Enterprise Account Executive - Growth (Austin, TX)
At a glance
Mid-level Account Executive role at Kong. Austin · full-time · $250,000–$320,000 base.
growthroles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- Turn developer and open-source adoption into enterprise platform deals that expand over time
- Run complex sales from first contact through negotiation and close, engaging technical and executive buyers
- Build territory pipeline, forecast accurately and execute deals using a disciplined sales approach
- Research accounts, tailor demos to customer problems and connect solutions to business outcomes
- Bring customer feedback to product and marketing, and represent Kong at events and customer meetings
What you bring
- At least five years closing full-cycle deals with mid-market and enterprise companies, with consistent quota overachievement
- Direct experience selling modern B2B SaaS or infrastructure products
- You can sell to technical champions and executive buyers, and tailor discovery and demos to each
- You use a structured sales method and keep Salesforce or a comparable CRM current for forecasting
Who this fits
This role suits a full-cycle enterprise seller who can build pipeline, manage complex deals and work with both technical and executive buyers. It is based onsite in Austin.
From the employer
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.
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