Staff Software Engineer - Data Platform - Kubernetes - Distributed Systems - Federal

ServiceNow, Inc.

Santa Clara (CA)

Hybrid

USD 150,000 - 262,000

Full time

14 days+

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Benefits offered by this job

Health plans

401(k) Plan with company match

ESPP

Matching donations

Flexible time away plan

Family leave programs

Job summary

ServiceNow seeks a Staff Software Engineer for its Data Platform team in a hybrid role. You will design, build, and run cloud-native services, leading projects end-to-end and collaborating with senior engineers to ensure scalable, reliable platforms.

Strong Go skills and Kubernetes mastery are essential for shaping scalable infrastructures. You will mentor juniors, implement operators and platform services, and contribute to on-call readiness while applying AI-aware engineering practices across

Qualifications

8+ years of software development with a bachelor’s degree, or 5+ years with a Master’s, or 3+ years with a PhD.
5+ years building and operating workloads on Kubernetes.
Experience with major cloud providers (AWS/Azure/GCP).
Strong coding skills in Go or similar systems language.

Responsibilities

Design, build, and operate components within the cloud-native platform.
Lead projects from design through production with strong technical design.
Collaborate with senior and principal engineers to align with architecture.
Improve reliability, scalability, and operability, including tests and runbooks.
Hands-on development focusing on operators, controllers, and platform services.
Mentor junior engineers via code reviews and pairing.

Skills

Kubernetes

Go programming

CI/CD

GitOps

Containers

Cloud platforms (AWS/Azure/GCP)

Distributed systems

On-call/operational excellence

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

PhD

Tools

Kubernetes

AWS

Azure

GCP

CI/CD tooling

GitOps tooling

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.

Position Location:

This is a Flexible (Hybrid) position. Flexible positions require 2 days per week in a ServiceNow office location. We have offices in several locations, including San Francisco, CA; Pleasanton, CA; Santa Clara, CA; San Diego, CA; and Kirkland, WA

Please Note:

This position will include supporting our US Regulated Markets.

_“This position requires passing a ServiceNow background screening, USFedPASS (US Federal Personnel Authorization Screening Standards). This includes a credit check, criminal/misdemeanor check and taking a drug test. Any employment is contingent upon passing the screening. _ Due to Federal requirements, only US citizens, US naturalized citizens or US Permanent Residents, holding a green card, will be considered.

About the team:

As a Staff Software Engineer with the Data Platform organization, you will be responsible for designing and implementing features and services within our cloud-native platform.

What you get to do in this role:

You will design, build, and operate components and services within the cloud-native platform, taking features from design through to production.
You will lead well-scoped projects within your team, turning requirements and rough ideas into solid technical designs and delivering them.
You will collaborate with senior, staff, and principal engineers to align your work with the platform’s architecture and standards.
You will contribute to the reliability, scalability, and operability of what you build — writing tests and instrumentation, improving runbooks, and participating in on-call.
You will spend most of your time hands-on building — operators, controllers, automation, and platform services that other teams depend on.
You will help onboard and mentor junior engineers through code review, design feedback, and pairing.

To be successful in this role you have:

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.
8+ years of software development experience with a Bachelor's degree; OR 5+ years with a Master's degree; OR 3+ years with a PhD; OR equivalent work experience.
5+ years of hands-on experience building, deploying and operating workloads on Kubernetes.
Working experience with at least one major hyperscaler (AWS, Azure, GCP), including its core compute, networking, and IAM primitives.
A track record of delivering complex features or services as a key contributor.
Solid working knowledge of containers, CI/CD and GitOps-based delivery, and infrastructure-as-code.
Strong programming skills in Go (or another systems language with a willingness to work primarily in Go).

It also helps if you have:

Experience building Kubernetes controllers or working with the operator pattern.
Familiarity with container networking (CNI) or service mesh.
Experience with workload identity, mTLS, or secrets management.
Experience with observability — metrics, tracing, and dashboards.

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.

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 (https://careers.servicenow.com/life-at-servicenow#workpersonas) . 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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