Hybrid AI-Driven ADR (Chicago) - Equity & Growth

Kong; Illinois; Hybrid; USD 56,000 - 67,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

Dental coverage

Vision coverage

401(k) program

Flexible PTO

Company holidays

Mental health support

Learning budget

Hybrid work model

Regional hubs

Team events

Offsites

Job summary

Kong is hiring an Account Development Representative in Chicago, IL. You’ll spearhead signal-based outreach to high-intent accounts, using AI-native tools to craft personalized messaging for CFO/CTO/CISO personas. Pair with Marketing and RevOps to automate sequences across email, LinkedIn, and phone.

You will qualify inbound interest with a modern framework for fast AI buying cycles and continuously refine your approach in a rapidly evolving AI infrastructure space.

Qualifications

• 1-2+ years of SDR/ADR experience in high-growth B2B SaaS.
• Genuine AI curiosity – you've used or want to master AI-native prospecting tools.
• Growth mindset – skill grows with repetition, feedback and iteration.
• Comfortable on the phone and unafraid of cold outreach; you track and improve your own conversion rate.
• Resilient and self-driven – rejection is data, not a verdict.
• Coachable – actively seek feedback and adapt quickly to new plays and tooling.

Responsibilities

• Run signal-based prospecting across defined intent categories (competitive displacement, infrastructure investment, AI/agent initiatives) with focus on quality over volume.
• Partner with Marketing and RevOps to build AI-assisted, auto-personalized outbound sequences across email, LinkedIn, and phone.
• Use AI-enabled prospecting platforms to research accounts, tailor messaging, and multi-thread into CFO, CTO, and CISO personas.
• Qualify and convert inbound interest quickly using a modern qualification framework for AI buying cycles.
• Continuously test messaging, sequencing, and calling approaches to optimize pipeline.
• Build a point of view and presence in the API/AI infrastructure space as a trusted resource for prospects.
• Feed market and competitive intelligence back to GTM leadership to sharpen targeting and messaging.
• Deepen product fluency by collaborating with Sales and Product on AI Gateway and token governance.

Skills

Signal-based prospecting

AI curiosity

Growth mindset

Phone skills

Resilient and self-driven

Coachable

Tools

Nooks

Octave

ZoomInfo

Job description

Kong is hiring an Account Development Representative in Chicago, IL. You’ll spearhead signal-based outreach to high-intent accounts, using AI-native tools to craft personalized messaging for CFO/CTO/CISO personas. Pair with Marketing and RevOps to automate sequences across email, LinkedIn, and phone.

You will qualify inbound interest with a modern framework for fast AI buying cycles and continuously refine your approach in a rapidly evolving AI infrastructure space.