# Software Engineer 2, AI Gateway

**Company:** [Kong](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-companies/kong)
**Location:** Milan, Italy
**Work mode:** Hybrid
**Seniority:** Mid
**Employment type:** Full Time
**Salary:** EUR 64K–79K/yr
**Category:** Software
**Department:** Other
**Listed:** 2026-10-23

[View and apply on Zero G Talent](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/kong/software-engineer-2-ai-gateway-89265243-4f58-42bb-9488-9713c0eb108e)

## What you'll do

- Build and maintain AI API management software
- Implement proxying, load balancing, database features
- Troubleshoot bugs, tune performance, low-level optimizations
- Integrate Kong with third-party deployment platforms
- Perform additional tasks as assigned by manager

## What you need

- 3+ yrs server-side programming
- Golang or Rust experience
- Scalable distributed systems experience
- Linux systems troubleshooting and profiling
- Distributed systems and Linux networking expertise

## 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:**

You will join the engineering team that builds the Kong AI gateway, empowering companies and developers around the world to govern every step of their AI & LLM based innovation.

As a Software Engineer in the AI Gateway Team, you will be working on core features such as multi-LLM routing and balancing, semantic caching and routing, MCP, and more.

**What You'll Do:**

-   Responsible for building and maintaining API management software for AI and LLMs and its underlying stack.
    
-   Implement new innovative features including proxying capabilities, load balancing, databases support that extend Kong AI Gateway’s offering.
    
-   Bugs troubleshooting, performance tuning and low-level optimizations.
    
-   Fill the gaps between Kong and third-party deployment platforms and tooling.
    
-   Any additional tasks required by manager.
    

**What You'll Bring:**

-   3+ years of programming in server-side applications and components.
    
-   Hands on experience with either Golang or Rust
    
-   Experience 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.
    

#LI-EA1

  

**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

- [Regional Sales Director, Nordics (Sweden)](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/kong/regional-sales-director-nordics-sweden-ca5e9f81-1f0f-4764-a6f6-590a5cceb782) — Sweden
- [Senior Software Engineer, AI Gateway](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/kong/senior-software-engineer-ai-gateway-5e66a1eb-2709-4cb5-b446-f8e5a33d5544) — Milan, Italy
- [Account Development Representative](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/kong/account-development-representative-2ac2d02c-1801-4c0e-b6b2-63a76ec107a6) — England, United Kingdom
- [Senior Software Engineer, Control Plane](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/kong/senior-software-engineer-control-plane-185f8e98-b9b5-4196-bf2c-d7c5cc84ec09) — Milan, Italy
- [Senior Software Engineer, AI Gateway - Shanghai](https://zerogtalent.com/ai-jobs/kong/senior-software-engineer-ai-gateway-b276f79f-d60e-44d0-9786-1e3cc874d909) — Shanghai, China

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