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: Kong is building the future of API management for developers, empowering organizations to connect their services and systems with speed, security, and reliability. As a fast-growing and well-funded company, we take pride in our happy customers, motivated employees, and innovative products that shape the API landscape. As a Staff Product Manager for Kong’s observability offerings, you will lead the charge to build out and enhance Kong’s existing observability and tracing offerings. Observability is a key reason why customers choose Kong and Konnect, and the roadmap you drive will be critical to Kong’s growth and success. You will collaborate closely with a talented and focused engineering team while maintaining 360-degree ownership of the product, engaging with engineering, field teams, other product managers, and customers to deliver value. At Kong, your contributions will have an outsized impact, as our small and agile environment amplifies the influence of every team member. What you’ll do: Define and Drive Product Vision : Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including engineering, design, and field teams, to establish and execute a clear vision for Kong’s observability & debuggability experiences for our connectivity runtimes (API Gateway, Event Gateway, AI Gateway, and Service Mesh)Event Gateway, ensuring alignment with customer needs and long-term production plans. Lead Execution : Partner with engineering and design leaders to scope, define, and deliver capabilities for the product’s releases that bring customer value and reduce the MTTR for customers investigating incidents or looking for deeper performance metrics. Customer-Focused Planning : Develop a deep understanding of customer needs and use cases, supported by solid data and evidence. Translate this understanding into artifacts outlining target use cases, milestone plans, and timelines to guide the product roadmap. Ensure Cross-Functional Alignment : Work closely with engineering, design, and marketing teams to align on use case execution, milestone delivery, and launch plans. Foster collaboration and ensure clarity in planning and execution across all relevant stakeholders. Develop Roadmaps and Plans : Create and maintain a comprehensive external-facing roadmap and related materials that clearly communicate the product direction and milestones. Collaborate with Product Marketing Management (PMM) to develop and execute a clear launch plan, ensuring all deliverables are approved and on track. Champion Communication and Transparency : Serve as the central point of communication, keeping internal and external stakeholders informed on progress, milestones, and expectations. Build strong relationships with field teams to ensure project updates and outcomes are effectively communicated. What you’ll bring: Experience: 6+ years in product management, working on developer infrastructure products and working with technical customers. Deep understanding of customer needs, onboarding, and product adoption. An understanding and sympathy for how engineering - in both small startups and large enterprises, are typically organized and operated operate. Knowledge of common tools and patterns in the Observability and data ecosystem such as Prometheus, Grafana, Zipkin/OpenTracing, OpenTelemetry, Druid, ClickHouse, etc. Understand the impact of sampling and cardinality on the performance and cost of metrics management. Effectively engaging with stakeholders, identifying core pain points, and articulating a clear product vision. #LI-KK1 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 .