Kong has different base pay ranges for different work locations within the United States and Canada, which allows us to pay employees competitively and consistently in different geographic markets. Compensation varies depending on a wide array of factors, including but not limited to specific candidate location, role, skill set and level of experience. Certain roles are eligible for additional rewards including sales incentives depending on the terms of the applicable plan and role. Benefits may vary depending on location. US based employees are typically offered access to healthcare benefits, a 401(k) plan, short and long term disability benefits, basic life and AD&D insurance, among others.

Are you ready to power the World's connections?

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.

As the Director of Customer Success Management (CSM) for AMER East, you will be a critical, hands-on leader responsible for the health, growth, and retention of our entire customer portfolio across Strategic, Enterprise, and Commercial segments. You will be responsible for building and coaching a high-performing team of technical CSMs focused on accelerating platform adoption and proving the quantifiable business value of Kong’s solutions.

As a Director, Customer Success you will:

1. Team Leadership & Talent Development

• Build and Lead: Recruit, hire, and coach a world-class team of Technical CSMs capable of engaging customers on API strategy, cloud migration, and complex integration patterns.

• Performance Management: Manage team performance, provide continuous coaching, and ensure high quality across all CSM deliverables (Success Plans, QBRs, BVRs).

• Mentorship: Actively develop the team's ability to engage with C-suite and VP-level technical leaders to drive strategic alignment.

2. Account Health & Risk Mitigation

• Portfolio Management: Own the overall AMER East book of business, ensuring all customers are progressing through their adoption journey and realizing measurable business value from Kong.

• Risk Mitigation: Implement and enforce standardized risk management processes and playbooks, ensuring the team can identify and mitigate churn risk early—especially in the critical post-onboarding/adoption phases.

• Executive Visibility: Maintain a clear, objective view of the portfolio's health score distribution and proactively brief leadership on major risks and mitigation efforts.

3. Revenue Partnership & Growth

• Renewal Ownership: Partner directly with Sales leadership (AEs/RSDs) to manage the renewal forecast, driving strategy on all high-value and at-risk renewals.

• Expansion Plays: Align the CSM team to actively identify and qualify expansion signals (consumption overages, new use cases, product adoption gaps) to contribute directly to Net Revenue Retention (NRR).

• GTM Alignment: Serve as the primary CS liaison for AMER East Sales leadership, ensuring seamless customer handoffs and clear segmentation rules across all tiers.

4. Cross-Functional Influence & Voice of Customer (VoC)

• Product Feedback Loop: Partner closely with Product and Engineering to represent the Voice of the Customer (VoC), ensuring critical feature needs and pain points are integrated into the product roadmap.

• Service Alignment: Collaborate with Professional Services (PS) leadership to ensure seamless scoping, handoffs, and resource allocation to support complex customer implementations.

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About Kong:

Kong Inc., a leading developer of cloud API technologies, is on a mission to enable companies around the world to become “API-first” and securely accelerate AI adoption. Kong helps organizations globally — from startups to Fortune 500 enterprises — unleash developer productivity, build securely, and accelerate time to market. For more information about Kong, please visit www.konghq.com or follow us on X @thekonginc.

Compensation Range: $250K - $300K