• Able to work with a remotely distributed team and write documentation.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain API management software for AI/LLMs and its underlying stack.
• Implement features including proxying capabilities, load balancing, and database support.
• Troubleshoot bugs, tune performance, and perform low-level optimizations.
• Bridge Kong with third-party deployment platforms and tooling.
• Handle additional tasks as required by management.

Skills

Golang

Rust

Linux troubleshooting

Distributed systems

Communication

Tools

Envoy

NGINX/OpenResty/Kong

LuaJIT

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:

You will join the engineering team that builds the Kong AI gateway, empowering companies and developers around the world to govern every step of their AI & LLM based innovation.

As a Software Engineer in the AI Gateway Team, you will be working on core features such as multi-LLM routing and balancing, semantic caching and routing, MCP, and more.

What You’ll Do:

• Responsible for building and maintaining API management software for AI and LLMs and its underlying stack.

• Implement new innovative features including proxying capabilities, load balancing, databases support that extend Kong AI Gateway’s offering.

• Bugs troubleshooting, performance tuning and low-level optimizations.

• Fill the gaps between Kong and third-party deployment platforms and tooling.

• Any additional tasks required by manager.

What You’ll Bring:

• 3+ years of programming in server-side applications and components.

• Hands on experience with either Golang or Rust

• Experience building and debugging applications that are highly scalable, distributed, reliable and resilient.

• Solid hands-on low-level technical expertise in Linux systems troubleshooting, and profiling

• Experience in distributed systems, Linux networking stack and computer systems programming, Kong works with APIs on both L7 and L4 transports and protocols, so this expertise and knowledge are required.

• Comfortable working with a remotely distributed team.

• Strong sense of ownership and excellent verbal and written communication skills – engineers at Kong write the documentation for their products

• Familiarity with AI LLM concepts and applications development

Bonus Points:

• Hands on experience with NGINX/OpenResty/Kong/LuaJIT.

• Hands on experience with Envoy or Istio.

#LI-EA1

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.