Talent Acquisition Recruiter

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. We are seeking a highly strategic Technical Sourcer/Recruiter to join our team. This role is crucial for scaling our most complex and critical technical teams and will be a key driver in shaping Kong’s future talent strategy in EMEA. About the Role: Join us in building Kong's future! Reporting to the Manager of Technical Recruiting for EMEA, you will serve as a critical, trusted advisor to Engineering, Product, and Professional Services leadership across the region. Your mission is to solve the most challenging scaling problems, building pipeline for highly specialised and senior roles, and drive innovation in our recruiting processes. You will also be key in shaping our employer brand in Milan and driving in person meetups. What You’ll Do - Architect and drive specialised sourcing strategies to secure world-class, typically hard-to-find, talent for senior-level (Senior, Staff, Principal) and highly specialised technical roles. - Serve as a talent consultant to executives and senior leadership, leveraging deep market intelligence to advise on organisational design, compensation structures, and global talent mapping. - Proactively build and maintain a hyper-focused pipeline of passive candidates, positioning Kong as an employer of choice in competitive markets. - Conduct thorough screenings and interviews to assess candidates' technical skills and cultural fit, acting as a steward for our hiring bar. - Maintain meticulous job postings and candidate data within our Applicant Tracking System (ATS). What You Bring • 3+ years of progressive, full-cycle technical recruiting experience • Strong knowledge of the highly competitive Italian/EMEA technical landscape, with a proven ability to successfully compete for talent against top-tier late-stage start-ups and public companies. • Demonstrated ownership of core TA programs or significant process improvements across the recruiting lifecycle. • Expert command of advanced sourcing and candidate engagement techniques, moving beyond standard LinkedIn Recruiter usage. • Ability to challenge ideas and effectively influence others. • Great collaborator and partner to HRBPs, Finance, and other internal stakeholders. • Excellent verbal and written communication skills. #LI-JF1 About Kong: Kong Inc., a leading developer of API and AI connectivity technologies, is building the infrastructure that powers the agentic era. trusted by the Fortune 500 and startups alike, Kong's unified API and AI platform, Kong Konnect, enables organizations to secure, manage, accelerate, govern, and monetize the flow of intelligence across APIs and AI models. For more information, visit www.konghq.com http://www.konghq.com.