Technical Program Manager,

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:

We're looking for a Technical Program Manager to join Kong Inc! As a member of the Engineering Operations team, you will work closely with Engineering, Product, and Field teams to ensure the successful launch of new products and features. You'll develop, scope, plan, coordinate, and improve upon the release readiness process.

• Why should you want to work at Kong?
• Market Opportunity - We are on a quest to build a $10b+ software company over the next few years and need YOUR help!
• APIs are driving innovation across every industry!
• Strong VC team, Series D, strong year over year revenue growth!
• Technical Leadership - We are recognized as the leader in innovation in the connectivity space.
• Marco, our CTO/co-founder - "We are the Cisco of L4 and L7" - CUBE Conversation, March 2021
• We are the leading innovator in the connectivity space!
• Amazing Team & Culture - Come be a "Konger" and find out what we mean.
• Great Place to Work Certified in 2020 & 2021
• Kong employees discuss our culture at our 2020 Company Kickoff
• Building Great Products - Learn why the world's largest companies love our tech!
• Kong Named a Leader in the 2020 Gartner Magic Quadrant
• Over 250m+ downloads of our open source API gateway! Over 40k+ stars on Github between Kong API and Kong Insomnia!

What you'll be doing:

• Drive operational release readiness for product releases; collaborating across global teams and stakeholders from varied functional areas.
• Partner with engineering product management teams to align milestones to product roadmaps and ensure successfully completion of defined deliverables through various project management and tracking processes.
• Develop and foster cross-functional relationships and ensure communication between Operations, Product, Engineering, Product Marketing, the Field teams is thorough and consistent.
• Continuously assess risk events and their impact and actively work with applicable stakeholders to drive mitigation strategies.
• Collaborate with the appropriate stakeholders and work toward resolution as issues arise.
• Drive and implement solutions for gaps, inefficiencies, or inconsistencies within the release process.

What you'll bring:

• Excellent communication skills, organizational practices, and stakeholder management abilities.
• Ability to initiate/develop and independently drive cross-functional projects to completion in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent problem-solving skills, and the ability to translate ambiguous business challenges into actionable plans.
• Strong interpersonal skills to work effectively with a wide variety of stakeholders and teams across varying disciplines and levels - both technical and non-technical.

Qualifications

• BS/BA degree or equivalent years of experience in Business, Operations, Communications, Engineering or a related field.
• 5+ years of experience in technical program/project management, product management, or other related field.
• Experience working with and influencing cross-functional teams and senior leadership.
• Ability to build strategic processes that align with company vision.
• Ability to leverage data to inform and support critical decisions - must be able to present data in a consumable manner.
• Previous experience working with software development teams.
• Familiarity with customer support workflows and operational design best practices.
• Knowledge of project management methodologies such as Agile, Kanban, or Scrum.
• Experience with ticketing systems such as Jira.
• PmP or Agile certifications are a plus.

We are an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status.

What is a Konger?

We are a group of makers, thinkers, and doers focused on helping today's developers build tomorrow's technology. Our teams work on the bleeding edge of API innovation to provide our users with a central nervous system for data and services.

We put design at the heart of everything we do, and we're relentlessly focused on creating beautiful experiences for our customers. That's why technology companies, major banks, e-commerce innovators, and government agencies put Kong in front of their most important web applications.

We believe in the power of Open Source and everything it stands for. That's why developers around the world enthusiastically contribute on top of our open-source platform.

We are passionate about solving challenges that will fundamentally shape the future of technology, and we're looking for the right people to join us on our mission. If you believe in taking ownership of your work, making an impact, and having fun along the way, we would love to talk to you.

Kong Core Values:

• Be Inclusive. We work together from anywhere to achieve our common goals. Our differences make us stronger.
• Be Authentic. We are genuine, principled and confident without arrogance. Show respect and kindness, especially in tough moments.
• Be Relentlessly Resourceful. We work with purpose, obsession and grit. It takes muscle to do hard things and doing hard things build muscle.
• Be Customer Obsessed. We care. Customers are everything, we put them at the center of everything you do. We are all empowered to make an impact.
• Be Curious. We value ideas over hierarchy. Never accept the status quo. We make bold bets, fail, and learn everyday. There is always a way.
• Be an Owner. We are drivers not passengers and own the quality and outcomes of our work.

About Kong:

Kong creates software and managed services that connect APIs and microservices natively across and within clouds, Kubernetes, data centers and more using intelligent automation. Built on an open source core, Kong's service connectivity platform enables digital innovation by allowing organizations to reliably and securely manage the full lifecycle of APIs and services for modern architectures, including microservices, serverless and service mesh. By providing developer teams with unprecedented architectural freedom, Kong accelerates innovation cycles, increases productivity, and seamlessly bridges legacy and modern systems and applications. For more information about Kong, please visit konghq.com or follow @thekonginc on Twitter.