Staff Technical Customer Success Manager

About the role

You will join Kong Inc., a developer of API and AI connectivity technologies, as a member of the Customer Experience team. This role involves helping customers unlock the full value of Kong's platform throughout their entire relationship lifecycle, from initial onboarding through long-term growth. You will partner closely with US sales teams to grow and manage a large portfolio of commercial accounts across diverse industries. The position focuses on enabling organizations to use APIs and microservices for their business goals in a fast-paced startup environment where innovation and customer outcomes are top priorities.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Coach customers across every stage of their journey with the ongoing support of the Customer Experience team, ensuring they achieve their desired business outcomes.
• Help customers build a forward-looking vision centered on AI and API optimization for their organization's future growth and digital transformation journey.
• Partner with sales and product groups to make sure customers get the most value from Kong's solution and understand how to apply it effectively.
• Define what successful adoption and meaningful post-sales engagement looks like for each individual customer account over time.
• Drive the creation of new tools and internal processes that improve both team efficiency and customer outcomes while reducing manual overhead and repetition.
• Take ownership of innovative customer projects that push the boundaries of current technology practices and standards.
• Build deep expertise in Kong products and apply that technical knowledge to real-world customer scenarios.
• Work alongside peers, business partners, and internal groups to deliver consistent and measurable value every day through transparent communication and shared goals.
• Identify recurring patterns across a portfolio of commercial customers and suggest automated engagement approaches where appropriate to improve retention and expansion.
• Champion the use of self-service technology and reusable assets to maximize the long-term value Kong provides.

Requirements

• Demonstrated experience in customer-facing roles within technically advanced environments at SaaS or infrastructure software companies, ideally with a track record of retention and growth.
• A builder mindset focused on solving complex problems for both external customers and internal teams alike, finding creative paths forward.
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to work independently to drive effective and timely customer outcomes.
• Solid understanding of complex technology environments including cloud native architectures, distributed systems, and networked applications that power modern digital businesses.
• Foundational knowledge of API management and the core technologies that support modern API driven platforms, including authentication, rate limiting, and traffic routing.
• Good understanding of cloud computing IaaS, DevOps practices, and CI/CD pipelines as they relate to customer success.
• Familiarity with containers, Kubernetes, and microservices as core components of modern cloud native infrastructure and deployment pipelines in production environments.
• Strong self-awareness and excellent written and verbal communication skills in a professional and collaborative setting.

Nice to have

• Prior experience working with open source software communities or contributing to open source projects directly in a professional capacity.
• Exposure to the agentic era of technology and AI connectivity platforms like Kong Konnect specifically.
• Background in managing relationships with Fortune 500 or high-growth startup organizations in enterprise settings with a focus on long-term partnerships.
• Interest in applying reusable assets and engagement patterns across multiple customer accounts at the same time.

Skills & tools

• Kong Konnect unified API and AI connectivity platform
• API management, gateway, and microservices architecture
• Cloud computing IaaS providers and related hosting services such as AWS or Azure
• Containerization and Kubernetes orchestration and scheduling technologies
• DevOps practices and CI/CD workflow automation tools
• Customer lifecycle management and proactive engagement strategies for success

Practical notes

• This role is based in California, United States and is not a remote or work-from-home arrangement.
• Kong works with both Fortune 500 companies and startups across a wide range of industries including financial services, healthcare, retail, and technology.
• The Customer Experience team operates in a dynamic and fast-paced startup setting with consistently high expectations.
• Candidates who do not meet every listed requirement are still strongly encouraged to submit an application, as the team values diverse backgrounds.