Senior Manager, Data Platform Engineering - Kubernetes - Distributed Systems

Servicenow; San Diego (CA); Hybrid; USD 181,000 - 317,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health plans

401(k) Plan with company match

ESPP

Flexible time away plan

Family leave programs

Job summary

ServiceNow is seeking a Sr. Manager, Data Platform to lead a 6–10 engineer team building core platform services in a cloud-native environment.

You will own delivery, people, and technical direction for your domain, partnering with product and platform leadership to set priorities and roadmaps across hyperscalers, on-prem, and sovereign environments. As a player-coach, you will review designs, guide architecture, and help shape an inclusive, high-trust culture while communicating status and risks

Qualifications

• 10+ years building production software including distributed systems.
• 5+ years managing software engineers and building teams.
• Proven record delivering complex, business-critical systems end-to-end.
• Hands-on with at least one hyperscaler: AWS, Azure or GCP.
• Strong knowledge of containers, Kubernetes, CI/CD and IaC.

Responsibilities

• Lead, grow, and develop a team of software engineers building cloud-native platform services.
• Own end-to-end delivery: priorities, roadmap, and sequencing with product leadership.
• Ensure reliability, scalability, and operability; establish SLOs and on-call practices.
• Partner with senior engineers and workload teams to align architecture and needs.
• Review designs and code; occasionally contribute technically to set engineering bar.
• Foster a healthy, high-trust engineering culture and communicate status to leadership.
• Represent the team in planning, capacity, and escalation discussions.

Skills

AI in engineering

Distributed systems

Kubernetes

People management

Cloud platforms

CI/CD

Communication with leadership

Tools

AWS

Azure

GCP

CI/CD tooling

GitOps

Job description

Company 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

Cloud Platform — Kubernetes, Hyperscalers & Distributed Systems

We are currently seeking a Sr. Manager, Data Platformwho will act as a player-coach engineering leader. You will lead a team of 6–10 engineers building and operating core platform services, owning delivery, people, and technical direction for the team's domain.

What you get to do in this role:

• You will lead, grow, and develop a team of software engineers who design, build, and operate services within the cloud-native platform — owning hiring, onboarding, coaching, performance, and career growth for every member of the team.
• You will own end‑to‑end delivery for your team's domain: setting priorities and roadmap with product and platform leadership, making scope and sequencing trade‑offs, and ensuring commitments land predictably from design through production operation.
• You will be accountable for the reliability, scalability, and operability of the services your team runs — establishing SLOs, on‑call practices, and operational reviews, and driving down incidents and toil across hyperscaler, on‑prem, and sovereign environments.
• You will partner with principal and distinguished engineers, peer managers, and workload teams to align your team's work with the broader platform architecture, standards, and the needs of the teams that depend on the platform.
• You will stay close to the work as a player‑coach — reviewing designs and code, weighing in on architectural decisions, and occasionally building — so that technical judgment, not just process, sets the bar for the team.
• You will build a healthy, high‑trust engineering culture: clear expectations, honest feedback, an inclusive environment, and a team that raises the engineering bar for itself.
• You will communicate crisply with leadership and stakeholders about status, risks, and trade‑offs, and represent the team in planning, capacity, and escalation conversations.

Qualifications

To be successful in this role you have:

• Experience leveraging or critically thinking about how to integrate AI into engineering and platform work — whether adopting AI‑powered tooling across a team, automating operational workflows, building agentic systems for fleet visibility and operations, or reasoning about how AI changes the way a platform team is staffed and run.
• 10+ years building production software, including substantial hands‑on experience operating distributed systems and running workloads on Kubernetes.
• 5+ years managing software engineers, with a track record of hiring, developing, and retaining strong engineers and building teams that deliver.
• A track record of leading teams to deliver complex, business‑critical systems or services end‑to‑end, from design through production operation.
• Hands‑on experience with at least one major hyperscaler (AWS, Azure, GCP), including its core compute, networking, and IAM primitives.
• Strong working knowledge of containers and Kubernetes, CI/CD and GitOps‑based delivery, and infrastructure‑as‑code — enough to review designs, challenge assumptions, and make sound technical trade‑offs with your team.
• Strong communication and stakeholder‑management skills, with the ability to explain technical risks and trade‑offs to both engineers and senior leadership.

For positions in this location, we offer a base pay of $181,200 - $317,100, 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

Work Personas

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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