EngineeringRemote

Senior Software Engineering Manager, Managed Gateways SREs

Kong · Remote

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Last seen by MeritLog September 8, 2026Source: AshbySource version: ashby-public-job-posting-v1

MeritLog read this listing from Kong's Ashby job board and last checked it on September 8, 2026.

Source: the employer's Ashby job board. Open the original listing for current details.

Job details

Work model: Remote
Salary: $153K - $218K
Location: Washington, United States
Company website: konghq.com

Hiring context

How this role compares at Kong

Kong has 72 live roles in MeritLog’s catalog across 8 job families, and 38 of them are in engineering. 24 of those listings publish a pay range, a disclosure rate of 33%.

This role's posted range of $153K - $218K sits above 39% of the 18 other Kong roles quoted over the same currency and period.

Kong concentrates this hiring in:

Counted across the job boards MeritLog tracks, at the time this page was served. Pay comparisons use only listings that publish a complete range in the same currency and period.

What the role asks for

What you'd do

Build Kong's Managed Gateways SRE team in Seattle, Washington from the ground up - hiring, setting the bar, and staying hands-on in enterprise implementations as the team ramps.
Act as a direct contributor to critical implementations and reliability work in the early stages, with outcomes that materially move the needle on Managed Gateways' growth and business performance.
Lead, mentor, and grow a high-performing team of Site Reliability Engineers dedicated to Kong's Managed Gateway offerings, in direct support of our critical enterprise customer base across the Americas and Europe.
Architect and implement robust, scalable, and fault-tolerant cloud-native systems using technologies like Kubernetes, Golang, and major cloud providers.
Own the end-to-end operational lifecycle, from proactive monitoring and alerting to incident response and blameless post-mortems, ensuring continuous service improvement.
Drive developer delight and operational efficiency through automation, self-service tooling, and streamlined workflows for deploying and managing API gateways, while proactively preventing technical debt and reducing operational toil.
Define, track, and report on key SLOs and SLIs, and advocate for architectural best practices that keep Managed Gateways performant and resilient as it scales.
Collaborate cross-functionally with Product, engineering, and support teams to influence roadmap decisions and ensure operational readiness for new features.

What they're asking for

Proven experience leading and managing Site Reliability Engineering or DevOps teams in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.Skill
Deep expertise in designing, deploying, and operating highly available distributed systems on cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP).Skill
Extensive hands-on experience with Kubernetes (k8s) and container orchestration in production environments.Skill
Proficiency in Golang or similar modern programming languages for infrastructure automation and service development.Skill
Strong understanding of observability principles and experience with tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry, or similar.Skill
Demonstrated ability to manage critical incidents, perform root cause analysis, and implement effective preventative measures.Skill
Familiarity with API gateway technologies, service mesh, or network proxies is a significant plus.Skill
Ownership: You take full responsibility for the reliability and performance of systems, driving initiatives from conception to completion.Skill
Urgency: You thrive in dynamic environments, prioritizing critical issues and delivering impactful solutions with speed and precision.Skill
Collaboration: You build strong relationships, foster open communication, and work effectively across global teams to achieve shared goals.Skill
Experience with open-source contributions or active participation in SRE/cloud-native communities.SkillPreferred
Certifications in cloud platforms (e.g., AWS Certified DevOps Engineer) or Kubernetes (e.g., CKA, CKAD).CredentialPreferred
Background in companies focused on developer tools, infrastructure software, or API management.SkillPreferred

Parsed by MeritLog from the employer’s own posting. The full description follows below.

Job description

Are you ready to unlock intelligence? 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. SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEERING MANAGER, MANAGED GATEWAYS SRES Location:Washington THE MISSION: As a Senior Software Engineering Manager for Managed Gateways SREs, you will lead the charge in defining the reliability, scalability, and operational excellence of Kong's critical managed services. Your team's unwavering commitment to 99.99%+ uptime and seamless performance directly empowers developers globally, fueling the Agentic Era by providing the robust infrastructure that underpins modern API-driven applications. You'll build this team in Toronto from the ground up, and in the early stages, you'll stay hands-on - directly in the work, not just directing it from a distance. WHAT YOU'LL DO: - Build Kong's Managed Gateways SRE team in Seattle, Washington from the ground up - hiring, setting the bar, and staying hands-on in enterprise implementations as the team ramps. - Act as a direct contributor to critical implementations and reliability work in the early stages, with outcomes that materially move the needle on Managed Gateways' growth and business performance. - Lead, mentor, and grow a high-performing team of Site Reliability Engineers dedicated to Kong's Managed Gateway offerings, in direct support of our critical enterprise customer base across the Americas and Europe. - Architect and implement robust, scalable, and fault-tolerant cloud-native systems using technologies like Kubernetes, Golang, and major cloud providers. - Own the end-to-end operational lifecycle, from proactive monitoring and alerting to incident response and blameless post-mortems, ensuring continuous service improvement. - Drive developer delight and operational efficiency through automation, self-service tooling, and streamlined workflows for deploying and managing API gateways, while proactively preventing technical debt and reducing operational toil. - Define, track, and report on key SLOs and SLIs, and advocate for architectural best practices that keep Managed Gateways performant and resilient as it scales. - Collaborate cross-functionally with Product, engineering, and support teams to influence roadmap decisions and ensure operational readiness for new features. WHAT YOU'LL BRING: THE TOOLKIT - Proven experience leading and managing Site Reliability Engineering or DevOps teams in a fast-paced, high-growth environment. - Deep expertise in designing, deploying, and operating highly available distributed systems on cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP). - Extensive hands-on experience with Kubernetes (k8s) and container orchestration in production environments. - Proficiency in Golang or similar modern programming languages for infrastructure automation and service development. - Strong understanding of observability principles and experience with tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry, or similar. - Demonstrated ability to manage critical incidents, perform root cause analysis, and implement effective preventative measures. - Familiarity with API gateway technologies, service mesh, or network proxies is a significant plus. THE KONG DNA - Ownership: You take full responsibility for the reliability and performance of systems, driving initiatives from conception to completion. - Urgency: You thrive in dynamic environments, prioritizing critical issues and delivering impactful solutions with speed and precision. - Collaboration: You build strong relationships, foster open communication, and work effectively across global teams to achieve shared goals. BONUS POINTS: - Experience with open-source contributions or active participation in SRE/cloud-native communities. - Certifications in cloud platforms (e.g., AWS Certified DevOps Engineer) or Kubernetes (e.g., CKA, CKAD). - Background in companies focused on developer tools, infrastructure software, or API management. #LI-KC1 About Kong: Kong Inc., a leading developer of API and AI connectivity technologies, is building the infrastructure that powers the agentic era. Trusted by the Fortune 500 and startups alike, Kong's unified API and AI platform, Kong Konnect, enables organizations to secure, manage, accelerate, govern, and monetize the flow of intelligence across APIs and AI models. For more information, visit www.konghq.com http://www.konghq.com.

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