Kong API Gateway Specialist

Job Summary

We are seeking an experienced Kong API Gateway Specialist to lead the development, implementation, and governance of our enterprise API ecosystem. This role will be responsible for establishing API governance standards, designing and managing API lifecycle processes, and driving the adoption of best practices across integration and middleware platforms.

The ideal candidate will possess deep expertise in Kong API Gateway, API management, security, integration architecture, and governance frameworks. They will work closely with enterprise architects, development teams, security teams, and business stakeholders to ensure APIs are secure, scalable, reusable, and aligned with organisational standards.

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Key Responsibilities

API Governance & Strategy

• Define and implement an enterprise-wide API Governance Framework.
• Establish API standards, design principles, naming conventions, and development guidelines.
• Develop and maintain API lifecycle management processes, including design, development, testing, deployment, versioning, retirement, and monitoring.
• Create and govern API catalogue requirements, metadata standards, and documentation practices.
• Drive API reusability and consistency across business domains.

Kong API Gateway Administration

• Design, implement, configure, and manage Kong API Gateway solutions.
• Develop policies for traffic management, throttling, rate limiting, routing, and load balancing.
• Manage Kong plugins and integrations to support security, authentication, and monitoring requirements.
• Ensure high availability, performance, scalability, and operational resilience of the API platform.

Security & Compliance

• Define and enforce API security standards and controls.
• Implement authentication and authorisation mechanisms including OAuth2, OpenID Connect, JWT, and API key management.
• Conduct security reviews and support regulatory compliance requirements.
• Work closely with cybersecurity teams to ensure secure API exposure and consumption.

Integration & Middleware

• Collaborate with integration teams to define API-led integration patterns.
• Support enterprise integration initiatives involving middleware and microservices architectures.
• Review and approve API designs to ensure alignment with governance standards and architectural principles.

API Monitoring & Reporting

• Establish API performance metrics, KPIs, and governance dashboards.
• Monitor API usage, health, reliability, and compliance.
• Produce governance reports and recommendations for continuous improvement.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Act as the subject matter expert for API management and governance.
• Provide guidance and mentoring to development and integration teams.
• Facilitate governance reviews, architecture discussions, and design workshops.

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Required Skills & Experience

Technical Skills

• Strong hands-on experience with Kong API Gateway (Enterprise or Open Source).
• Extensive experience in API management and governance.
• Strong understanding of RESTful APIs, OpenAPI Specifications (Swagger), and API design best practices.
• Experience implementing OAuth2, OpenID Connect, JWT, MTLS, and API security controls.
• Experience with API lifecycle management and API cataloguing solutions.
• Strong understanding of integration technologies and middleware platforms.
• Familiarity with cloud environments such as Azure, AWS, or GCP.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines, DevOps practices, and infrastructure automation.

Architecture & Governance

• Experience creating and implementing enterprise API governance models.
• Knowledge of enterprise architecture principles and integration patterns.
• Experience establishing API standards, policies, and operating models.
• Understanding of regulatory, compliance, and security considerations in API ecosystems.

Preferred Skills

• Experience with developer portals and API marketplaces.
• Knowledge of service mesh technologies and microservices architecture.
• Experience with observability tools such as Grafana, Prometheus, Splunk, or Dynatrace.
• Familiarity with containerisation and Kubernetes.

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Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, or related discipline.
• Relevant certifications in API management, cloud platforms, integration technologies, or Kong are highly desirable.

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Success Measures

The successful candidate will:

• Establish a robust enterprise API Governance Framework.
• Improve API consistency, security, and reusability across the organisation.
• Implement effective API lifecycle management processes.
• Deliver a well-maintained API catalogue and governance model.
• Drive adoption of API standards and best practices throughout delivery teams.