Kong AI Gateway Engineer (Remote, United States)

Allstate•McCullom Lake, IL

1d•$100,000 - $170,500•Remote

About The Position

The Software Engineer Lead Consultant will serve as a technical lead focused on Kong AI Gateway, applying expertise in API Gateway management, Kong administration, and AI/LLM proxy development. The role architects, designs, builds, tests, and supports modern digital products, owning applications through production and driving their success against key performance goals. The position develops and operates enterprise-grade AI Gateway solutions, including secure access to multiple LLM providers through a unified gateway, AI-specific policies and governance, observability and cost controls, and routing across models. It also supports RAG-based services, AI agent and MCP integrations, and enterprise GenAI platform standards. Candidates must be able to work Central Time or Eastern Time hours. The role is remote in the United States. Work-from-home employees need a dedicated, private workspace, appropriate desk and seating, and reliable internet with minimum speeds of 50 MB download and 5 MB upload. Allstate provides a technology setup including a laptop, monitors, headset, keyboard, and mouse. Employees eligible to work from home receive a monthly connectivity reimbursement. Compensation is $100,000 to $170,500 annually, based on experience and qualifications. A background investigation is required.

Requirements

8+ years of experience in API Management, Middleware, or Platform Engineering.
3 to 5 years of hands-on experience with Kong Gateway Administration.
Experience with Kong Gateway (OSS/Enterprise) and Kong Konnect.
Knowledge of API Management and API Lifecycle Management.
Experience with AI Gateway / LLM Proxy Development.
Experience integrating OpenAI / Azure OpenAI.
Knowledge of REST APIs and GraphQL.
Knowledge of OAuth2, JWT, OIDC, and API security.
Experience with Kubernetes, Docker, and Helm.
Experience with CI/CD tools such as Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or Azure DevOps.
Knowledge of monitoring tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, ELK, or Splunk.
Experience with Azure, AWS, or GCP cloud platforms.
Knowledge of Kong AI Gateway configuration and administration.
Knowledge of LLM traffic routing, load balancing, and failover management.
Knowledge of prompt management, prompt security, and guardrails.
Knowledge of AI security, responsible AI, and model governance.
Knowledge of token usage monitoring, rate limiting, and cost optimization.
Knowledge of multi-LLM integration, including OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, Mistral, or Llama.
Understanding of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) architecture concepts and vector databases.
Knowledge of LLMOps, AI observability, and model performance monitoring.
Knowledge of AI API governance, compliance, and data protection.
Knowledge of prompt caching, semantic caching, and response optimization.
Knowledge of model gateway policy development and AI consumption controls.
Understanding of MCP (Model Context Protocol) and AI agent integration concepts.
Knowledge of GenAI platform engineering and enterprise AI enablement.
Ability to work Central Time or Eastern Time hours.

Nice To Haves

Experience with cloud-native and microservices architectures.

Responsibilities

Design and implement enterprise-grade AI Gateway solutions using Kong AI Gateway.
Configure AI-specific policies, including prompt logging, content filtering, token controls, and guardrails.
Enable secure access to multiple LLM providers through a unified gateway architecture.
Implement AI observability, token analytics, usage tracking, and cost governance.
Develop routing strategies across AI models based on latency, cost, and availability.
Integrate RAG-based AI services through secure API management frameworks.
Ensure compliance with enterprise AI governance, security, and regulatory requirements.
Establish AI platform standards, reusable AI APIs, and best practices for GenAI adoption.
Support AI agent and MCP-based integrations within enterprise ecosystems.
Drive AI platform reliability, scalability, and operational excellence.
Configure, administer, and support Kong Gateway environments.
Develop and manage AI Gateway proxies for GenAI/LLM services.
Implement API security, authentication, throttling, and governance policies.
Integrate AI platforms such as Azure OpenAI and OpenAI through secure API gateways.
Deploy and manage Kong in Kubernetes-based environments.
Monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize gateway performance and availability.
Automate deployments and operational processes using DevOps tools.
Own applications through production and drive their success against key performance goals.