Are you ready to unlock intelligence?
About the role
You'll make our customers' first strategic AI use case work securely, in production, in their real environment. Not a demo. Not a proof-of-concept that quietly dies. Real traffic, real identity, real policy.
As a Forward-Deployed Engineer in EMEA, you'll sit with platform, security and engineering teams at some of the region's most important enterprises, and own the technical path from first discovery call to a workload that's actually running. You're a builder with enterprise architecture instincts, credible with staff engineers and security architects, and comfortable owning ambiguity across APIs, AI Gateway, agents, MCP, identity and policy.
This is not a demo-only SE role, and it's not a ticket-based implementation consultancy. You own technical success for strategic AI opportunities end to end, then take what you learn back into Kong's own engineering team to make the next deal faster.
What you'll do
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Lead AI, API and agentic technical discovery with customer platform, security and engineering teams.
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Design runtime architecture across models, APIs, MCP and tool access, identity and policy.
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Build prototypes, integrations, evaluation flows and reference implementations that prove Kong governs real production traffic.
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Remove blockers in pilot and production: auth, network, observability, latency and cost.
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Own the technical path from pilot to paid, and stay on it until the workload is running.
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Turn what you build into reusable patterns, so the next AI Gateway deal is faster and cheaper to win.
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Spend regular time embedded with Kong's internal engineering team, pairing on AI Gateway and agentic roadmap work.
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Feed field patterns and roadmap-critical requirements straight back to Product, before competitors define the narrative.
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Partner with Sales, Solutions Engineering and Customer Success across EMEA on strategic AI opportunities.
What you'll bring
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Strong hands-on engineering background, with experience building and shipping production software (Go, Python, TypeScript or similar).
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Experience in a customer-facing technical role such as forward-deployed, solutions architecture, staff or principal engineering, or technical consulting.
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Enterprise architecture instincts: you can design for identity, network, security and observability constraints in complex environments.
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Working knowledge of LLM and agentic patterns: model APIs, tool calling, MCP, evaluation and cost and latency trade-offs.
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Experience with API gateways or infrastructure: Kubernetes, service mesh, OAuth/OIDC, mTLS, policy enforcement.
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Credibility with staff engineers and security architects. You can lead a technical discussion from whiteboard to working code.
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You own outcomes, not tickets. You're comfortable with ambiguity and drive work to done.
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Strong written and verbal communication in English; additional European languages are a plus.
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Willingness to travel to customer sites across EMEA as needed.
Bonus points
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Prior experience at an AI-native, developer-platform or infrastructure company.
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Experience with Kong Gateway, Konnect or other API management platforms.
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Open source contributions, or a track record of publishing reference architectures or patterns.
About Kong:
Kong Inc., the AI Connectivity Company, is building the connectivity layer of AI. Trusted by the Fortune 500 and AI-native startups alike, Kong's unified API and AI platform enables organizations to secure, manage, accelerate, govern, and monetize the flow of intelligence across APIs and AI traffic on any model, any cloud. For more information, visit www.konghq.com.
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Forward Deployed Engineer AI Gateway EMEA in Warwick employer: Kong Inc.
Kong is an exceptional employer that fosters a dynamic and inclusive work culture, perfect for those looking to make a significant impact in the tech industry. As a Lead Sales Recruiter in the EMEA region, you will benefit from unparalleled growth opportunities, working alongside innovative leaders while shaping the future of sales talent acquisition. With a focus on collaboration and strategic partnerships, Kong empowers its employees to thrive in a fast-paced environment, making it an ideal place for ambitious professionals seeking meaningful and rewarding careers.
