Kong AI Gateway Engineer

Where Ambition Meets Innovation Build a career that matches all your initiative with an impressive dose of innovation. From cutting-edge resources and a collaborative environment to the freedom to make an impact and more, you’ll find the ingredients you need at LPL Financial to shape your success while helping clients pursue their financial goals. Job Overview: LPL Financial has a Senior Middleware Engineer opening who will assist in building and maintaining Kong AI gateway platform. The middleware group is responsible for operational aspect of Kong AI gateway platform including upgrading, building patterns and working with various development teams to enable onboarding of MCP and LLM traffic through Kong gateway. The role will blend software engineering, AI/LLM integration and API gateway expertise with strong communication skills. This is an opportunity to work on building AI integration capability for the whole enterprise. The role focuses on enabling secure, scalable, and standardized onboarding of LLM and MCP traffic through a shared AI gateway platform used by multiple product and engineering teams. Responsibilities: Collaborating internally with our Product and Technology teams so they can get the most value out of Kong Platform Developing internal solutions & tools for the organization to help us push our technical boundaries and improve our ability to deliver AI integration to the organization Writing or editing technical documentation and knowledge base articles for the solutions you develop Maintain and upkeep Kong platform Configure and develop Kong plugins for authentication, rate limiting (including token-based throttling), logging, and transformation What are we looking for? We’re looking for strong collaborators who deliver exceptional client experiences and thrive in fast-paced, team-oriented environments. Our ideal candidates pursue greatness, act with integrity, and are driven to help our clients succeed. We value those who embrace creativity, continuous improvement, and contribute to a culture where we win together and create and share joy in our work. Requirements: Minimum of 6 years of relevant software development, middleware, and/or platform engineering experience Proven track record in enterprise API platforms or integration layers to design and manage scaleable API ecosystems Hands-on implementation experience with Kong API and AI gateway and/or API integrations in enterprise environments Practical working knowledge of APIs, microservices, and containerized architectures Proficient in Linux environments including Cloud and Development tooling Core Competencies: Experience with building and deploying software solutions using AI Coding Agents Experience with application development and multiple programming languages required Experience with Lua scripting and strong knowledge of various Kong plugins and deployment through Terraform Experience with major cloud providers such as GCP, AWS, and Azure Experience with Google Apigee or IBM API Connect or Data Power a plus Understanding of AI/LLM concepts and interaction with LLM APIs and MCP servers Strong organizational and change management skills with an ability to manage competing demands Proven team player and solution builder who loves to work collaboratively in a fast-growing dynamic environment BS in Computer Science / B.A. or equivalent technical development experience Pay Range: $101,970.00 - $169,950.00 Actual base salary varies based on factors, including but not limited to, relevant skill, prior experience, education, base salary of internal peers, demonstrated performance, and geographic location. Additionally, LPL Total Rewards package is highly competitive, designed to support your success at work, at home, and at play – such as 401K matching, health benefits, employee stock options, paid time off, volunteer time off, and more. Your recruiter will be happy to discuss all that LPL has to offer! Company Overview: LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: LPLA) is among the fastest growing wealth management firms in the U.S. As a leader in the financial advisor-mediated marketplace(6) , LPL supports over 32,000 financial advisors and the wealth management practices of approximately 1,100 financial institutions, servicing and custodying approximately $2.3 trillion in brokerage and advisory assets on behalf of approximately 8 million Americans. The firm provides a wide range of advisor affiliation models, investment solutions, fintech tools and practice management services, ensuring that advisors and institutions have the flexibility to choose the business model, services, and technology resources they need to run thriving businesses. For further information about LPL, please visit

At LPL, independence means that advisors and institution leaders have the freedom they deserve to choose the business model, services, and technology resources that allow them to run a thriving business. They have the flexibility to do business their way. And they have the freedom to manage their client relationships, because they know their clients best. Simply put, we take care of our advisors and institutions, so they can take care of their clients. For further information about LPL, please visit

Join the LPL team and help us make a difference by turning life’s aspirations into financial realities. Please log in or create an account to apply to this position. Principals only. EOE. Information on Interviews: LPL will only communicate with a job applicant directly from an @lplfinancial.com email address and will never conduct an interview online or in a chatroom forum. During an interview, LPL will not request any form of payment from the applicant, or information regarding an applicant’s bank or credit card. Should you have any questions regarding the application process, please contact LPL’s Human Resources Solutions Center at . EAC 5.19.26 LPL Financial is the nation’s largest independent broker-dealer.* Our company is widely known for its financial strength, exceptional service, and favorable industry reputation among financial professionals. To understand who we are, it’s important to know our core belief: financial guidance is a fundamental need for everyone. LPL Financial creates the space to let you do what you do best – create personal, long-term client relationships that turn financial aspirations into realities. Each year, thousands of financial professionals successfully manage billions of dollars in assets. Because our company is not too big and not too small, you can seize the opportunity to make a real impact. To learn more about our organization visit our About LPL page. * As reported by Financial Planning magazine, June 1996-2019, based on total revenue. Want to learn more about the benefits of working at LPL? Check out the links below! We Are LPL Benefits Culture Social Responsibility