Hybrid Senior Software Engineer – Kubernetes

at Kong Inc.

• Job title: Senior Software Engineer – Kubernetes
• Job type: Full Time
• Experience level: Senior
• Salary: Not specified
• Degree requirement: Bachelor's Degree
• Tech skills: AWS, Azure, Cloud, Distributed Systems, Google Cloud Platform, Kubernetes, Microservices, Go
• Location requirements: Hybrid, Milan, Italy

About the role

• Senior Software Engineer developing Kong’s API gateway and cloud-native solutions for efficient API management. Collaborating with diverse teams to drive innovation and optimize performance.

Responsibilities

• Designing, developing, and maintaining Kong’s Gateway Operator and Ingress Controller to ensure reliability, performance, and scalability.
• Contributing to open-source projects and engaging with the community to drive innovation in API connectivity.
• Collaborating with cross-functional teams (engineering, product, DevOps) to build new features and enhance existing functionality.
• Writing clean, efficient, and well-tested code in Golang while ensuring high code quality through automated testing and peer reviews.
• Optimizing performance for high-throughput, low-latency distributed systems.
• Building and maintaining integrations with Kubernetes and cloud providers (AWS, GCP, Azure).
• Participating in technical design discussions, architecting solutions, and contributing to technical roadmaps.
• Troubleshooting complex system issues and ensuring high availability and resilience.
• Mentoring junior engineers and fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration.
• Staying up to date with emerging trends in cloud computing, Kubernetes, and service meshes.

Requirements

• 5+ years of software engineering experience, with a strong focus on backend development.
• Proficiency in Golang (or strong experience in another modern programming language with the ability to ramp up in Golang).
• Deep knowledge of Kubernetes and the wider cloud-native ecosystem.
• Experience designing and building high-performance, scalable distributed systems.
• Familiarity with APIs, microservices, and networking (L4/L7 concepts).
• Strong understanding of observability, monitoring, and debugging techniques in cloud environments.
• Experience working with cloud platforms such as AWS, GCP, or Azure.
• Ability to contribute to and navigate open-source projects.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to work independently in a distributed team.
• Excellent communication skills, with a passion for knowledge sharing and mentoring.

Benefits

• No specific benefits listed in the description