Staff Research Scientist

Servicenow; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 203,000 - 354,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health plans

401(k) plan with company match

ESPP

Matching donations

Flexible time away plan and family-lea

Job summary

ServiceNow is seeking a Staff Researcher to tackle high-impact questions in enterprise agentic AI. You will explore how agents acquire tacit knowledge, learn continuously, and ensure safety and privacy in deployed systems.

You will publish findings, test hypotheses against real deployments, and collaborate with researchers and engineers to influence product direction and research agendas.

Qualifications

• Ideal candidate holds a PhD in computer science, machine learning, or a related field, or equivalent research experience.

Responsibilities

• Investigate how agents accumulate tacit knowledge and how they learn, improve, and scale in enterprise environments.
• Study safety, resilience, and privacy considerations for data handled by AI agents in real deployments.
• Publish and advance the state of the art, testing hypotheses against real deployments rather than benchmarks.
• Collaborate with product and engineering teams to influence technical decisions beyond the research group.

Skills

Strong software development skills

Python

TensorFlow/PyTorch

Research methodologies

Excellent communication skills

Education

PhD in computer science, machine learning, or a related field

Tools

Python

Jupyter

Job 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

As a StaffResearcher, you will work on research questions that most AIlabs simply do not have access to. ServiceNow AI Research is chartered to build the future of enterprise agentic AI, from a rare advantage point: we see how agents actually behave, inside complex enterprise environments, at scale.

You will contribute to research initiatives on how agents accumulate and use tacit knowledge, learn and improve continuously, and on their resilience, their safety, and the privacy of the data they handle. These are the real obstacles to enterprise agentic deployment today, and they surface in operational reality well before they appear in the literature.

While much of the AI and NLP community concentrates on core agent capabilities, our team explores the dimensions that determine real adoption: safety mechanisms, threat detection, privacy guarantees, and responsible AI practices. You will have the freedom to publish and advance the state of the art, with the rare advantage of testing your hypotheses against real deployments rather than against benchmarks.

Qualifications

• PhD in computer science, machinelearning, or arelatedfield, orequivalent research experience
• 2 or more years of research experience post-PhD, a significant portion of it in an industrial setting or in direct contact with deployed systems
• Established publication record at top-tier venues (NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ACL, EMNLP, or equivalents), with contributions recognized as influential in your field
• Demonstrated track record of setting/executing research agenda, not only executing one: you have chosen problems before the community turned to them, and you can explain why
• Experience working on cross-disciplinary teams or projects collaborating with researchers and engineers
• Strong software development skills: you write, maintain, and optimize high-quality research code, and you know what it takes for a result to survive the move into production
• Advanced use of agentic tools in your own research practice, and a willingness to advance the team's practices in this area
• Demonstrated ability to influence technical decisions beyond your own team, particularly with product and engineering teams
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to explain complex technical work to non-specialist audiences and to executives

Nice to have

• Expertise in one or more of the following areas: agent memory and tacit knowledge, continual learning, safety and alignment, security and threat detection, privacy, agent evaluation
• Experience with AI systems operating in real enterprise environments, with the compliance, governance, and scale constraints that entail
• Contributions to open source software, datasets, or evaluation benchmarks used by the community
• Scientific service roles: program committees, editorial work, workshop organization
• Academic collaborations or supervision of doctoral students

For positions in this location, we offer a base pay of $202,500 - $354,400, 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

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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