Staff Software Engineer

ServiceNow

San Diego (CA)

On-site

USD 150,000 - 262,000

Full time

12 hours ago

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Benefits offered by this job

Health plans

Flexible spending accounts

401(k) with company match

ESPP

Matching donations

Flexible time away

Family leave programs

Job summary

ServiceNow is seeking a highly experienced Staff Software Engineer for platform engineering across DevOps, deployment, and performance domains. You will lead CI/CD enablement, AI-native tooling, and cross-team platform initiatives to accelerate delivery with reliability.

You will collaborate with framework, UX, and other teams to build scalable infrastructure and tooling that powers AI-driven development, testing, and release processes.

Qualifications

10+ years of software engineering in a high-traffic, cloud-based environment.
At least 3 years in a senior or staff IC role.
Strong proficiency in Java, JavaScript and/or Python.
Experience with CI/CD platforms (Jenkins, GitHub Actions).
Expert-level knowledge of Kubernetes.
Observability and monitoring with Grafana/Prometheus/OpenTelemetry.
Experience operating and debugging services on Kubernetes clusters.
Experience building developer productivity or internal platform tooling.
Understanding of performance engineering concepts incl. load testing and API latency profiling.
Track record applying AI/ML or agentic AI to engineering workflows.

Responsibilities

Design and enable CI/CD pipelines and high-throughput deployment processes.
Own the cross-team platform roadmap for DevOps, AI tooling, and performance.
Architect batch API strategies to avoid rate-limit thresholds and improve reliability.
Build and iterate on the Pod Coach / Scrum Master agent for delivery workflows.
Drive MCP integration and lead governance meetings to scale adoption.
Maintain documentation and provide program-level visibility across teams.
Lead shift-left performance strategies and instrumentation across stack.
Mentor engineers and champion AI-assisted reviews and recommendations.

Skills

Java

JavaScript

Python

Distributed systems

CI/CD

Kubernetes

Observability

Grafana

Prometheus

OpenTelemetry

AI in DevOps

Cross-functional

Tools

Jenkins

GitHub Actions

Kubernetes

Grafana

Prometheus

OpenTelemetry

Job description

Company 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.

Company Description

Job Description

ServiceNow is seeking a highly motivated and experienced Staff Software Engineer for platform engineering across DevOps, Deployment, and Performance Engineering functions within the PAXE DevOps & Performance Engineering organization. This role sits at the intersection of developer productivity, AI-native tooling, and operational excellence, owning the systems and practices that enable teams to ship with speed and confidence.

As a technical anchor on the team, you will drive the strategy and execution for CI/CD pipeline enablement, the cross team AI development platform, and shift-left performance engineering. You will work closely with partner organizations including framework, UX and other engineering teams to build the infrastructure and tooling that powers how AI is built, tested, and delivered at ServiceNow. Success in this role requires strong cross-functional collaboration aligning on developer experience, end-to-end delivery, and platform teams on observability and release quality. This role offers high executive visibility and the opportunity to shape foundational engineering practices across the organization.

Key Responsibilities

DevOps & Release Engineering

Contribute to design and execution of CI/CD pipeline enablement, working with devProd to improve developer throughput, greenlight processes, and merge guidance.
Own the Application Rating Tool and observability infrastructure, partnering with platform teams to surface actionable engineering metrics via a centralized dashboard.
Drive projects technically, establishing scalable testing patterns across frameworks and applications built on Karuna.
Build and maintain the IT initial triage agent, applying AI to automate first-line engineering support.

Cross team delivery Platform

Own the cross team platform roadmap.
Architect and implement batch API strategies to avoid API rate-limit thresholds and improve platform reliability.
Build and iterate on the Pod Coach / Scrum Master agent, applying agentic AI to improve team delivery workflows.
Drive MCP integration and lead weekly communications, demos, and governance meetings to align stakeholders and scale adoption.
Maintain documentation and program-level visibility.

Performance Engineering

Lead a shift-left performance strategy, embedding client, API, and page-load performance tooling earlier in the development lifecycle.
Define and drive performance monitoring requirements for Lit based framework and application-level workloads.
Own the Performance Tooling efforts, reporting infrastructure, and test data strategy.
Coordinate with the broader Performance Engineering team on MCP integration and result triage workflows.

Technical Leadership

Act as a technical leader and mentor, setting engineering standards, driving code quality, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
Champion the use of AI to accelerate DevOps and platform engineering including AI-assisted PR reviews, skill/agent development, deployment recommendations, test generation, and predictive monitoring.
Partner with Engineering Managers and cross-functional teams to align on roadmap priorities, delivery milestones, and operational health.

Qualifications

10+ years of software engineering experience in a high-traffic, cloud-based environment, with at least 3 years in a senior or staff-level individual contributor role.
Strong proficiency in Java, javascript and/or Python, with solid understanding of distributed systems, concurrency, and scalable service design
Deep hands-on experience with CI/CD platforms (e.g., Jenkins, GitHub Actions) and modern DevOps tooling at scale including pipeline design, build optimization, and release automation.
Expert-level knowledge of Kubernetes and container orchestration
Strong observability and monitoring background — hands-on with Grafana, Prometheus, OpenTelemetry, or equivalent stacks; able to design and instrument dashboards, alerts, and SLO/SLI frameworks across distributed services.
Experience operating and debugging services on Kubernetes clusters — log aggregation, tracing, resource profiling, and incident response in containerized environments.
Demonstrated experience building and operating developer productivity or internal platform tooling.
Understanding of performance engineering concepts incluing load testing, API latency profiling, page-load optimization, and shift-left testing strategies.
Track record of applying AI/ML or agentic AI to engineering workflows; experience with MCP, A2A, or AI-native development platforms is a strong plus.
Excellent cross-functional collaboration and communication skills — able to influence partner orgs (App and platform teams), lead governance forums, and drive alignment without direct authority.
Familiarity with the ServiceNow platform is a plus.

For positions in this location, we offer a base pay of $149,800 - $262,200, 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

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 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 globaltalentss@servicenow.com 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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