Role overview

Kong is seeking a Senior Director of GTM People Business Partner to lead the people strategy for the company’s global go-to-market organization. This is a strategic role at a critical growth stage, where you will report to the Chief People Officer while sitting on the Chief Revenue Officer’s leadership team. You will guide the design, leadership, compensation and growth of Kong’s expanding field teams across more than a dozen countries as the organization shifts toward AI connectivity selling.

Key responsibilities

Serve as the senior people advisor to the CRO and GTM leadership, providing guidance on organizational structure, talent management, leadership development and cultural priorities.
Design the GTM organization for its next phase, including coverage models, reporting structures, role architecture and leveling for sales, solutions engineering, SDR/BDR, partner and enablement functions.
Manage headcount and capacity planning in partnership with Finance, Revenue Operations and Talent Acquisition, including ramp-adjusted capacity modeling and monthly hiring reviews.
Shape sales compensation strategy and execution, including plan philosophy, on-target earnings benchmarks, quota-setting fairness and dispute resolution across all regions.
Establish and run a performance management system for quota-carrying teams across the United States, EMEA and APJ, including talent reviews, calibrations and promotions under different employment laws.
Build the sales leadership bench by assessing frontline and second-line leaders, owning succession plans for the CRO’s team and launching a manager development program with Sales Enablement.
Lead the GTM People Business Partner team and drive engagement, retention, culture and compliance for the distributed field organization across multiple countries.

Requirements

Minimum 12 years of experience in People operations, including at least 5 years as the lead business partner to a CRO, Chief Sales Officer or SVP of Sales at a B2B software company that at least doubled revenue during your tenure.
Background in infrastructure, developer-platform, API, cloud or open-source software, with demonstrated understanding of technical sales roles, solutions engineering and channel go-to-market motions.
Hands-on experience designing sales organizations through partnership with Finance and Revenue Operations, including coverage models, spans, layers, role architecture and capacity planning.
Deep expertise in sales compensation design, including OTE and pay-mix benchmarking, quota setting, accelerators, SPIFs and plan administration across different compensation structures.
Proven track record running performance management and talent reviews for quota-carrying teams, with experience managing exits and restructures under US and international employment law.
Experience assessing and coaching sales leaders, building succession plans for revenue leadership teams and developing VP-level executives.
Strong data fluency with the ability to build people dashboards and drive decisions based on analytics and evidence rather than anecdotes.
Ability to be based in Southern California or spend regular time in person with GTM leadership, with willingness to travel to San Francisco and field locations.

What makes this role worth considering

This role offers the opportunity to shape a growing go-to-market organization at a pivotal moment in Kong’s expansion, where Series E funding is enabling global field team growth across multiple regions. You will work directly with senior leadership as a strategic advisor while building and leading a team of People Business Partners, influencing how the company attracts, develops and retains top sales talent during a significant shift in the sales motion toward AI connectivity.