Enterprise Account Executive - Growth (SFO)

About this role

Are you ready to unlock intelligence? 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. Why Kong? Every enterprise building microservices, cloud-native architectures, and generative AI workloads runs on APIs. Kong is the cloud-native API and AI connectivity company, trusted by Fortune 500s and millions of developers worldwide.

If you sell infrastructure, dev tools, or data platforms, you know what developer mindshare is worth. At Kong, you aren’t evangelizing unproven tech from scratch. You’re monetizing an existing open-source groundswell and partnering with enterprise architecture, security, and engineering leaders to power mission-critical API traffic. What makes this role high-leverage: - A proven land-and-expand engine: Convert open-source and developer adoption into strategic, multi-year enterprise platform commitments (Kong Konnect, AI Gateway, Service Mesh).

- High-impact deals: Run complex, multi-threaded enterprise cycles (100k–1M+ ACV) across CTO, VP of Platform/Architecture, and CISO personas. - Modern AI and cloud relevance: Put Kong at the center of the enterprise stack, securing, managing, and routing LLM traffic alongside traditional microservices. - True cross-functional support: Backed by world-class Solutions Engineers, dedicated SDRs, Customer Success, and an active developer community.

- Full-cycle ownership: Your territory, your pipeline, your deals. You run everything from first outreach through negotiation to close. - A voice in the product: What you hear from customers goes straight to product and marketing, and it shapes what we build and how we take it to market. - Visibility: Represent Kong at industry events, conferences, and customer meetings. What You'll Bring: - Enterprise software track record: 5+ years of full-cycle closing with mid-market and enterprise logos (>1,000 employees), and consistent quota overachievement.

- Ecosystem literacy: Direct experience in modern B2B SaaS or infrastructure, ideally across commercial open source (COSS), developer platforms, cloud/networking, APIs, Kubernetes, or observability. - Multi-persona discovery: You can work bottoms-up with technical champions (engineers, architects) and top-down with executive economic buyers (CTO, VP Eng, CISO). - Strategic territory ownership: A disciplined MEDDPICC or Command of the Message approach to pipeline generation, accurate forecasting, and deal execution.