Jobs › Companies › Kong › Enterprise Account Executive - Growth (SFO)

About this Enterprise Account Executive - Growth (SFO) role at Kong

Kong · Onsite · California, United States

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.

Why Kong?
Every enterprise building microservices, cloud-native architectures, and generative AI workloads runs on APIs. Kong is the cloud-native API and AI connectivity company, trusted by Fortune 500s and millions of developers worldwide.

If you sell infrastructure, dev tools, or data platforms, you know what developer mindshare is worth. At Kong, you aren’t evangelizing unproven tech from scratch. You’re monetizing an existing open-source groundswell and partnering with enterprise architecture, security, and engineering leaders to power mission-critical API traffic.

What makes this role high-leverage

  • A proven land-and-expand engine: Convert open-source and developer adoption into strategic, multi-year enterprise platform commitments (Kong Konnect, AI Gateway, Service Mesh).

  • High-impact deals: Run complex, multi-threaded enterprise cycles (100k–1M+ ACV) across CTO, VP of Platform/Architecture, and CISO personas.

  • Modern AI and cloud relevance: Put Kong at the center of the enterprise stack, securing, managing, and routing LLM traffic alongside traditional microservices.

  • True cross-functional support: Backed by world-class Solutions Engineers, dedicated SDRs, Customer Success, and an active developer community.

  • Full-cycle ownership: Your territory, your pipeline, your deals. You run everything from first outreach through negotiation to close.

  • A voice in the product: What you hear from customers goes straight to product and marketing, and it shapes what we build and how we take it to market.

  • Visibility: Represent Kong at industry events, conferences, and customer meetings.

What you bring

  • Enterprise software track record: 5+ years of full-cycle closing with mid-market and enterprise logos (>1,000 employees), and consistent quota overachievement.

  • Ecosystem literacy: Direct experience in modern B2B SaaS or infrastructure, ideally across commercial open source (COSS), developer platforms, cloud/networking, APIs, Kubernetes, or observability.

  • Multi-persona discovery: You can work bottoms-up with technical champions (engineers, architects) and top-down with executive economic buyers (CTO, VP Eng, CISO).

  • Strategic territory ownership: A disciplined MEDDPICC or Command of the Message approach to pipeline generation, accurate forecasting, and deal execution.

  • Consultative selling: You find the customer’s actual problem, tie the solution to a business outcome, and tailor every demo to match.

  • Negotiation under pressure: You’re comfortable in high-stakes conversations and build relationships that last past the signature.

  • Account planning and CRM discipline: You research accounts and industry trends before you call, and you keep Salesforce (or similar) current enough to forecast from.

  • Builder mindset: You thrive in a fast-moving, early-stage environment, take ownership of your territory, and adjust when the market shifts.

Why top sellers join us

  • Clear category winner: Gartner Leader with top-tier adoption metrics and continuous product momentum.

  • Uncapped upside: Highly competitive base/variable structure, accelerators, and equity.

  • Culture of execution: Autonomous, fast-moving, and low on bureaucracy. Built for builders and closers.

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.

Ready to apply to Kong?
Apply to Kong

How this Account Executive salary compares

This role pays $290,000/yr — above the typical range for Account Executive roles.

$76,500 median $147,500 $330,000

Typical range $115,000–$275,500/yr, from 111 comparable Account Executive listings on JobsRadar (pay annualized to USD). See Account Executive salary insights →

Similar jobs

Contentful
Enterprise Account Executive
Contentful
⚡ Apply early San Francisco, California, Uni... Onsite $135,300–$181,000
● New 👁 Seen ✓ Applied 1d ago
Checkr
Strategic Account Executive
Checkr
⚡ Apply early Remote, United States; San Fra... · location restricted $298,642–$351,343
● New 👁 Seen ✓ Applied 1d ago
Elastic
Strategic Account Executive - AI Natives - West
Elastic
⚡ Apply early California, United States Onsite $113,300–$179,200
● New 👁 Seen ✓ Applied 1d ago
Compass
Enterprise Account Executive
Compass
⚡ Apply early San Jose, California, United S... Onsite $110,000–$120,000
● New 👁 Seen ✓ Applied 1d ago
Compass
Account Executive
Compass
⚡ Apply early San Jose, California, United S... Onsite $110,000–$120,000
● New 👁 Seen ✓ Applied 1d ago
Paystand
Senior Account Executive
Paystand
⚡ Apply early San Francisco, California, Uni... Hybrid $180,000–$200,000
● New 👁 Seen ✓ Applied 1d ago
Paystand
Senior Account Executive
Paystand
⚡ Apply early Santa Cruz, California, United... Hybrid $180,000–$200,000
● New 👁 Seen ✓ Applied 1d ago
Hubble Network
Senior Account Executive
Hubble Network
⚡ Apply early San Francisco, California, Uni... Onsite $110,000–$184,000
● New 👁 Seen ✓ Applied 1d ago
Kong
Enterprise Account Executive - San Francisco
Kong
⚡ Apply early California, United States · location restricted $320,000–$400,000
● New 👁 Seen ✓ Applied 1d ago

Sign up for suggestions tailored to the jobs you open and the searches you save.

More jobs at Kong

See all jobs at Kong →

Apply now
🤖

Whoa — hold up

JobsRadar was built for real people having a rough time in their job search — not for automated requests. You're clicking way too fast and you're now temporarily blocked.

Come back later. If you're genuinely job hunting, we've got your back — just act like a human.

Catch your next role the second it’s posted.

Create a free account and we’ll watch the boards for you — the instant a job matches your search, it lands in your inbox or Telegram. No digging, no refreshing.

Create free account

Free forever · takes 30 seconds · already have one?

Get an edge on your job hunt.

Join our Telegram channel for the stuff that helps you land the role — salary benchmarks, the weekly market pulse, and new-feature drops. No spam, just signal.

Join the channel — it's free