Are you ready to power the World's connections?

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.

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.

As a Senior Software Engineer on the Konnect team at Kong, you’ll architect Kong Identity's multi-tenant identity platform supporting complex organizational hierarchies, cross-tenant isolation, and enterprise-grade security controls.

What you'll do:

Build and maintain Kong Identity's core services including auth servers, token management, and client credential systems supporting OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect flows.

Implement scalable token generation, validation, and introspection services that handle high-volume authentication requests with sub-millisecond latency.

Develop Kong Identity's claims engine supporting dynamic attribute resolution and contextual claim injection at token issuance.

Build client management features including dynamic client registration, credential lifecycle management, and scope enforcement.

Implement integration points between Kong Identity and Gateway Manager, supporting OIDC, OAuth2.0 introspection, and Upstream OAuth plugins.

Develop Kong Identity APIs and work on SDKs to enable customer automation and DevOps workflows.

Build monitoring, logging, and analytics capabilities to provide visibility into token lifecycle and authentication patterns.

Work on global infrastructure components including distributed caching, cross-region replication, and edge optimization for authentication services.

Contribute to Kong Identity's security posture including implementing rate limiting, anomaly detection, and attack prevention mechanisms.

Support production services through on-call responsibilities and troubleshooting authentication issues for enterprise customers.

Write comprehensive automated tests and participate in code reviews to maintain high code quality standards.

Collaborate with cross-functional teams to translate product requirements into technical implementations.

What you'll bring:

4+ years of experience building production backend systems and distributed services, with strong fundamentals in system design and scalability.

Solid understanding of OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect fundamentals, with experience implementing or integrating authentication systems.

Strong background in building high-performance, low-latency services that handle significant request volumes.

Experience with JWT tokens, including generation, validation, and understanding of signing algorithms and security best practices.

Proven ability to build RESTful APIs with focus on developer experience and comprehensive error handling.

Experience with distributed systems challenges including caching strategies, data consistency, and cross-region architectures.

Strong coding skills in GoLang.

Experience working with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure) and understanding of cloud-native architectures.

Familiarity with database technologies and data modeling for high-scale applications.

Understanding of security best practices for credential management and secure authentication flows.

Experience with containerization (Docker, Kubernetes) and modern deployment practices.

Strong debugging and troubleshooting skills for complex distributed systems.

Excellent communication skills and ability to collaborate effectively in remote/distributed teams.

Self-motivated with ability to take ownership of features from design through production deployment.

Bonus points:

Deep expertise in identity and access management systems with experience at identity platform companies.

Experience with advanced OAuth 2.0 extensions (PKCE, mTLS, JWT bearer assertions, token exchange) and OAuth 2.1/GNAP standards.

Knowledge of enterprise identity integration patterns including SAML federation, LDAP/AD bridges, and SCIM provisioning.

Experience building multi-tenant platforms with complex isolation requirements and tenant-specific configurations.

Background in cryptographic protocols, HSM integration, or security-focused system design.

Experience with compliance frameworks (SOC 2, FedRAMP, GDPR) and implementing security controls.

Contributions to open source projects, particularly in the identity or API management space.

Experience with observability platforms, distributed tracing, and building systems with strong operational characteristics.

Knowledge of service mesh patterns and workload identity systems.

About Kong:

Kong Inc., a leading developer of cloud API technologies, is on a mission to enable companies around the world to become “API-first” and securely accelerate AI adoption. Kong helps organizations globally — from startups to Fortune 500 enterprises — unleash developer productivity, build securely, and accelerate time to market. For more information about Kong, please visit www.konghq.com or follow us on X @thekonginc.