Kong Developer

Job Summary

We are looking for a Kong Certified Developer with 2+ years of hands-on experience in API development and API Gateway management using Kong. The ideal candidate should have experience designing, implementing, and maintaining secure, scalable, and high-performance API solutions. Candidates with a valid Kong certification and strong knowledge of microservices architecture are preferred.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, deploy, and manage APIs using the Kong API Gateway.
• Configure and maintain Kong services, routes, consumers, plugins, and upstreams.
• Develop and implement API security policies including OAuth2, JWT, API Keys, and mTLS.
• Integrate Kong with backend microservices and enterprise applications.
• Configure traffic management features such as rate limiting, load balancing, request transformation, and caching.
• Troubleshoot API gateway issues and optimize API performance.
• Develop custom Kong plugins where required.
• Work closely with development, DevOps, and infrastructure teams to ensure seamless API deployments.
• Automate Kong configuration using Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, decK, or similar tools).
• Monitor API health, logs, and metrics using monitoring tools.
• Ensure API governance, documentation, and compliance with organizational standards.
• Participate in code reviews and follow best development practices.

Required Skills

• 2+ years of experience working with Kong API Gateway.
• Kong Certified Developer certification (mandatory).
• Strong knowledge of REST APIs and API lifecycle management.
• Experience with Kong Gateway (OSS and/or Enterprise).
• Hands-on experience with Kong plugins and plugin configuration.
• Good understanding of API security concepts:
• OAuth 2.0
• JWT
• OpenID Connect (OIDC)
• mTLS
• API Key Authentication
• Experience with microservices architecture.
• Knowledge of Docker and Kubernetes.
• Experience with Linux environments.
• Familiarity with Git and CI/CD pipelines.
• Understanding of API monitoring and logging tools.
• Experience with PostgreSQL
• Experience with Konnect or Kong Enterprise.
• Knowledge of decK, Terraform, or other Infrastructure-as-Code tools.
• Familiarity with service mesh technologies.
• Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or GCP.
• Knowledge of NGINX and Lua scripting.
• Exposure to Kafka or other messaging systems.
• Experience working in Agile/Scrum environments.

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field.

Preferred Certifications

Kong Certified Developer (Mandatory)

Kong Gateway Administrator (Preferred)