Staff Software Engineer, Konnect Core Platform

Kong; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 190,000 - 270,000; Full time

Job summary

Kong is hiring a Senior Identity Platform Architect in San Francisco. You will lead design of token management, claims processing, and global identity infrastructure to support edge and cross-region replication with sub-millisecond latency.

You will shape developer experiences, SDKs, and observability dashboards while ensuring strong security and compliance. Ideal candidates bring 7+ years building production identity platforms, deep OAuth/OpenID knowledge, and experience with SAML, LDAP/AD, and

Qualifications

• 7+ years building production identity platforms at leading providers or enterprise software.
• Deep expertise in OAuth 2.0 extensions and OpenID Connect.
• Experience architecting multi-tenant identity platforms with complex isolation.
• Strong cryptographic knowledge including JWT patterns and HSM integration.
• Experience with analytics, real-time monitoring, and security event detection at scale.
• Familiarity with SAML, LDAP/AD bridges, SCIM provisioning and compliance requirements.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement advanced token management systems with real-time revocation.
• Lead development of Kong Identity's extensible claims engine.
• Architect global identity infrastructure with edge optimization and cross-region replication.
• Design rate limiting, anomaly detection, and fraud prevention systems.
• Build enterprise identity federation capabilities (SAML, IdP chaining).
• Lead technical strategy for developer experience including SDKs and dashboards.
• Architect client management systems with dynamic registration and credential rotation.
• Design plugin architecture for custom grant flows and protocol extensions.
• Drive compliance programs (SOC 2, FedRAMP, GDPR) with audit trails.
• Mentor teams on zero-trust, workload identity, and service mesh patterns.

Skills

OAuth extensions

OpenID Connect

Multi-tenant architecture

Cryptographic protocols

Real-time analytics

Compliance knowledge

Scalability

Service mesh

Tools

HSM integration

Job description

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

Kong is building the future of API management for developers. We’re a fast-growing, well-funded company with happy customers and motivated employees. Insomnia, acquired in 2019, is a full-lifecycle API development platform that has quickly become an integral part of Kong’s product portfolio.

What You'll Do

• Design and implement advanced token management systems, including refresh token rotation, proof-of-possession tokens, and custom token introspection with real-time revocation capabilities.
• Lead development of Kong Identity's extensible claims engine supporting dynamic attribute resolution, contextual claim injection, and complex business logic evaluation at token issuance.
• Architect global identity infrastructure with edge optimization, intelligent token caching, and cross-region replication strategies for sub-millisecond authentication latency worldwide.
• Design sophisticated rate limiting, anomaly detection, and fraud prevention systems to protect against credential stuffing, token abuse, and distributed attacks.
• Build enterprise identity federation capabilities, including SAML bridge patterns, external IdP chaining, and custom protocol adapters for legacy system integration.
• Lead technical strategy for Kong Identity's developer experience, including SDKs, webhooks, audit logging, and real-time analytics dashboards for token lifecycle visibility.
• Architect advanced client management systems supporting dynamic client registration, automated credential rotation, and programmatic policy enforcement.
• Design Kong Identity's plugin architecture enables custom grant flows, protocol extensions, and third-party integrations while maintaining security boundaries.
• Drive implementation of compliance frameworks (SOC 2, FedRAMP, GDPR), including comprehensive audit trails, data residency controls, and privacy-preserving token designs.
• Lead technical initiatives for Kong Identity's integration with observability platforms, supporting distributed tracing, metrics collection, and security event correlation.
• Mentor engineering teams on advanced identity concepts including zero-trust architectures, workload identity, and service mesh integration patterns.

What You'll Bring

• 7+ years of experience building production identity platforms at leading identity providers or enterprise software companies, with proven track record of handling millions of authentication requests daily.
• Deep expertise in advanced OAuth 2.0 extensions (PKCE, mTLS, JWT bearer assertions, token exchange), OpenID Connect profiles, and emerging standards like OAuth 2.1 and GNAP.
• Proven experience architecting multi-tenant identity platforms with complex isolation requirements, tenant-specific configurations, and enterprise feature sets.
• Strong background in cryptographic protocols including advanced JWT patterns, key rotation strategies, Hardware Security Module (HSM) integration, and post-quantum cryptography considerations.
• Experience building identity platforms with sophisticated analytics, real-time monitoring, and security event detection capabilities at enterprise scale.
• Expertise in global identity infrastructure including edge deployment strategies, geo-distributed token validation, and cross-region data consistency patterns.
• Deep understanding of enterprise identity integration patterns including SAML federation, LDAP/AD bridges, SCIM provisioning, and custom protocol adapters.
• Proven track record building developer-first identity platforms including comprehensive SDKs, webhook systems, and extensible API designs.
• Experience with identity platform security including threat modeling, penetration testing coordination, and implementation of advanced attack prevention mechanisms.
• Strong background in compliance and regulatory requirements for identity systems including audit trail design, data residency controls, and privacy engineering.
• Experience building identity platforms supporting complex organizational structures, delegated administration, and fine-grained permission models.
• Expertise in high-performance system design including horizontal scaling strategies, caching architectures, and latency optimization for identity operations.
• Knowledge of service mesh identity patterns, workload identity bootstrapping, and integration with container orchestration platforms.
• Experience with identity protocol extensions, custom grant flows, and building extensible identity platforms that support diverse use cases.
• Proven ability to lead technical initiatives in complex, regulated environments while balancing innovation with security and compliance requirements.

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.