Job Description
Ovii's Interpretation of the Role
Kong is seeking a Software Engineer to build and maintain its high‑performance API gateway Operator and Ingress Controller. You will write production‑grade Go code, design components for distributed cloud‑native systems, and collaborate with product, DevOps, and open‑source communities.
Role Snapshot
- Develop Kong Gateway Operator & Ingress Controller
- Write production Go code with unit/integration tests
- Design components for distributed cloud‑native systems
- Collaborate across engineering, product, and DevOps
- Engage with the open‑source community
Must-Have Requirements
- Go (Golang) proficiency
- Kubernetes architecture familiarity
- Unit and integration testing experience
- 1‑2+ years professional software engineering experience
- software engineering
- Go development
Nice-to-Have Signals
- Open‑source contributions in cloud‑native ecosystem
- Basic API gateway or service mesh knowledge
- CI/CD pipeline familiarity
- Proficiency in C/C++/Java/Python as an alternative to Go
- open‑source contributions
- API gateway knowledge
Work Setup
- Location: Milan, Italy
- Work mode: HYBRID
- Remote scope: UNSPECIFIED
- Employment type: Full-Time
Not Specified in JD
- Visa sponsorship
- Salary range
- Remote eligibility
- Education requirement
- Certifications
- Relocation
- Notice period
- Travel
- Security clearance
- Coding test
- Portfolio
- GitHub
- Writing sample
- Cover letter
What You'll Likely Work On
- Contribute to the development and reliability of Kong’s Gateway Operator and Ingress Controller
- Deliver tasks that meet defined acceptance criteria and moderate‑scope problem statements
- Write clean, maintainable Go code and ensure coverage through automated tests
- Participate in peer reviews and contribute to component design decisions
- Debug and resolve issues within the assigned codebase area
- Work closely with product, DevOps, and other engineering teams to ship new features
- Interact with the open‑source community under senior guidance
Good Fit If You Have
- Open‑source contributions, especially in cloud‑native projects
- Experience with C/C++/Java/Python as a fallback language skill
- Basic knowledge of service meshes or Envoy
- Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices
Skills
- Go (Golang)
- Kubernetes concepts
- API gateway fundamentals
- Unit & integration testing
- Distributed systems design
- Collaboration in remote‑first teams
- Open‑source contributions (optional)
- CI/CD pipelines (optional)