Kong Platform & API Migration Engineer (Hybrid – DC Metro)

eTelligent Group LLC; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

eTelligent Group is seeking an API gateway engineer to build out Kong on the IRS platform and migrate APIs in planned waves, without breaking existing services. You will work in a migration factory with IRS approval gates, two-week sprints, and a lead platform engineer.

You will configure Kong, migrate definitions, enforce security patterns (mTLS, OAuth2, JWT), and run functional tests. The role requires 4+ years in API gateway/middleware, OpenShift/Kubernetes, and a technical degree; US

Qualifications

• 4+ years in API gateway, integration or middleware engineering.
• Hands on configuration of Kong, or a comparable gateway such as webMethods API Gateway, Apigee, MuleSoft or AWS API Gateway.
• Working knowledge of REST, HTTP, TLS and mTLS, OAuth2, OIDC and JWT.
• Experience with Kubernetes or OpenShift and declarative configuration in Git.
• Comfort with Linux, shell scripting and at least one of Python or Go.
• Bachelor’s degree in a technical field, or equivalent experience.
• Ability to obtain and keep an IRS Moderate Background Investigation (MBI); you must meet IRS suitability and residency requirements.

Responsibilities

• Configure Kong Gateway Enterprise control and data planes, Workspaces, RBAC, services, routes and plugins on Red Hat OpenShift and cloud.
• Convert webMethods API definitions to Kong configuration using decK templates, kept in Git.
• Migrate simple APIs (routing, OAuth2 or OIDC, mTLS) by template, and medium APIs with consumer, ACL and certificate setup grouped by provider.
• Help redesign the few complex APIs that use custom webMethods policies, using standard Kong plugins first.
• Run functional equivalency tests: send identical requests to the webMethods and Kong versions, then compare status, headers, payload, auth and latency.
• Support dual run cutovers with gradual traffic shifts, and rehearse rollback every wave.
• Apply security patterns for mTLS, OAuth2 client credentials, JWT, ACL, IP restriction and rate limiting, each approved by IRS.
• Follow IRS change control: impact assessment, lower environment testing, written rollback, Change Advisory Board (CAB) approval.
• Write runbooks and migration records so others can support what you built.

Skills

Kong Gateway

API Gateway

REST/HTTP

OIDC/JWT

Kubernetes/OpenShift

Git declarative config

Python/Go

Linux scripting

OpenShift

Education

Bachelor's degree in a technical field

Tools

Red Hat OpenShift

Git

Job description

eTelligent Group is seeking an API gateway engineer to build out Kong on the IRS platform and migrate APIs in planned waves, without breaking existing services. You will work in a migration factory with IRS approval gates, two-week sprints, and a lead platform engineer.

You will configure Kong, migrate definitions, enforce security patterns (mTLS, OAuth2, JWT), and run functional tests. The role requires 4+ years in API gateway/middleware, OpenShift/Kubernetes, and a technical degree; US