Software Engineer AI Gateway

Kong; Lombardia; Remote; EUR 65,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Kong is seeking a backend engineer to join the team building the Kong AI gateway, enabling worldwide developers to govern AI and LLM-based innovations. You will build and maintain API management components, implement new features, and optimize performance for highly scalable, distributed systems.

The role requires 3+ years of server-side experience, proficiency in Golang or Rust, strong Linux skills, and a drive to own and document your work.

Qualifications

• 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.
• 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.

Responsibilities

• 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.

Skills

3+ years server-side programming

Golang

Rust

distributed systems

Linux troubleshooting

low-level optimization

APIs (L7/L4)

remote collaboration

documentation writing

AI/LLM concepts

Tools

NGINX/OpenResty/Kong/LuaJIT

Envoy

Job description

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.

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.

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.