Own the product direction for Kong's AI Management portfolio, bridging technical innovation with enterprise governance.
Posted by employer 1 day ago
First seen on Joblaze 2 hours ago
Last verified on the company career page 2 hours ago
Skills & Technologies
What you'll build
- Architect and execute the product vision and roadmap for AI Management modules
- Lead cross-departmental strategy across engineering, design, and product marketing
- Own the full lifecycle of product modules by writing specs and prioritizing backlogs
- Drive cross-product work connecting AI Management to Kong’s core platform infrastructure
- Support regional field activities and customer-facing technical engagements
Must have
- 7-10 years of technical product management experience
- Demonstrated ability to translate complex technical challenges into actionable product requirements
- Proven track record driving execution and managing dependencies across globally distributed R&D teams
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Deep project management instincts
Nice to have
- Direct experience with agentic AI development
- Familiarity with enterprise platform engineering
- Experience with cloud-native architectures
AI in the day-to-day
Empowering developers to connect, secure, govern, and scale their AI applications.
Requirements
- Experience
- 7–10 years
Not disclosed in this posting: compensation, work arrangement, visa sponsorship.
Joblaze summary
In the role of Staff Product Manager for AI Management at Kong, the individual will architect and execute the product vision for AI Management modules, focusing on capabilities like LLM routing and governance. Key skills include a strong technical background in developer tools and API platforms, along with the ability to translate complex challenges into actionable requirements. This position is suited for experienced product managers with a track record of driving execution across distributed teams. The role emphasizes collaboration and urgency in a fast-paced, pre-IPO environment.
Joblaze insights
- Listed today — first seen on Joblaze October 11, 2026. Last confirmed on Kong's careers page October 11, 2026.
- This exact title is also open at 1 other location at Kong: Milan, Italy.
- AI/ML appears in 38.4% of 151 comparable staff product roles in United States; Kubernetes appears in 2% of 151 comparable staff product roles in United States.
Quick facts
- How much experience is required?
- 7–10 years of relevant experience for this Staff Product Manager, AI Management role.
- What's the tech stack?
- Joblaze extracted these technologies from the posting: AI/ML, API, Kubernetes.
- What seniority level is this role?
- Kong targets staff-level candidates for this position.
- Is this full-time or contract?
- Full-time for this Staff Product Manager, AI Management role at Kong.
From the original posting
The Mission
At Kong, we are building the future of AI connectivity, empowering developers to connect, secure, govern, and scale their AI applications with speed and intelligence. As a Staff Product Manager for AI Management, you will own the product direction for our fastest-growing agentic AI portfolio—including our flagship AI Gateway—serving as a critical strategic lever in the Agentic Era. You will bridge high-impact technical innovation with enterprise runtime governance, context management, and developer platform experience to turn APIs and AI connectivity into an organizational innovation factory.
What You’ll Do
Architect and execute the product vision and roadmap for AI Management modules, driving core capabilities around agentic harnesses, LLM routing, policies, context, guardrails, and evaluation.
Lead cross-departmental strategy as a multiplier across engineering, design, product marketing, and executive leadership to align shared roadmaps without operational friction.
Own the full lifecycle of your product modules by writing precise specs, prioritizing backlogs, and balancing new feature delivery against technical debt and platform dependencies.
Drive cross-product work connecting AI Management to Kong’s core platform infrastructure, enabling seamless data plane and control plane integration.
Speed up the clock on high-velocity delivery cadences in close partnership with engineering leads to scope work, navigate trade-offs, and accelerate time to market.
Support regional field activities, customer-facing technical engagements, and sales enablement to validate product-market fit and ensure developer delight.
What You’ll Bring
7-10 years of technical product management experience owning and shipping technical products in developer tools, API platforms, or AI infrastructure.
Demonstrated ability to translate complex technical challenges—such as Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, request routing, data plane architectures, and transport trade-offs—into actionable product requirements.
Proven track record driving execution and managing dependencies across globally distributed R&D teams.
Strong written and verbal communication skills to articulate technical strategy across multiple functions and seniority levels.
Deep project management instincts to track work, surface blockers early, and keep cross-functional roadmaps on schedule.
The Kong DNA
Ownership: You act as a driver, not a passenger, holding yourself accountable for product outcomes, runtime performance, and customer success.
Urgency: You model speed and efficiency in everything you do, navigating the fast-paced pre-IPO landscape with grit and focus.
Collaboration: You lead like an API by working cross-functionally, breaking down silos, and building alignment across global teams.
Bonus Points
Direct experience with agentic AI development, including AI agents, AI gateways, LLM routing, AI observability, prompt management, guardrails, MCP servers, and A2A communications.
Familiarity with enterprise platform engineering, Kubernetes, cloud-native architectures, control planes, and data planes.
#LI-MP1
Standard company text repeated across Kong's postings is omitted here.