Head of Design, Kong
$212-240k
Microservice API gateway
Open for applications
Microservice API gateway
501-1000 employees
Open for applications
$212-240k
501-1000 employees
Company mission
To build the nervous system that will safely and reliably connect all of humankind!
Role
Who you are
- Demonstrable track record of improving the business impact of design teams and ushering in product-led growth
- Experience in leading strategic system thinking across a technical product space, developing user experience goals, and making decisions based on the impact to Kong’s users and the company's needs
- You’re an organizer over an artist—both program and project management skills to transform defined customer needs and business goals into estimated plans with appropriate resources
- Manager of manager experience and direct passion for coaching teams through the process of planning, navigating trade-offs, and creating meaningful user experiences
- An in-depth understanding of human-centered design methods, design thinking techniques, and design tools
- Demonstrated presentation and communication style appropriate for executive-level audiences
- Ability to create a learning environment where designers grow and expand skill-sets, techniques, and tools
- Suggested 5+ years manager experience
What the job involves
- As the Head of Design at Kong, you'll lead a strategic shift into product-led growth with the platform user experience as a driver of business value
- You’ll take ownership of key end-to-end journeys across multiple products in the platform to drive greater adoption, engagement and revenue expansion
- You will be a strategic visionary collaborating as an opinioned peer with product, engineering and business leaders
- You'll sit on the product leadership team and be responsible for communicating the priorities of the product design team, defining goals and ensuring alignment to help establish a shared vision across the company
- Plan, strategize, and envision key user journeys with product managers, engineers and other stakeholders
- Own the performance of key end-to-end user journeys across the Kong platform
- Re-found the design team for a new era of quality and cohesion leading all aspects of design across Kong’s product line, including our upcoming next generation SaaS connectivity platform
- Push the boundaries of what we deliver in terms of design quality
- We care deeply about both product strategy and execution, and you will be involved in raising the standard for both
Otta's take
Sam Franklin
CEO of Otta
Kong provides a cutting-edge API and service lifecycle management platform tailored for modern architectures, such as microservices, containers, cloud, and serverless environments. With a focus on flexibility, scalability, speed, and performance, Kong allows developers and Global 5000 enterprises to securely connect and orchestrate microservice APIs for today's sophisticated applications.
The core products offered by Kong include Kong, an open-source API and Microservices management solution Galileo, a platform for API analytics and debugging; Gelato, a platform for creating developed portals for PIs and Microservices; and API Marketplace, a hub for discovering and publishing cloud APIs. Additionally, the recent introduction of a new collection of AI plug-ins in Kong Gateway 3.6 enhances the platform's capabilities further, reinforcing its commitment to innovation and advancement.
In pursuit of growth, the company is prioritizing expanding its marketing efforts, bolstering its customer service team, and accelerating product development. By focusing on these key areas, Kong aims to continue providing unparalleled solutions and support to its ever-expanding user base in the rapidly evolving landscape of modern application development.
Insights
Some candidates hear
back within 2 weeks
23% female employees
2% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 6 rounds)
Feb 2021
$100m
SERIES D
Mar 2019
$43m
SERIES C
Total funding: $169.1m
Company benefits
- Flexible time off: Take time to take care of yourself and the things that matter most
- Stock options: We want you to share in our success. That's why stock options are offered to most Kongers
- U-First Fridays: Get 4 hours a month for continuous learning with a book, podcast, or course of your choice
- Virtual events: Stay connected with Donut chats, trivia, fitness challenges, guided meditations, and more
- Dedicated unplug days: Silence those notifications. Enjoy some well-deserved long weekend where the entire team unplugs
- Home office stipend: Build a home office environment tailored to support your productivity
Company values
- Global: Be inclusive. We work together from anywhere to achieve our common goals. Our differences make us stronger
- Real: Be authentic. We are genuine, principled and confident without arrogance. Show respect and kindness, especially in tough moments
- Unstoppable: Be relentlessly resourceful. We work with purpose, obsession and grit. It takes muscle to do hard things and doing hard things build muscle
- Champions: Be customer obsessed. We care. Customers are everything, we put them at the center of everything you do. We are all empowered to make an impact
- Explorers: Be curious. We value ideas over hierarchy. Never accept the status quo. We make bold bets, fail, and learn everyday. There is always a way
- Own it: Be an owner. We are drivers not passengers and own the quality and outcomes of our work
Company HQ
The East Cut, San Francisco, CA
Articles
Founders
Augusto Marietti
(CEO)Previously founded Mashape API Marketplace. Before Mashape, Augusto was an SF homeless immigrant from Italy.
Janet Phillips
(Vice President of People)Previously Director at SonicWALL for 5 years and Senior Director at Symantec for 7 years.
Marco Palladino
(CTO)Previously co-founded MemboxX, an online service for storing documents and small pieces of personal data.
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