# Senior Software Engineer, API Gateway - Shanghai

**Company:** [Kong](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-companies/kong)
**Location:** Shanghai, China
**Work mode:** On-site
**Seniority:** Senior
**Employment type:** Full Time
**Category:** Software
**Department:** Other
**Listed:** 2026-10-23

[View and apply on Zero G Talent](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/kong/senior-software-engineer-0eb1c603-23cd-4d32-93fb-02d42463c1f7)

## What you'll do

- Design, build, maintain API management software
- Architect and implement core features (proxying, load balancing)
- Troubleshoot bugs, performance tuning, low-level optimizations
- Engage open source community, extend Kong core
- Integrate Kong with third-party deployment platforms

## What you need

- 5+ yrs server-side programming
- Design scalable distributed systems
- Linux systems troubleshooting and profiling
- Distributed systems, Linux networking, systems programming
- Familiarity with AI LLM concepts

## Job description

**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.

  

**About the Role:**  
Kong is an open-source project with a global adoption around the world. Developers and architects are adopting Kong in production among a large variety of use-cases, and actively help make Kong a better product with their feedback and contributions.  
  
As a Systems Engineer in the Core Team, you will be working on core features such as proxying capabilities, load balancing, and database support with forward-thinking. You will be responsible for building foundations for other teams and customers, discovering and producing cutting edge industry trends and use-cases.  
**What You'll Do:**

-   Responsible for designing, building and maintaining API management software and its underlying stack.
    
-   Architecture, design, and implement new innovative features including proxying capabilities, load balancing, databases support that extend Kong’s offering.
    
-   Bugs troubleshooting, performance tuning and low-level optimizations. Engage with open source community and extend Kong core to support the latest industry trends.
    
-   Fill the gaps between Kong and third-party deployment platforms and tooling.
    
-   And any additional tasks required by manager.
    

**What You'll Bring:**

-   5+ years of programming in server-side applications and components.
    
-   Experience designing, prototyping, building and debugging applications that are highly scalable, distributed, reliable and resilient.
    
-   Solid hands-on low-level technical expertise in Linux systems troubleshooting, and profiling.
    
-   Experience in distributed systems, Linux networking stack and computer systems programming, Kong works with APIs on both L7 and L4 transports and protocols, so this expertise and knowledge are required.
    
-   Comfortable working with a remotely distributed team.
    
-   Strong sense of ownership and excellent verbal and written communication skills -- engineers at Kong write the documentation for their products
    
-   Familiarity with AI LLM concepts and applications development
    

**Bonus Points:**

-   Hands on experience with NGINX/OpenResty/Kong/LuaJIT.
    
-   Hands on experience with Envoy or Istio.
    
-   Hands on experience with Rust
    

  

**About Kong:**

Kong Inc., the AI Connectivity Company, is building the connectivity layer of AI. Trusted by the Fortune 500® and AI-native startups alike, Kong’s unified API and AI platform enables organizations to secure, manage, accelerate, govern, and monetize the flow of intelligence across APIs and AI traffic — on any model, any cloud. For more information, visit [www.konghq.com](http://www.konghq.com).

## Other open roles at Kong

- [Senior Software Engineer, AI Gateway - Shanghai](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/kong/senior-software-engineer-ai-gateway-b276f79f-d60e-44d0-9786-1e3cc874d909) — Shanghai, China
- [Senior Software Engineer, AI Gateway - Shanghai](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/kong/senior-software-engineer-ai-gateway-shanghai-9421a36c-6210-4208-af77-69bd895dad14) — Shanghai, China
- [Senior Software Engineer, AI Gateway - Shanghai](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/kong/senior-software-engineer-ai-gateway-shanghai-bf59414d-ae9d-4a16-adc9-ebe738e7f872) — Shanghai, China
- [Enterprise Account Executive](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/kong/enterprise-account-executive-fe7b8726-9402-4824-bd00-8a8dc268174b) — London, England, United Kingdom
- [Strategic Account Executive](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/kong/strategic-account-executive-7247e772-cef7-4e06-ad89-1887ea19c73d) — London, England, United Kingdom

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*Source: [Zero G Talent](https://zerogtalent.com), the job board for space, defense, AI, robotics and frontier-tech companies.*