Staff Solutions Engineer

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in California.

📋 Description

• Assist field sales in demonstrating the value of Kong’s API and AI connectivity platform to customers.

• Engage in discovery discussions to identify customer needs and align them with Kong solutions, from initial product assessments to production stages.

• Facilitate proofs of concept during the evaluation phase, taking charge of technical validation and ensuring stakeholder alignment.

• Maintain customer satisfaction for all assigned accounts.

• Collaborate with support, product, and engineering teams to represent customer interests effectively.

• Develop technical documentation for DevOps, implementations, and service engagements.

• Guide and participate in evaluations of API Management and AI Governance, focusing on API/AI use cases, LLM traffic management, and governance requirements.

• Present demonstrations showcasing Kong’s API and AI governance capabilities, including MCP governance, semantic caching, prompt guardrails, and shadow AI detection.

• Conduct API and AI-centric Technical Feasibility Workshops to assess Kong’s suitability for modern and AI/agentic architectures.

• Manage the technical strategy for complex, multi-stakeholder enterprise deals from qualification through to closure.

• Mentor and guide junior SEs on technical competencies, discovery techniques, and deal strategies.

• Write technical blogs, lead webinars, and represent the company at industry events and conferences.

• Aggregate customer feedback and market insights into actionable recommendations for the product team.

• Complete additional tasks as assigned by the manager.

⛳️ Requirements

• A minimum of 7 years in software engineering and/or solutions engineering within a SaaS, open-source, or enterprise software organization.

• Demonstrated success in managing intricate, enterprise-level deals involving multiple technical and executive stakeholders.

• Experience in mentoring or coaching fellow SEs or technical team members.

• Proficiency with Docker, Kubernetes, and cloud-native platforms.

• Knowledge of REST and GraphQL APIs, CI/CD pipelines, and API security protocols (OAuth2, OIDC, mTLS).

• Practical experience with AI-assisted development tools such as Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, OpenAI Codex, or similar is essential.

• Understanding of AI/LLM architectures, including model routing, rate limiting, semantic caching, and prompt governance.

• Familiarity with Model Context Protocol (MCP) and agentic AI methodologies.

• Strong grasp of cloud computing trends and open-source business models.

• Excellent listening and communication skills, particularly with engineers, architects, and executives.

• Passion for working in a dynamic, high-profile environment at the convergence of API and AI connectivity.

🏝️ Benefits

• Equity

• Commission

• Health insurance

• Dental insurance

• Vision insurance

• Paid holidays

• PTO

• Opportunities and tools for professional development

• Remote work arrangement