Platform Engineer, API Gateway Specialist (12 month contract)

Job Description:

Here at Rakuten Kobo we offer a casual working start-up environment and a group of friendly and talented individuals. Our employees rank us highly in terms of commitment to work/life balance. We realize that for our people to be innovative, creative, and passionate they need to feel valued and supported.

If you’re looking for a company that inspires passion, personal, and professional growth – join Rakuten Kobo and come help us on our mission of making reading lives better.

The Opportunity:

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Platform Engineer with deep expertise in API Gateway technologies, specifically Kong API Gateway, to play a pivotal role in shaping Kobo's platform ecosystem. As a leading innovator in hardware devices, eCommerce, content rendering, and data & intelligence, Kobo relies on robust and scalable infrastructure.

This 12 month contract position offers the opportunity to make a significant impact on our core API infrastructure and development environment by supporting the implementation and operationalization of our Kong API Gateway solution.

What You'll Get To Do:

As a Platform Engineer specializing in API Gateways, you will be instrumental in:

• Kong Gateway Implementation & Support:
  • Supporting the implementation and operationalization of our Kong Gateway solution using Kong Operator
  • Configuring and managing Kong Gateway instances, including routes, services, plugins (e.g., authentication, rate-limiting, transformations), and consumers.
  • Implementing & Automating enrollment into Kong’s API Catalog & Developer portal.
  • Collaborating with development teams to ensure seamless API onboarding, integration, and adherence to best practices for API consumption and publication.
  • Troubleshooting and resolving issues related to API connectivity, performance, and security within the Kong Gateway environment.

• Platform Engineering Excellence:
  • Playing a key role in the ongoing re-platforming of our development environment, contributing to strategic initiatives across SCM, CI/CD pipelines, Kubernetes clusters, observability tooling & more.
  • Championing automation, reliability, scalability and developer experience across our platform services.

• Operational Support:
  • Open to eventual participation in a paid on-call rotation.

Who You Are:

You are a seasoned Platform Engineer with a strong track record of success in implementing, configuring, and optimizing Kong API Gateway solutions, in large-scale, distributed environments.

• Experience (7+ years) in building and maintaining high-quality development & application infrastructure on-prem & in the cloud.

• Hands-on experience with Kong API Gateway, including a strong understanding of API management best practices.

• Solid understanding of modern platform engineering practices, including:
  • Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principles and tools.
  • Automation and CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitHub Actions, ArgoCD).
  • Containerization and orchestration (Kubernetes, Helm).
  • Observability tooling (e.g., Datadog or similar).
  • Developer experience optimization.
• Strong communication skills, capable of articulating complex technical concepts to both technical engineers and non-technical stakeholders.

Nice to haves:

• Deep understanding of architectural patterns and the tradeoffs inherent in distributed systems design.
• Experience designing and implementing development environments using "remocal" principles on Kubernetes.
• Experience with Kubernetes Gateway API.

About Rakuten Kobo Inc.

Owned by Tokyo-based Rakuten and headquartered in Toronto, Rakuten Kobo Inc. is one of the most advanced global ecommerce companies, with the world’s most innovative eReading services offering more than 6 million eBooks and audiobooks to 30 million + customers in 190 countries. Kobo delivers the best digital reading experience through creative innovation, award-winning eReaders, and top-ranking mobile apps. Kobo is a part of the Rakuten group of companies.

Rakuten Kobo Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. Accessibility accommodations for candidates with disabilities participating in the selection process are available on request. Any information received related to accommodation needs of applicants will be addressed confidentially.
 

Rakuten Kobo would like to thank all applicants for their interest in this role however only qualified candidates will be shortlisted.

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