Design Systems Docs Lead: AI-Ready Guidance Architect

ServiceNow; Santa Clara (CA); Hybrid; USD 191,000 - 334,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health plans

401(k) Plan with company match

ESPP

Matching donations

Flexible time away plan

Family leave programs

Job summary

ServiceNow is seeking a Design Systems Documentation Lead to shape the knowledge foundation for its AI-native design system. The role focuses on turning fragmented guidance into a coherent documentation ecosystem with clear narrative, architecture, and standards.

You will partner with Design, Engineering, and Accessibility to ensure scalable, accessible guidance across multiple business units. The IC role offers influence with no direct reports, a mandate to set strategy, align teams, and raise

Qualifications

• Experience in product design, content design, or design-system documentation.
• Ability to translate complex design and technical concepts into clear guidance.
• Proven track record in scalable publishing and information governance.

Responsibilities

• Own strategy and roadmap for design-system documentation and learning resources.
• Create unified information architecture, taxonomy, and vocabulary for design and developer guidance.
• Define content standards, templates, ownership, and governance across content lifecycle.
• Coordinate contributors for components, usage guidelines, and accessibility documentation.
• Keep docs aligned with design libraries, components, platform capabilities, and releases.
• Build a contributor model enabling designers across Platform to create guidance with input from Engineering and Product.
• Partner with design leaders to align terminology and guidance for product-specific needs.
• Collaborate with Design Enablement on onboarding, learning paths, and workshops.
• Use research and analytics to identify gaps and improve documentation experience.
• Structure content and metadata for AI tools to reliably retrieve approved guidance.

Skills

Design systems

Content strategy

Information architecture

Technical documentation

Cross-functional collaboration

Executive communication

AI-enabled content

Publishing workflows

Tools

Documentation platforms

CMS

Publishing systems

AI-assisted authoring

Job description

It all started when engineer Fred Luddy wrote code that automated a tedious task for his coworker, Phyllis. She cried tears of joy. That moment inspired Fred to build a company that could do that for everyone—freeing people from busywork so they could focus on meaningful work. Today, ServiceNow is the AI control tower for business reinvention. Our ServiceNow AI platform brings together any AI, any data, and any workflow— helping 85% of the Fortune 500® work smarter, faster, and better. We're building an AI-native culture where technology and talent are unstoppable together. And we're just getting started.

Join us to put AI to work for people.

Job Description

Team & Role

This role is part of our Product Design team, which turns a deep understanding of our users and customers into product experiences they love. Our designers bringexpertiseacross design systems, visual design, interaction design, content design, and product design. At ServiceNow, design has an intentional seat at the table, and we partner with engineering and product management from the outset.

We'rebuilding the knowledge foundation for ServiceNow's AI-native design system. The system supports designers and engineers acrossourbusiness units and Platform, as well as customers and partners who need clear guidance to build consistent, accessible experiences.

The opportunity is to turn fragmented design-system guidance into a coherent, trustworthy documentation ecosystem that serves both designers and developers. This includes the narrative, information architecture, vocabulary, content standards, contribution process, and structured knowledge teams need to understand and apply the system consistently.

We'relooking for a Design Systems DocumentationLeadto drive that work. This is an IC role with real influence—no direct reports, but a clear mandate tosetthe strategy, align teams, raise the quality bar, and make design-system knowledge easier to find, understand, and apply.

What you get to do in this role

• Own the strategy and roadmap for design-system documentation and learning resources.
• Create a unified information architecture, taxonomy, and vocabulary across design and developer guidance.
• Define content standards, templates, ownership, contribution workflows, and governance across the content lifecycle.
• Coordinatethe contributors responsible for creating andmaintainingguidance forcomponents,usage guidelines,experience patterns, accessibility, implementation, and releases.
• Keep documentation aligned with design libraries, coded components, platform capabilities, and product releases.
• Build a contribution model that enables product designers across Platform and the business units to create andmaintaindesign-system guidance, with input from Engineering, Product, and Accessibility.
• Partner withdesignleaders acrossourbusiness units and Platform to align terminology, priorities, and guidance while accounting for product-specific needs.
• Partner with the Design Enablement team ononboarding, learning paths, workshops, office hours, and contributor guidance that help teams use and extend the design system.
• Use research, support questions, search behavior, and adoption data toidentifygaps and improve the documentation experience.
• Structure content and metadata so AI tools and agents can reliably retrieve and apply approved guidance.
• Partner withour AI Design System Tooling teamon AI-assisted authoring, search, validation, and design-to-development workflows, with clear governance and human review.

Qualifications

Preferred Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in product design, content design, technical documentation, design-system documentation, developer education, ora relateddiscipline.
• Experienceleveragingor critically evaluating how to integrate AI into work processes, decision-making, or problem-solving. This may include using AI-powered tools, automating workflows, analyzing AI-driven insights, or exploring AI's potential impact on the function or industry.
• Strong program management and operational leadership, with the ability to translate strategy into clear priorities, coordinated execution, and measurable outcomes.
• Experience building and scaling documentation for enterprise design systems used by multiple product teams.
• Expertisein content strategy, information architecture, taxonomy, content governance, and scalable publishing systems.
• Strong knowledge ofcomponentarchitecture, design tokens, accessibility, experience patterns, and design-to-development workflows.
• Experience structuringtrustworthy, machine-readable content for AI-enabled products or tools.
• Experience with documentation platforms, content management systems, and publishing workflows.
• The ability to translate complex design and technical concepts into clear guidance for different audiences.
• Demonstrated success aligning stakeholders and leading complex cross-organizational work through influence.
• Strong writing, editing, facilitation, teaching, and executive communication skills.
• Experience using research, analytics, and feedback to improve documentation quality and adoption.

Basic Qualifications

• Experienceparticipatingin the complete product development lifecycle of web and/or software applications.
• Experience working with cross-functionalproductand engineering teams.

For positions in this location, we offer a base pay of $190,900 - $334,100, plus equity (when applicable), variable/incentive compensation and benefits. Sales positions generally offer a competitive On Target Earnings (OTE) incentive compensation structure. Please note that the base pay shown is a guideline, and individual total compensation will vary based on factors such as qualifications, skill level, competencies, and work location. We also offer health plans, including flexible spending accounts, a 401(k) Plan with company match, ESPP, matching donations, a flexible time away plan and family leave programs. Compensation is based on the geographic location in which the role is located and is subject to change based on work location.

Additional Information

We approach our distributed world of work with flexibility and trust. Work personas (flexible, remote, or required in office) are categories that are assigned to ServiceNow employees depending on the nature of their work and their assigned work location. Learn more here . To determine eligibility for a work persona, ServiceNow may confirm the distance between your primary residence and the closest ServiceNow office using a third-party service.

Equal Opportunity Employer

ServiceNow is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, gender identity, veteran status, or any other category protected by law. In addition, all qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with legal requirements.

Accommodations

We strive to create an accessible and inclusive experience for all candidates. If you require a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process, or are unable to use this online application and need an alternative method to apply, please contact [e-mail] for assistance.

Export Control Regulations

For positions requiring access to controlled technology subject to export control regulations, including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations (EAR), ServiceNow may be required to obtain export control approval from government authorities for certain individuals. All employment is contingent upon ServiceNow obtaining any export license or other approval that may be required by relevant export control authorities.

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