About the role
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: At Kong, our Account Development team works closely with our partners in both Sales and Marketing to build fanatical customer enthusiasm around Kong. Account Development reps are responsible for identifying and qualifying new opportunities for our sales organization. We view our Account Development program as the best way to turbocharge a long and successful career in sales and view our Account Development Representatives (ADRs) as the next wave of Account Executives in Kong. To aid in this endeavor, we invest heavily in the training and development of our team. This includes a 2-week long sales bootcamp, weekly 1-1 mentorship, and global virtual group training. By joining our team, you are making an investment in yourself that will accelerate the rest of your sales career. Our ADRs gain an understanding of our product, community, who we sell to, why they care, and what makes us relevant. They learn how to generate a pipeline quickly and effectively as well as how to achieve a good discovery and qualification. The team is a crucial resource for sales teams across Kong to get great talent. This helps us scale our teams, as well as ensure that we have a culture of meritocracy. Being an ADR, is often a first step to jump-starting a career in sales. At Kong, we have a culture that celebrates diversity, fosters growth and enablement, and ensures that we provide our ADRs with the tools and confidence that they need to grow their careers. The ADR leadership team has a true understanding of where each ADR is at in their personal development process, and mentors and enables them to ensure that they have the means and opportunity to be considered for their next role. At Kong, we truly believe that if you want to earn your MBA in sales, this is the place to be. As a leadership team, we spend an exorbitant amount of time working in the trenches with our teams to help them fine-hone their business and sales acumen and ramp them to productivity, success, and greater roles. What you'll be doing: Your First 90 Days By the end of month 1, you will: Have met your new team and had fun playing with some new tools Become a part of the wider Kong family Have had a successful sales bootcamp training Have a good understanding of what makes Kong’s product offerings so special Understand how our Account Development, Marketing and Account Executive teams all work together By the end of month 2, you will: Be comfortable talking to clients on the phone about Kong Have worked with our Account Executive team on your first opportunity Have shadowed a ton of calls and practiced several role plays Started delivering your ramp quota By the end of month 3, you will: Know our sales funnel inside and out, and feel confident to add value to our sales org Show clear delivery of our sales methodologies Provide insights to both our Account Development and marketing organizations to help us to continue to iterate and improve Delivered against your ramp quota Role Overview & Key Responsibilities: Work with the Sales team to develop inbound and outbound campaigns from idea generation through to qualified call Develop strong sales and product knowledge and interact with IT and business decision-makers via telephone, video, LinkedIn, and email Update lead and prospect activity in Salesforce to ensure effective lead management Set qualified introductory meetings for the Sales team Nurture early phase opportunities for future pipeline potential Exceed monthly and quarterly opportunity quota Build strong relationships with our marketing team and Account Executives, where we pull together to maximize the win for our business Invest in your self-development, focusing on the skills and attributes that will make you successful in your core role and get you set for future success And any additional tasks required by the manager What you'll bring: 1-2+ years of strong sales or customer-facing experience A self-starter with a track record of hitting and exceeding goals A ‘hunter’ mentality - comfortable prospecting, cold-calling, and following up on incoming leads and a strong desire to win Ability and willingness to learn, react to and share lessons learned across the organisation Open to feedback and can apply to your daily workflow Outstanding communication skills including both phone and written communication as well as active listening An extraordinary character with an incredible drive for success, high work ethic, curious by nature, and obsessed with smashing sales goals Validated time leadership skills and ability to work independently and through coaching Desire to work in a driven and fast-paced environment Passionate about cutting-edge technology with the aptitude to learn new and exciting IT software products, as well as, understand business critical solutions quickly Additional European languages a big plus (French, German or Dutch) 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. #LI-JM3 About Kong: Kong Inc., a leading developer of API and AI connectivity technologies, is building the infrastructure that powers the agentic era. Trusted by the Fortune 500 and startups alike, Kong's unified API and AI platform, Kong Konnect, enables organizations to secure, manage, accelerate, govern, and monetize the flow of intelligence across APIs and AI models. For more information, visit www.konghq.com .