Are you ready to unlock intelligence? If you don’t think you meet all of the criteria below but are still interested in the job, please apply. Nobody checks every box - we’re looking for candidates that are particularly strong in a few areas, and have some interest and capabilities in others. At Kong, our API and AI Gateway sits at the center of how Fortune 500 enterprises and AI-native startups secure and govern the flow of intelligence. Every request into a company's infrastructure goes through the Gateway first. Security isn't a side concern here, it's the top priority: you're guarding the front door. You'll be securing AI traffic while the playbook is still being written: prompt injection, agentic authorization, MCP. These are problems nobody has fully solved yet. We're looking for a Software Engineer with a security specialization to join our Runtimes team as a Security Champion: an engineer who writes real code and makes security a built-in part of how we ship. What you'll do: - Run security-focused code audits, threat modeling, and secure design reviews across our AI Gateway and API Gateway capabilities - Own vulnerability management end-to-end: triage, reproduction, remediation, verification - Partner with AI Gateway engineering on emerging AI/LLM threat patterns (ie: prompt injection, data leakage, model abuse) - Coach engineers on secure coding practices, turning security findings into lasting team habits - Contribute hands-on to Gateway feature work, with security built-in from day one What you'll bring: - 3+ years building production software, with 2+ years in a dedicated security role (AppSec, vulnerability research, or pentesting); - Solid coding skills in a object oriented language (Rust, Java, Python, Go, or similar); - Practical threat-modeling experience; - Working knowledge of cybersecurity (especially L7 security and authentication); - Basic knowledge of AI attack vectors. Nice-to-have: - Familiarity with L7 proxies/API gateway architecture (Nginx, OpenResty, Envoy, HAProxy or Kong); - Experience with Lua; - Open-source contributions; - Willingness to learn Rust is important for where our platform is heading: we'll help you get there. What we offer: - A permanent contract under the CCNL Commercio (Quadro) - Bonus and welfare system - Hybrid work from our Milan Hub at Talent Garden Isola, and a seat at the table where security decisions actually shape what millions of API calls run through every day. About Kong: Kong Inc., the AI Connectivity Company, is building the connectivity layer of AI. Trusted by the Fortune 500® and AI-native startups alike, Kong’s unified API and AI platform enables organizations to secure, manage, accelerate, govern, and monetize the flow of intelligence across APIs and AI traffic — on any model, any cloud. For more information, visit www.konghq.com http://www.konghq.com.