Senior Staff Software Engineer

ServiceNow; Santa Clara (CA); Hybrid; USD 190,900 - 334,100; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health plans

401(k) Plan with company match

Employee stock purchase plan

Job summary

ServiceNow seeks a software engineer and technical lead to design, build, and operate containerized backend services in Kubernetes. The role focuses on distributed systems, AI integrations, and reliable production systems at enterprise scale.

You will own API design, data modeling, and integration patterns for AI-enabled products while collaborating with research, product, security, and infra teams to ship enterprise-grade services.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience with fundamentals in data structures and distributed systems.
• Experience leading architecture, technical direction, and mentoring as a senior IC.
• Strong backend skills in Java or Python with production services experience.
• Hands-on containerized apps in Kubernetes/OpenShift and cloud-native observability.
• Ability to balance performance, reliability, security, and delivery speed in architecture.
• Experience integrating AI into workflows or decision-making using AI-powered tools.

Responsibilities

• Design, architect, and implement Java and Python microservices in Kubernetes.
• Define APIs, data models, and integration patterns for AI-enabled products.
• Build reliable distributed systems with concurrency, queues, retries, and backpressure.
• Integrate frontier AI SDKs like Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI into production software.
• Apply prompt engineering, structured outputs, and model evaluation for GenAI use cases.
• Collaborate with research, product, security, and infra teams to ship enterprise-grade services.
• Lead code/design reviews and provide technical direction to engineers.

Skills

Distributed systems

Backend engineering

Java

Python

Kubernetes

Technical lead

APIs

Tools

OpenShift

PostgreSQL

Redis

Kafka

S3-compatible storage

Job description

Job Description

We are looking for a software engineer and technical lead with deep software design and architecture skills, excellent coding ability, and the technical judgment to build reliable production systems at enterprise scale.

ServiceNow's core platform is built on a powerful and highly scaled Java service that supports some of the world's largest enterprise workflows. In this team, we are extending that platform with modern Python and Java microservices that complement the main platform architecture and enable new AI-native capabilities. These services are designed to run in Kubernetes-based environments while integrating deeply with the broader ServiceNow platform.

We are focused on production-grade services that bring together enterprise data, AI model integrations, scalable APIs, evaluation workflows, and reliable deployment patterns. You will own the design, development, and operation of containerized backend services running in Kubernetes environments. You will apply strong distributed systems and production reliability judgment to build scalable, maintainable services, and you will lead technical design across ambiguous, high-impact problem spaces.

Experience working on AI, GenAI, ML-powered, or data-intensive products will help you be especially successful in this role.

Responsibilities

• Designing, architecting, and implementing Java and Python microservices deployed on Kubernetes
• Designing APIs, service boundaries, data models, and integration patterns for AI-enabled products
• Building reliable distributed systems that handle concurrency, queueing, retries, fairness, backpressure, and failure recovery
• Integrating frontier AI SDKs such as Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI into production software systems
• Applying prompt engineering, structured outputs, model evaluation, and production observability to GenAI use cases
• Partnering with research, product, security, and infrastructure teams to ship enterprise-grade services
• Raising the engineering bar through architecture reviews, code reviews, mentoring, and technical direction

Qualifications

To be successful in this role, you have:

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with strong fundamentals in data structures, algorithms, distributed systems, APIs, and backend service design
• Experience in leveraging or critically thinking about how to integrate AI into work processes, decision-making, or problem-solving (including using AI-powered tools, automating workflows, analyzing AI-driven insights, or exploring AI's potential impact)
• Demonstrated experience as a technical lead, Staff Engineer, or equivalent senior individual contributor responsible for architecture, technical direction, code quality, and mentoring
• Strong backend engineering skills in Java, Python, or equivalent with hands‑on experience designing, building, and operating production services
• Hands‑on experience building or operating containerized applications deployed in Kubernetes, OpenShift, or similar orchestration environments
• Familiarity with cloud‑native infrastructure, service observability, logging, monitoring, reliability engineering, and production troubleshooting
• Ability to make pragmatic architecture decisions across performance, reliability, security, maintainability, and delivery speed
• Ability to lead other engineers through code reviews, design reviews, and technical mentorship
• Strong communication skills and the ability to partner across product, research, engineering, infrastructure, and security

Nice to Have

• Prior experience working on AI/ML products, collaborating with research teams, or translating advanced AI/ML capabilities into production software
• Knowledge of NLP, search, and knowledge extraction
• Experience with multi-modal systems such as document ingestion and processing, image processing, and voice
• Working experience with frontier AI SDKs such as Anthropic, Google, or OpenAI
• Familiarity with prompt engineering, structured outputs, tool calling, agentic design patterns, Model Context Protocol, or AI-assisted development workflows
• Experience with observability tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, Instana, or equivalent monitoring/logging platforms
• Knowledge of MLOps or applying machine learning models to production use cases
• Experience with infrastructure backends such as PostgreSQL, Redis, Kafka, RabbitMQ, S3-compatible object storage, or equivalent technologies
• Published work, patents, conference papers, or open‑source contributions related to AI systems, knowledge systems, search, retrieval, or large-scale data processing.

Compensation is based on the geographic location in which the role is located and is subject to change based on work location.

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.

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.