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Kong is an open-source API gateway and connectivity platform trusted by Fortune 500 companies and AI-native startups. As a Senior Software Engineer on the Core Team, you will design, build, and maintain the foundational API management software and its underlying infrastructure.
You will own the architecture and implementation of innovative features including proxying capabilities, load balancing, and database support. Your work will directly impact Kong's ability to support cutting-edge industry trends and use-cases. Key responsibilities include:
- Designing, building, and maintaining API management software and core infrastructure
- Architecting and implementing new features for proxying, load balancing, and database support
- Troubleshooting bugs, tuning performance, and executing low-level optimizations
- Engaging with the open-source community to extend Kong's core capabilities
- Bridging gaps between Kong and third-party deployment platforms and tooling
- Contributing to product documentation and knowledge sharing
You will work with a globally distributed team on problems at the intersection of APIs, AI traffic, and distributed systems.
REQUIREMENTS:
- 5+ years of programming experience in server-side applications and components
- Proven experience designing, prototyping, building, and debugging highly scalable, distributed, reliable, and resilient applications
- Solid hands-on expertise in Linux systems troubleshooting and profiling
- Strong knowledge of distributed systems, Linux networking stack, and computer systems programming (L4 and L7 protocols)
- Comfort working with remotely distributed teams
- Strong sense of ownership with excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Familiarity with AI/LLM concepts and applications development
BONUS:
- Hands-on experience with NGINX, OpenResty, Kong, or LuaJIT
- Experience with Envoy or Istio
- Rust programming experience
