Senior Manager, EMEA Account Development (French speaker)

Kong; London (KY); Hybrid; USD 163,000 - 244,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work from London office

Competitive compensation package

Job summary

Kong is seeking an ADR Leader to build and lead the EMEA Account Development Representative team from our central London office, embracing a hybrid model with in-person and remote work. You will shape the SDR function, drive pipeline, and coach for excellence across a fast-growing AI connectivity leader.

Lead with integrity, coach for effectiveness, and partner across Marketing, RevOps, and Enablement while forecasting with confidence and scaling teams toward IPO ambitions.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of management experience leading SDR, ADR, or BDR teams in a tech or SaaS environment.
• Proven success building and scaling high-performance outbound teams, particularly in an enterprise context.
• Strong background in coaching, enablement, and AE readiness.
• Clear point of view on what good enterprise outbound looks like, and the competence to build it.
• Experience at a playbook-driven, process-oriented organisation is highly valuable.
• Prior AE experience is a big plus.
• Ability to build accurate forecasts that people trust and deliver the number with visibility.
• Versatility across people leadership, cross-functional collaboration, and pipeline management.
• Fluent in English and French with Spanish or Italian as beneficial.

Responsibilities

• Lead & Inspire: Build a culture that is high-performing and deeply human.
• Hire & Plan for Talent: Own the talent pipeline end-to-end and plan headcount.
• Ramp & Enable: Get new hires to productivity fast with structured bootcamps and development plans.
• Coach for Excellence: Conduct regular reviews and AE readiness programs.
• Drive Pipeline: Own your team's contribution to EMEA pipeline targets with forecast discipline.
• GTM Ecosystem Alignment: Partner with Regional Directors, Marketing, RevOps, Partners, and Enablement.
• Data-Driven Leadership: Track KPIs and drive process improvements.
• Champion Tools & Process: Drive use of Salesforce, Outreach, LinkedIn Navigator, and other tools.

Skills

Team leadership

Enterprise outbound

Coaching & enablement

Forecasting & analytics

Playbook-driven process

AE experience beneficial

English & French

Spanish or Italian helpful

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

Salesforce

Outreach

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

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.

There’s no AI without APIs. As we enter the agentic era, Kong sits at the heart of this transformation — making now an incredible time to join our journey.

About The Role:

ADR Leader, Enterprise Sales Development — EMEA

We are looking for an ADR Leader to build and lead our EMEA Account Development Representative team from our central London office (walking distance from Bank Station and London Bridge). This hybrid role offers the best of both worlds: the energy of in-person collaboration 2–3 days a week, combined with the flexibility of remote work.

As ADR Leader, you won't just manage a team - you'll be entrusted with something bigger. Our EMEA SDR leadership team are the market makers and drivers of growth at Kong. We don’t just build pipeline; we define the blueprint for SDR excellence, shaping the next generation of top sales talent and driving winning outcomes for the business.

You'll show up with integrity, energy, and purpose and you'll build a team that does the same!

Kong is The AI Connectivity Company. Our platform sits at the centre of how enterprises manage APIs, AI agents, and the infrastructure connecting them — and we're scaling fast. The ADR function is the front line of that growth. Accounts you open today are the expansion stories of tomorrow, and the team you build here will be a meaningful part of how Kong writes its next chapter on the path to IPO.

What You'll Do:

• Lead & Inspire: Build a culture that is high-performing and deeply human. SDRs on your team should be motivated, supported in their growth, and clear on what great looks like every day.

• Hire & Plan for Talent: Own the talent pipeline end-to-end. Align with Recruiting on headcount and profiles, anticipate gaps before they land, and source proactively.

• Ramp & Enable: Get new hires to productivity fast. Support the enablement team with running structured bootcamps, build individual development plans, and coach to certification. Every new hire should feel like they joined a team with a plan.

• Coach for Excellence: Deliver regular call reviews, structured 1-1s, and AE-readiness programs. Coach to Attitude, Process, and Results — and know which leg of the stool is wobbling before the rep does.

• Drive Pipeline: Own your team's contribution to EMEA pipeline targets with the forecasting discipline and visibility that Regional Directors can actually bet on.

• GTM Ecosystem Alignment: Partner closely with Regional Directors, Marketing, RevOps, Partners, and Enablement. You're not managing in a silo, you're a connector as much as your reps are.

• Data-Driven Leadership: Track KPIs, analyse team performance, and drive process improvements that maximise efficiency and results.

• Champion Tools & Process: Drive effective use of Salesforce, Outreach, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and other prospecting tools across the team.

What You'll Bring:

• 5 years of management experience leading SDR, ADR, or BDR teams in a tech or SaaS environment.

• Proven success building and scaling high-performance outbound teams, particularly in an enterprise context.

• Strong background in coaching, enablement, and AE readiness. You think about career paths the same way you think about quota attainment, proactively.

• A clear point of view on what good enterprise outbound looks like, and the competence to build it.

• Experience at a playbook-driven, process-oriented organisation is highly valuable.

• Prior AE experience is a big plus.

• The ability to build accurate forecasts that people actually trust and deliver the number with enough visibility that there are no surprises.

• Versatility across people leadership, cross-functional collaboration, and pipeline management.

• Fluent in English and French with Spanish or Italian as highly beneficial but not required.

• Genuine drive to operate in a fast-paced, scale-up environment on the path to IPO.

• At or entering the Senior Manager stage of your ADR Leadership journey with the ability to run your business mostly independently.

Why Join Kong?

• Be part of the company defining the future of AI connectivity. APIs, agents, and the infrastructure connecting them all run through Kong.

• Shape and lead the ADR function in EMEA at a pivotal stage of growth, with real global influence on how the team scales toward IPO.

• Hybrid work from our central London office, walking distance from Bank Station and London Bridge.

• Competitive compensation, benefits, and paths for career progression into senior leadership as we scale

• Join a leadership team that shows up with integrity, energy, and purpose

Every day, we raise the bar of what great looks like. Ready to help set it?

About Kong:

Kong Inc., a leading developer of API and AI connectivity technologies, is building the infrastructure that powers the agentic era. Trusted by the Fortune 500 and startups alike, Kong's unified API and AI platform, Kong Konnect, enables organizations to secure, manage, accelerate, govern, and monetize the flow of intelligence across APIs and AI models. For more information, visit www.konghq.com.