Senior Manager of Software Engineering Management (AI Engineering)

ServiceNow; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous family leave

Matched donations

Annual learning stipends

Flexible PTO

Competitive retirement plan

Paid volunteer time

Job summary

ServiceNow is seeking a Senior Engineering Manager to lead a high-performing team building AI-native and cloud-native applications on the ServiceNow platform. You will own team performance, hiring, and strategic initiatives to deliver mission-critical financial and procurement software at scale.

You will set clear expectations, coach engineers through career progression from IC2 to IC5, and foster a culture of psychological safety, learning, and ownership.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of professional software development experience, with 5+ years in AI-native, cloud-native systems.
• 3+ years of people management leading software engineers on SaaS platforms; strong architectural leadership.
• MBA or management certification is a plus; proven track record developing engineering teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead and coach a high-performing engineering team; set goals, coach career growth, and drive outcomes.
• Define and execute the technical strategy and roadmap for AI-native cloud-native applications on the ServiceNow platform.
• Partner with HR/recruiting to attract, hire, and retain diverse engineering talent; oversee interview processes and onboarding.
• Collaborate with product, design, and cross-functional partners to deliver on committed business objectives.

Skills

People management

AI-native thinking

SaaS platform

Technical leadership

Hiring & recruitment

Performance management

Coaching & mentoring

Agile / Scrum

Architecture strategy

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/Engineering/Business

MBA

Tools

Python

Java

JavaScript

ServiceNow scripting

Job description

• Finance and Procurement teams are at the forefront of AI-native engineering at ServiceNow—building autonomous solutions for the world’s largest enterprises that handle mission-critical financial and procurement operations at unprecedented scale
• They continuously learn and integrate the latest AI and cloud-native technologies to deliver performant, resilient systems that transform how businesses manage supplier lifecycles, procurement workflows, payments, and receivables
• This role is for a Senior Engineering Manager who leads a high-performing team of software engineers building AI-native and cloud-native applications on the ServiceNow platform
• They are responsible for team performance, career development, hiring, and execution of key business initiatives
• Build, grow, and maintain a high-performing, diverse team of IC2-IC5 engineers; hire and develop talent at all levels
• Set clear expectations for individual and team performance; establish metrics and goals aligned with business objectives
• Conduct regular 1:1s with direct reports; provide coaching, feedback, and career guidance tailored to each engineer’s growth stage
• Create a culture of psychological safety, learning, and ownership; encourage experimentation and learning from failures
• Support engineers through career transitions—from IC2 to IC3, IC3 to IC4, and technical-to-management pathways
• Identify high-potential engineers and invest in their development; prepare emerging leaders for increased responsibility
• Address performance issues promptly and professionally; provide clear paths for improvement or transition
• Sponsor team members for growth opportunities, stretch assignments, and leadership development programs
• Celebrate wins and recognize contributions; foster a positive, collaborative team environment
• Model vulnerability, continuous learning, and AI-native thinking; lead by example in your own growth
• Define hiring strategy and conduct recruitment for open positions; build a pipeline of qualified candidates
• Lead technical interviews and assessments for engineering candidates at all IC levels; make hiring decisions
• Partner with HR and recruiting teams on job descriptions, sourcing strategies, and candidate pipeline management
• Evaluate cultural fit and potential; hire for values and growth potential, not just current skills
• Onboard new engineers effectively; assign mentors and ensure smooth integration into the team
• Build a team with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives; actively work to improve representation
• Identify gaps in team capabilities (technical depth, domain expertise, AI/ML fluency) and address through hiring or development
• Build relationships with external technical communities to attract and recruit top talent
• Participate in employer branding and represent the organization at recruiting events and universities
• Responsibility Area: Technical Strategy & Product Leadership
• Work with product, design, and cross-functional partners to define product roadmap and technical strategy aligned with business goals
• Establish technical direction for the team; make architecture and technology decisions that balance innovation, quality, and delivery
• Ensure the team’s technical approach stays current with AI/ML advancements and ServiceNow platform evolution
• Champion AI-native thinking across the team and organization; help teammates understand how to build with AI at the core
• Lead architectural reviews and technical decision-making; provide guidance on complex technical trade-offs
• Advocate for technical investments (refactoring, infrastructure, tooling) that improve team productivity and code quality
• Set quality standards for code, testing, and security; establish practices that enable sustainable delivery
• Partner with IC4/IC5 engineers to set multi-year technical roadmaps and long-term strategic initiatives
• Represent the engineering team in product and executive discussions; influence organizational priorities
• Drive team delivery of committed business objectives and product initiatives; maintain accountability for results
• Establish clear sprint goals, work-item prioritization, and delivery timelines; remove blockers for team success
• Track team metrics: velocity, quality, customer satisfaction, incident response, deployment frequency
• Conduct regular retrospectives; identify process improvements and drive adoption of better practices
• Manage team capacity; balance new feature development, technical debt reduction, and customer support
• Ensure team participation in on-call rotation; monitor incident response and post-incident learning
• Report on team progress, risks, and performance to senior leadership; provide transparent communication
• Escalate critical issues or resource constraints; collaborate with peer managers to solve cross-team dependencies
• Foster a culture of ownership where engineers take responsibility for quality, testing, and production outcomes
• Lead team through organizational changes and initiatives; maintain morale and focus during transitions
• Build and maintain relationships with key customers and stakeholders; understand their needs and priorities
• Participate in customer meetings, technical escalations, and business reviews; represent engineering capabilities and constraints
• Work closely with product management, customer success, and other teams; ensure alignment on priorities and capabilities
• Lead customer-critical incident response; ensure timely and professional resolution of critical issues
• Gather customer feedback and translate into product improvements; communicate back to customers how feedback is addressed
• Advocate for customers’ needs within the engineering organization; ensure customer voice is heard in decision-making
• Build trust and credibility with customers through transparency, responsiveness, and technical leadership
• Participate in strategic customer discussions and technology roadmap reviews
• Model the organization’s values and desired behaviors; set tone for engineering culture within your team and across teams
• Contribute to hiring and interview training of other managers; build bench strength in people leadership
• Mentor junior managers or peers; contribute to manager development and leadership pipeline
• Participate in engineering leadership meetings; contribute to organizational strategy and policy
• Promote psychological safety, inclusion, and belonging; actively work to reduce barriers for underrepresented groups
• Foster knowledge sharing across the organization; encourage your team to contribute to brown bags, documentation, and communities
• Lead by example in work-life balance, continuous learning, and sustainable pace; prevent burnout
• Encourage your team to engage with the broader tech community (conferences, open source, speaking, writing)
• Develop deep understanding of AI/ML capabilities, limitations, and integration patterns; become a thought leader on AI-native development
• Coach your team on AI-native thinking—how to build systems with AI at the core, not as an afterthought
• Help engineers understand prompt engineering, retrieval systems, agentic workflows, and responsible AI principles
• Establish practices for evaluation-driven development, hallucination detection, and model performance monitoring
• Lead discussions on AI safety, data privacy, and responsible AI; ensure team builds with appropriate guardrails
• Create learning opportunities for the team to stay current with AI/ML advancements and frameworks
• Identify opportunities to apply AI to improve internal processes and team efficiency
• Contribute to organizational conversations about AI strategy and responsible AI practices
• Stay informed about LLM advancements, new models, and emerging techniques; share insights with your team

Benefits

• Generous family leave
• Matched donations
• Annual learning stipends
• Flexible PTO
• Competitive retirement plan
• Paid volunteer time

The Senior Manager combines deep technical credibility with strong people management capabilities, fostering a culture of innovation, ownership, and continuous learningThis role requires the ability to balance people development with business results, think strategically about AI integration and platform architecture, and influence across the organization to enable team success. The ideal candidate brings experience scaling AI-native teams and a passion for building leadersTrack record of developing talent into senior engineering leadership roles or managersExperience with Agile and Scrum methodologies; ability to adapt to team and organizational needs3+ years managing application development on SaaS platforms (ServiceNow, Salesforce, or similar); deep understanding of platform architecture and constraintsPassion for building inclusive, psychologically safe teams where all engineers can thriveStrong coaching and mentoring skills; ability to develop engineers across all career stages12+ years of professional software development experience, with 5+ years in AI-native systems, cloud-native architecture, or equivalentExperience scaling teams and organizations; demonstrated ability to work at multiple levels of complexityExceptional communication and interpersonal skills; ability to influence across technical and non-technical stakeholdersExperience with performance management, feedback delivery, and difficult personnel decisionsMBA or management certification is a plus; however, demonstrated people leadership capability is more important3+ years hands-on experience with AI/ML systems, LLM integration, prompt engineering, and responsible AI practicesDemonstrated expertise in hiring, team building, and organizational development; ability to attract and develop top talentDeep proficiency in Python, Java, and JavaScript; understanding of ServiceNow scripting and platform APIsBachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, business, or related fieldActive engagement with engineering and AI/ML communities; thought leadership through speaking, writing, or open source is a plusExpert-level understanding of modern software engineering practices: CI/CD, testing, security, deploymentExperience leading teams through organizational change, technical migrations, or strategic initiativesDemonstrated understanding of data security, compliance, and responsible AI practices4+ years of people management experience leading software engineers; track record of developing talent and building high-performing teamsTrack record of delivering significant business results through engineering teams; ability to drive accountability and executionStrong emotional intelligence; ability to navigate difficult conversations and build trustExperience working with diverse teams and commitment to building inclusive organizationsStrong technical credibility; ability to engage in technical discussions with IC4/IC5 engineers; hands-on coding experience still valued