ServiceNow Technical Architect Lead

New River Systems Corporation; Chantilly (VA); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

New River Systems Corporation seeks a ServiceNow Technical Architect Lead to serve as the senior technical authority across multiple delivery teams supporting Defense and Intelligence Community customers.

You will provide enterprise-level architectural leadership, governance, and platform oversight across ITSM, HRSD, IRM/GRC, SecOps, ITOM, and App Engine initiatives, ensuring secure, scalable, and maintainable ServiceNow solutions in highly regulated federal environments.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of ServiceNow platform administration, development, and architecture experience.
• Active Top Secret clearance required
• Experience with Federal, DoD, or Intelligence Community environments.
• Experience in governance, update set management, release approval processes, and technical standards enforcement.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the enterprise technical authority for ServiceNow architecture decisions across multiple customer programs.
• Maintain and evolve ServiceNow architecture standards, development guidelines, and governance processes.
• Conduct architectural reviews and produce Architecture Decision Records (ADRs) to document solution approaches and tradeoff decisions.
• Review and approve all major technical designs to ensure alignment with OOB-first principles, upgrade safety, security requirements, and customer governance standards.
• Chair Technical Review Boards (TRBs) and oversee release governance activities including update set reviews, deployment readiness assessments, and production release approvals.
• Mentor development teams and cultivate a culture of technical excellence and platform craftsmanship.

Skills

ServiceNow Architecture

Platform Governance

Security Architecture

Mentoring/Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

PhD

High School Diploma

Tools

ServiceNow

IntegrationHub

MID Server

Job description

Location: Hybrid: Chantilly, VA (Government/Contractor SCIF) 50% on-site & Remote

Clearance: Active Top Secret Required

We are seeking a highly accomplished ServiceNow Technical Architect Lead to serve as the senior technical authority across multiple ServiceNow delivery teams supporting Defense and Intelligence Community customers. This position provides enterprise-level architectural leadership, delivery governance, technical mentorship, and platform oversight across New River Systems' growing ServiceNow portfolio.

This role is ideal for a seasoned ServiceNow Certified Technical Architect (CTA) who combines deep platform expertise with the leadership skills required to establish architectural standards, guide development teams, govern platform releases, and ensure long-term platform health. The successful candidate will drive an Out-of-the-Box (OOB) first philosophy that minimizes technical debt, supports upgradeability, and aligns ServiceNow solutions with mission and business objectives.

As the Technical Architect Lead, you will provide strategic guidance across ITSM, HRSD, IRM/GRC, SecOps, ITOM, and App Engine implementations, while acting as the final technical review authority for architecture decisions, release packages, update sets, and platform design standards. You will partner with program leadership, customer stakeholders, architects, and development teams to ensure secure, scalable, and maintainable ServiceNow solutions across highly regulated federal environments.

What We're Looking For

• A recognized ServiceNow architecture expert capable of leading technical strategy across multiple programs and delivery teams.
• Proven ability to influence architects and developers without direct supervisory authority.
• Extensive experience architecting ServiceNow solutions for Federal, DoD, or Intelligence Community environments.
• Deep expertise in platform governance, update set management, release approval processes, and technical standards enforcement.
• Strong knowledge of ServiceNow security architecture, integrations, CMDB, domain separation, and enterprise-scale platform design.
• Experience mentoring developers, technical leads, and solution architects.
• Exceptional communication skills with the ability to engage executive leadership, program managers, and government stakeholders.
• Commitment to platform modernization, technical excellence, and continuous improvement.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as the enterprise technical authority for ServiceNow architecture decisions across multiple customer programs.
• Maintain and evolve ServiceNow architecture standards, development guidelines, and governance processes.
• Conduct architectural reviews and produce Architecture Decision Records (ADRs) to document solution approaches and tradeoff decisions.li>
• Review and approve all major technical designs to ensure alignment with OOB-first principles, upgrade safety, security requirements, and customer governance standards.
• Chair Technical Review Boards (TRBs) and oversee release governance activities including update set reviews, deployment readiness assessments, and production release approvals.
• Evaluate Business Rules, Script Includes, Client Scripts, ACLs, Integrations, and Flow Designer implementations for performance, maintainability, and security risks.
• Identify technical debt across active programs and provide remediation recommendations to program leadership.
• Lead architecture efforts for complex capabilities including CMDB modernization, enterprise integrations, identity management solutions, Employee Center migrations, and IRM/GRC implementations.
• Develop and review architecture artifacts including solution designs, interface control documents, integration diagrams, data flow models, and topology diagrams.
• Provide expert guidance on ServiceNow platform security, API integrations, IntegrationHub, MID Server architecture, and cross-domain solution design.
• Mentor development teams and cultivate a culture of technical excellence and platform craftsmanship.
• Facilitate architecture working groups, technical reviews, standards meetings, and lessons learned sessions.
• Collaborate with Program Managers and Delivery Leads to identify architectural risks and support project planning activities.
• Support proposal development, technical solutioning, ROM estimates, customer briefings, and business development initiatives.
• Serve as the ServiceNow architecture Subject Matter Expert (SME) for customer engagements and strategic growth opportunities.

Required Experience

• 8+ years of ServiceNow platform administration, development, and architecture experience.
• Minimum 3 years serving in a senior architect, technical lead, or enterprise architecture role.
• Experience leading ServiceNow platform governance, release management, and technical review processes.
• Experience delivering ServiceNow solutions within Federal, DoD, or Intelligence Community environments.
• Deep expertise in platform architecture including domain separation, upgrade strategy, CMDB architecture, scoped applications, and enterprise integrations.
• Experience with three or more ServiceNow product areas including ITSM, HRSD, IRM/GRC, SecOps, ITOM, Discovery, or App Engine.
• Active Top Secret clearance required with SCI eligibility

To be successful in this role, you'll need:

Success in this position is measured by your ability to establish architectural consistency across programs, improve platform quality, reduce technical debt, implement scalable solutions, and successfully guide development teams in delivering secure, maintainable, and mission-focused ServiceNow capabilities.

Must meet degree and years of experience criteria below:

• High School Diploma/ GED - 12
• Associates Degree - 10
• Bachelors Degree - 8
• Masters Degree - 6
• PhD - 4

Required Certifications

• ServiceNow Certified Technical Architect (CTA)
• ServiceNow Certified System Administrator (CSA)
• ServiceNow Certified Application Developer (CAD)
• ServiceNow Certified Application Specialist (CAS) App Engine
• Minimum two of the following:
• CIS-IRM / GRC
• CIS-HRSD
• CIS-ITSM
• CIS-SecOps

Desired Certifications

• CISSP or CISM
• ServiceNow Flow Designer Micro-Certification
• ServiceNow IntegrationHub Micro-Certification
• ServiceNow Presales Architect Accreditation

Salary Range: $180k+. The final offered salary will be based on several factors, including but not limited to the candidate's depth of experience, skill set, qualifications, and internal pay equity. Hiring at the top end of the range would not be typical, to allow for future meaningful salary growth in this position

New River Systems is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, nation origin, disability, protected veteran status or any other factor protected by law.