About this role
<h3>Are you ready to unlock intelligence?</h3><p>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.</p><h3>About the Role:</h3><p>Join the global leader in API and AI governance in the era of Artificial Intelligence!</p><p>API traffic now outnumbers human traffic online, and a significant portion of that traffic is powered by the <a href="https://himalayas.app/companies/kong">Kong</a> platform, the world’s most popular API gateway. As organizations modernize for AI-driven connectivity, <a href="https://himalayas.app/companies/kong">Kong</a> is uniquely positioned at the center of enterprise transformation.</p><p>We are seeking a <strong>Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE)</strong> to join <a href="https://himalayas.app/companies/kong">Kong</a>’s growing Professional Services organization. This is a highly strategic, customer-facing engineering role focused on helping enterprise customers accelerate adoption of <a href="https://himalayas.app/companies/kong">Kong</a>’s API and AI Connectivity platform through hands-on implementation, automation, migration tooling, and solution engineering.</p><p>As an FDE, you will work directly alongside customer engineering teams to solve complex technical challenges, accelerate migrations, build reusable automation, and deliver production-grade solutions in real-world enterprise environments. You will operate at the intersection of software engineering, architecture, platform engineering, and customer delivery.</p><p>This role is ideal for engineers who enjoy building, coding, solving ambiguous problems, and working directly with customers on mission-critical initiatives involving APIs, AI gateways, service connectivity, modernization, and cloud-native platforms.</p><p>You will collaborate closely with Solutions Architects, Engagement Managers, Product Engineering, Customer Success, and Product teams to ensure successful customer outcomes while also influencing <a href="https://himalayas.app/companies/kong">Kong</a>’s product direction based on field experience.</p><p>Working at <a href="https://himalayas.app/companies/kong">Kong</a> is a unique opportunity to make a massive impact on Fortune 50/500 customers as they modernize mission-critical systems for the AI era.</p><h3>Impact</h3><p>Work directly with some of the world’s largest enterprises to modernize API infrastructure and accelerate AI adoption through <a href="https://himalayas.app/companies/kong">Kong</a>’s connectivity platform.</p><h3>Growth</h3><p>Accelerate your technical and professional growth through exposure to cutting-edge cloud-native technologies, distributed systems, AI connectivity, automation frameworks, and large-scale enterprise architectures.</p><h3>Opportunity</h3><p>Be part of a rapidly growing Professional Services organization that is shaping how enterprises adopt APIs, AI gateways, and modern connectivity platforms globally.</p><h3>What You’ll Do:</h3><ul>
<li><p>Partner directly with enterprise customers to design, build, and implement <a href="https://himalayas.app/companies/kong">Kong</a>-based solutions across cloud, hybrid, and on-premise environments.</p></li>
<li><p>Lead hands-on implementation efforts for API gateways, AI gateways, service mesh, developer portals, and related connectivity technologies.</p></li>
<li><p>Build automation frameworks, migration tooling, custom integrations, and reusable accelerators to simplify customer adoption and modernization efforts.</p></li>
<li><p>Drive migration initiatives from legacy API management platforms to <a href="https://himalayas.app/companies/kong">Kong</a>.</p></li>
<li><p>Work closely with customer developers, platform teams, architects, security teams, and executives to solve complex technical and operational challenges.</p></li>
<li><p>Develop production-grade code, scripts, plugins, CI/CD integrations, Kubernetes automation, and infrastructure tooling as part of customer engagements.</p></li>
<li><p>Collaborate with <a href="https://himalayas.app/companies/kong">Kong</a> Product and Engineering teams to influence roadmap priorities based on real-world customer feedback and implementation learnings.</p></li>
<li><p>Create reusable best practices, technical assets, reference architectures, documentation, and design patterns to scale delivery excellence across the organization.</p></li>
<li><p>Support strategic customer initiatives involving AI connectivity, governance, platform modernization, and cloud-native transformation.</p></li>
</ul><h3>What You’ll Bring:</h3><h3>Experience</h3><ul>
<li><p>8+ years in customer-facing engineering, platform engineering, professional services, site reliability engineering, or software engineering roles.</p></li>
<li><p>Strong hands-on software engineering and implementation experience.</p></li>
<li><p>Experience with API gateways, API management, integrations, or distributed systems platforms.</p></li>
<li><p>Strong Kubernetes and cloud-native infrastructure expertise.</p></li>
<li><p>Experience building automation frameworks, deployment tooling, CI/CD pipelines, or migration tooling.</p></li>
<li><p>Strong proficiency in Linux, networking, cloud infrastructure, and DevOps practices.</p></li>
<li><p>Experience with major cloud providers including AWS, Azure, or GCP.</p></li>
<li><p>Programming experience in languages such as Python, Go, Java, JavaScript, or Lua.</p></li>
<li><p>Experience with Infrastructure-as-Code and automation tooling such as Terraform, Helm, Ansible, or GitOps frameworks.</p></li>
<li><p>Prior experience working in API Management, Open Source, Middleware, SaaS, or Infrastructure software companies is highly preferred.</p></li>
</ul><h3>Preferred Attributes:</h3><ul>
<li><p>Strong builder mindset with the ability to solve complex technical problems with minimal supervision.</p></li>
<li><p>Comfortable operating in ambiguous, fast-moving enterprise environments.</p></li>
<li><p>Passion for working directly with customers and delivering measurable business outcomes.</p></li>
<li><p>Excellent communication and collaboration skills across technical and executive audiences.</p></li>
<li><p>Highly organized with strong prioritization and execution skills.</p></li>
<li><p>Passion for innovation, modern infrastructure, APIs, AI, and cloud-native technologies.</p></li>
<li><p>Team-oriented with a strong sense of ownership and accountability.</p></li>
</ul><h3>About <a href="https://himalayas.app/companies/kong">Kong</a>:</h3><p><a href="https://himalayas.app/companies/kong">Kong</a> Inc., the AI Connectivity Company, is building the connectivity layer of AI. Trusted by the Fortune 500® and AI-native startups alike, <a href="https://himalayas.app/companies/kong">Kong</a>’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 .</p><h3>Compensation Range: $192,010 - $274,300</h3><p>Originally posted on <a href="https://himalayas.app">Himalayas</a></p>