Full-Time

Enterprise Account Executive

Confirmed live in the last 24 hours

Kong

Kong

501-1,000 employees

API management and connectivity solutions provider

Data & Analytics
Enterprise Software

Senior, Expert

Remote in USA

Compensation varies depending on a wide array of factors, including but not limited to specific candidate location.

Category
Strategic Account Management
Sales & Account Management
Required Skills
Salesforce

You match the following Kong's candidate preferences

Employers are more likely to interview you if you match these preferences:

Degree
Experience
Requirements
  • 7+ years of experience in enterprise sales (>1k employees), with a proven track record of closing complex deals in a SaaS, cloud, or enterprise software environment.
  • Demonstrated success in selling to large enterprises, particularly to senior-level executives and across multiple departments.
  • Strong consultative selling skills, with the ability to understand customer needs and present compelling solutions that drive business outcomes.
  • Excellent communication and negotiation skills, capable of managing high-stakes conversations and building lasting relationships with stakeholders.
  • A results-driven mindset, with a passion for meeting and exceeding sales goals and revenue targets.
  • Experience working with CRM platforms (e.g., Salesforce) and leveraging data to forecast accurately and track sales metrics.
  • Knowledge of open-source software, APIs, or infrastructure software is highly advantageous.
  • Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment, taking ownership of your sales territory and adapting to changing market dynamics.
  • Analytical and strategic thinking, with a knack for identifying business growth opportunities and devising plans to capitalize on them.
Responsibilities
  • Develop and execute sales strategies to target enterprise customers, focusing on building and maintaining a robust pipeline that drives long-term growth.
  • Own the entire sales cycle, from prospecting and initial outreach to contract negotiations and closing deals, while consistently meeting or exceeding revenue targets.
  • Collaborate with internal teams, including product, marketing, and customer success, to ensure a seamless sales experience and alignment on customer needs.
  • Identify customer pain points and align our solutions to address these, delivering customized product demos and presentations tailored to their specific business needs.
  • Build and nurture relationships with C-level executives and key decision-makers within target accounts, establishing yourself as a trusted advisor and ensuring customer satisfaction and retention.
  • Lead account planning efforts by researching potential customers, understanding industry trends, and developing strategies to win new business and grow existing accounts.
  • Monitor and manage sales activities and results, accurately forecasting opportunities and keeping detailed records of interactions and progress in CRM systems.
  • Stay updated on industry trends, competitor offerings, and market changes to position our product effectively and maintain a competitive edge.
  • Contribute to business growth initiatives, providing feedback to product and marketing teams to influence product development and go-to-market strategies.
  • Represent Kong with professionalism, acting as a brand ambassador at industry events, conferences, and customer meetings.
Desired Qualifications
  • Knowledge of open-source software, APIs, or infrastructure software is highly advantageous.

Kong specializes in API management and connectivity, providing tools that help businesses manage, secure, and optimize their APIs, which are crucial for software applications to communicate. Their main product, the Kong Gateway, is a fast and flexible API gateway capable of handling up to 50,000 transactions per second per node, making it efficient for managing API traffic. Additionally, Kong offers Kong Konnect, a SaaS platform for API management, and Kong Mesh, which helps manage microservices. Unlike many competitors, Kong combines open-source technology with enterprise solutions, allowing clients to access core features for free while offering premium services for larger businesses. The goal of Kong is to enhance developer productivity, improve security, and optimize performance for a wide range of clients in various industries.

Company Size

501-1,000

Company Stage

Series E

Total Funding

$334.7M

Headquarters

San Francisco, California

Founded

2017

Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Kong raised $175 million to enhance AI connectivity, boosting its market position.
  • Kong's Premium Technology Partner Program fosters innovation and expands its ecosystem.
  • Kong's focus on API security aligns with rising demand due to AI-enhanced threats.

What critics are saying

  • Rapid AI evolution may outpace Kong's current API security measures.
  • Increased competition from AI API leaders like OpenAI and Google pressures Kong to innovate.
  • New executive appointments may disrupt existing customer relationships or internal processes.

What makes Kong unique

  • Kong offers a high-performance API gateway supporting 50,000 transactions per second per node.
  • Kong's open-source model attracts a wide range of clients, from startups to enterprises.
  • Kong Insomnia 10 introduces GenAI capabilities, enhancing API development and testing efficiency.

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Benefits

Weekly Donut Chats

Home Office Stipend

Flexible Time Off & Dedicated Unplug Days

Virtual Events

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

-3%

1 year growth

-5%

2 year growth

-8%
FF News
Dec 13th, 2024
New Study From Kong Highlights Rising Threat Of Ai-Enhanced Security Attacks

Kong Inc., a leading developer of cloud API technologies, recently released findings from their API Security Perspectives 2025: AI-Enhanced Threats and API Security Report which highlights today’s API security landscape and how new developments in AI will impact it. Most notably, 25% of respondents have encountered AI-enhanced security threats related to APIs or LLMs, with 75% of respondents expressing serious concern about AI-enhanced attacks in the future. And while 85% say they’re confident in their organisation’s security capabilities, 55% of respondents cited they’ve experienced an API security incident in the past year, highlighting a notable disconnect.The findings also put into perspective the importance of having a strong security strategy noting that 1 in 5 respondents cited their organisation has experienced an API security incident costing more than $500,000 in the past 12 months.While 92% of respondents say they are taking measures to counter AI-enhanced attacks and 88% of respondents citing API security as a top priority, it is clear that many organisations lack the comprehensive security measures needed to protect their API infrastructure in the AI era.“Organisations cannot afford to underestimate their own security risks — especially in the age of AI,” said Marco Palladino, CTO and Co-Founder of Kong, Inc. “The report showcases that API security is being taken seriously as part of overall cybersecurity strategy, but there are still some blind spots that can open an organisation up to threats. As AI continues to advance, not only will companies create more vulnerabilities within their own organisations, but attacks will become more sophisticated. Understanding the full threat landscape is crucial to maintaining a strong API security posture.”As might be expected 84% of respondents feel AI and LLMs will make securing APIs more difficult, but surprisingly, the research finds many basic API security tactics being left out of overall strategy.Only 35% of organisations are adopting zero-trust architecture in order to mitigate API security risks and only 3% of respondents cite shadow APIs as a significant security threat to their organisation

SiliconANGLE
Nov 19th, 2024
Kong raises $175M for AI connectivity

API management company Kong Inc. has raised $175 million in a Series E funding round, bringing its total funding to over $346 million and valuing the company at more than $2 billion. The round was led by Tiger Global and Balderton, with participation from new and existing investors. Kong aims to enhance API management for next-gen AI applications with its Kong AI Gateway, facilitating faster development and centralized security.

VentureBeat
Sep 27th, 2024
Cohere Updates Apis To Make It Easier For Devs To Switch From Other Models

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More. Cohere has announced the release of updated versions of its application programming interfaces (APIs) for its AI models Chat, Embed, Rerank, and Classify.Collectively, the new API updates are known as API V2, and Cohere is being transparent about the fact that the updates are meant to more closely align with AI industry standards to make it easier for developers to switch their applications over to be powered by Cohere’s models in lieu of the competition: namely, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Mistral, and Meta.Earlier this month, Andreessen Horowitz (A16z) general partner Martin Casado posted on X an image of a graph showing the results of a survey from AI API platform Kong of 800 enterprise leaders revealing the large language models (LLMs) they were using. OpenAI’s ChatGPT dominated the chart with 27% market share compared to 18% using Microsoft’s Azure AI cloud service and 17% for Google Gemini. Cohere was second-to-last with a distant 5%, showing how the Toronto-based startup — co-founded by some of the former Google researchers behind the original 2017 Transformer paper that ushered in the generative AI era — has a lot of ground to make up to win over the enterprise customers it’s courting. Enhanced reliability with more precise settingsOne of the most significant changes in the V2 API release is the requirement for developers to specify the model version in their API calls

PR Newswire
Sep 11th, 2024
Kong Insomnia Surpasses 1 Million Users, Becoming The Fastest Growing Platform For Building, Testing And Debugging Apis

Insomnia 10 Introduces Semantic GenAI Infrastructure for Developers, Unlimited Collection Runs, and Secure Enterprise Collaboration to Further Elevate the Developer ExperienceSAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Kong Inc ., a leading developer of cloud API technologies, today announced the release of Kong Insomnia 10, the latest version of its rapidly growing API development solution. Unveiled at API Summit 2024 , Insomnia 10 introduces groundbreaking features that not only enhance developer productivity but also help ensure the highest levels of API quality, security and governance. With over 1 million users, Insomnia continues to establish itself as the go-to tool for building, testing and debugging APIs."Insomnia 10 is a major milestone in our mission to empower developers with what we believe is the most efficient, secure, and cost-effective API development tool on the market," said Marco Palladino, co-founder and chief technology officer of Kong Inc. "With the introduction of GenAI acceleration capabilities, unlimited collection runs and advanced collaboration features, Insomnia 10 sets a new standard for API tools, offering everything developers need out-of-the-box."Elevate Developer Productivity & ExperienceInsomnia 10 is designed to streamline the development process, making it easier and faster for developers to build and test APIs. The new Collection Runner feature allows developers to run an unlimited number of collection runs, schedule the order of execution for requests and manage multiple requests simultaneously

AiThority
Sep 11th, 2024
Kong Advances Konnect Capabilities to Propel Today's API Infrastructures into the AI Era

Kong Inc., a leading developer of cloud API technologies, today announced the launch of the latest version of Kong Konnect, the API platform for the AI era, at API Summit 2024.