Senior Staff Software Engineer - Platform Access Control

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

Benefits offered by this job

Health plans

Flexible spending accounts

401(k) plan with company match

ESPP

Matching donations

Flexible time away plan

Family leave programs

Job summary

ServiceNow in Santa Clara, CA, seeks a Senior Staff Software Engineer to set architectural direction for the authorization layer and extend security controls across the product stack. You will guide cross-team initiatives, champion secure-by-default practices, and lead high-impact design discussions with engineering leadership.

You will own end-to-end features, drive performance, mentor engineers, and shape the technical strategy for scalable access control across services and AI integrations.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of software development experience with a Bachelor's degree; OR 8+ years with a Master's degree; OR 5+ years with a PhD; OR equivalent work experience.
• Strong knowledge of data structures, algorithms, object-oriented design, design patterns, and performance optimization at scale.
• Expert level understanding of best practices for object-oriented and modularized software, with emphasis on Java and Golang.
• Experience with automated testing frameworks (e.g., JUnit, Selenium, TestNG) and integrating tests into CI/CD pipelines.
• Deep understanding of software quality principles including reliability, observability, and production readiness
• Experience leveraging or critically thinking about how to integrate AI into engineering work - whether using AI-powered coding and operational tooling, automating workflows, or reasoning about how AI changes the way software and infrastructure are built.

Responsibilities

• Set the technical vision and architecture strategy for the authorization platform, balancing long-term scalability and delivery objectives while maintaining a secure-by-default posture.
• Work on core Authorization frameworks that touch every part of the product, keeping it high-quality, reliable, secure and fast.
• Own features from design through delivery, turning business requirements into well-architected, cross-team solutions.
• Lead design and code reviews, championing access control best practices, performance, maintainability, and testability across multiple teams
• Implement software that is simple to use to allow customers, applications to extend and customize the functionality to meet their specific needs.
• Define comprehensive test strategies covering functional, regression, integration and performance testing
• Diagnose, resolve, root cause and mitigation plans for the hardest production issues across the security stack
• Mentor engineers at every level and raise the technical bar across the organization.

Skills

Java

Golang

Data structures

Algorithms

OO design

Testing frameworks

CI/CD

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree or higher

Tools

JUnit

Selenium

TestNG

Kubernetes

Job description

Team: The Platform Access Controls team is within the Platform Security Core Organization and owns ServiceNow's core authorization frameworks, including ACLs, Security Policies, Security Attributes, and Security Filters. We are responsible for validating identity and access for every transaction across the platform, helping ensure a secure-by-default experience. Our team consists of passionate, self-directed engineers who enjoy solving complex security challenges and building scalable security controls. We foster a highly collaborative culture across distributed teams, empowering individuals with the support, autonomy, and opportunities needed to grow and succeed.

As a Senior Staff Software Engineer, you'll be a key technical leader in the Platform Access Controls group. You'll set the architectural direction for the access control layer as it expands into securing AI Agent access across the product stack and raise the bar for engineering craftmanship across the organization.

What you get to do in this role:

• Set the technical vision and architecture strategy for the authorization platform, balancing long-term scalability and delivery objectives while maintaining a secure-by-default posture.
• Work on core Authorization frameworks that touch every part of the product, keeping it high-quality, reliable, secure and fast.
• Own features from design through delivery, turning business requirements into well-architected, cross-team solutions.
• Lead design and code reviews, championing access control best practices, performance, maintainability, and testability across multiple teams
• Implement software that is simple to use to allow customers, applications to extend and customize the functionality to meet their specific needs.
• Define comprehensive test strategies covering functional, regression, integration and performance testing
• Diagnose, resolve, root cause and mitigation plans for the hardest production issues across the security stack
• Mentor engineers at every level and raise the technical bar across the organization.

To be successful in this role you have:

• Having aptitude for learning new technologies quickly
• Domain experience in authorization technologies such as RBAC, ABAC, policy engines or adjacencies applicable to this space
• Demonstrated success completing complex, cross-team projects, on time and with quality
• Experience with troubleshooting difficult production issues e.g., memory leaks, concurrency issues, caching issues, network problems, intermittent failures etc. across the stack
• Track record of technical leadership - influencing architecture and engineering decisions across multiple teams without relying on direct authority
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including experience authoring design docs/RFCs and presenting technical strategy to senior engineering leadership

Qualifications

• 12+ years of software development experience with a Bachelor's degree; OR 8+ years with a Master's degree; OR 5+ years with a PhD; OR equivalent work experience.
• Strong knowledge of data structures, algorithms, object-oriented design, design patterns, and performance optimization at scale.
• Expert level understanding of best practices for object-oriented and modularized software, with emphasis on Java and Golang.
• Experience with automated testing frameworks (e.g., JUnit, Selenium, TestNG) and integrating tests into CI/CD pipelines.
• Deep understanding of software quality principles including reliability, observability, and production readiness
• Experience leveraging or critically thinking about how to integrate AI into engineering work - whether using AI-powered coding and operational tooling, automating workflows, or reasoning about how AI changes the way software and infrastructure are built.

Nice to have:

• Prior experience with ServiceNow Platform
• Prior experience in building Authorization frameworks
• Experience with Kubernetes based services and deploying them in regulated environments with compliance and governance requirements.

FD21

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.

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 th

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