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
Overview
The Data Platform group builds highly scalable, high‑performance platform capabilities for data‑in‑motion and backend storage systems. Our customers operate at massive scale, pushing the boundaries of data volume, throughput, and concurrency. We are looking for a seasoned IC5 Senior Staff Engineer with deep expertise in distributed systems and Data Lake architectures to drive next‑generation platform innovation.
Role Summary
As an IC5 Senior Staff Engineer, you will architect and deliver large‑scale distributed platform components, lead complex technical initiatives, and define engineering best practices. You will bring strong leadership, hands-on engineering depth, and the ability to design and operate reliable, scalable, and high‑performance data systems.
Key Responsibilities
- Architect, design, and build high‑performance distributed systems and platform components.
- Build distributed systems data ingestion solutions with strong emphasis on scalability, quality, and operational excellence.
- Deliver high‑quality, clean, modular, and reusable code while enforcing engineering best practices (code reviews, unit testing, automation, design reviews).
- Build foundational libraries, frameworks, and tools focused on modularity, extensibility, configurability, and maintainability.
- Collaborate across engineering teams to refine requirements and deliver end‑to‑end solutions.
- Provide technical leadership for projects with significant complexity and risk.
- Research, evaluate, and adopt new technologies that enhance platform capabilities.
- Troubleshoot and diagnose complex production issues across distributed systems.
Required Skills & Experience
Experience Level
• 15–20 years of hands‑on engineering experience in distributed systems, data platforms, or large‑scale backend infrastructure.
Core Engineering Expertise
- Strong fundamentals in distributed systems architecture, design patterns, and algorithms.
- Deep programming expertise in Java, including JVM internals, memory models, and garbage collection.
- Proven experience in JVM performance tuning, profiling, and diagnosing performance bottlenecks.
- Strong understanding of concurrency, networking, sockets, OS internals, and performance optimization.
- Hands-on experience building and operating large‑scale distributed systems.
- Experience with relational databases such as Oracle, MySQL, or PostgreSQL.
Distributed Systems Expertise
- Experience with large‑scale deployments of distributed systems.
- Deep knowledge of replication, fault-tolerant, and HA strategies.
- Experience working in DevOps environments to operationalize distributed platforms.
- Strong expertise in designing and architecting platforms using:
- Kubernetes (workload deployments, upgrades, monitoring and maintenance)
- Apache Iceberg (tables, catalogs, schema evolution, metadata management)
- Apache Kafka (high‑scale clusters, topic/partition strategies, HA)
- Apache Flink (stateful stream processing, exactly‑once semantics)
- Apache Spark (batch & streaming jobs, optimization, partitioning)
- Expertise in data formats such as Parquet, ORC, and Avro, along with compaction and governance strategies.
- Ability to build scalable, fault‑tolerant ingestion and transformation workflows.
- Experience integrating Data Lakes with analytics engines, query services, or ML platforms.
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 [email protected] 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.
From Fortune. ©2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All rights reserved. Used under license.
Skills Required
- 15–20 years of hands-on engineering experience in distributed systems, data platforms, or large-scale backend infrastructure
- Strong fundamentals in distributed systems architecture, design patterns, and algorithms
- Deep programming expertise in Java, including JVM internals, memory models, and garbage collection
- Experience with JVM performance tuning, profiling, and diagnosing performance bottlenecks
- Strong understanding of concurrency, networking, sockets, operating system internals, and performance optimization
- Hands-on experience building and operating large-scale distributed systems
- Experience with relational databases such as Oracle, MySQL, or PostgreSQL
- Experience with large-scale deployments of distributed systems
- Knowledge of replication, fault-tolerance, and high-availability strategies
- Experience working in DevOps environments to operationalize distributed platforms
- Expertise with Kubernetes workload deployments, upgrades, monitoring, and maintenance
- Expertise with Apache Iceberg tables, catalogs, schema evolution, and metadata management
- Expertise with Apache Kafka high-scale clusters, topic and partition strategies, and high availability
- Expertise with Apache Flink stateful stream processing and exactly-once semantics
- Expertise with Apache Spark batch and streaming jobs, optimization, and partitioning
- Expertise with Parquet, ORC, and Avro data formats, including compaction and governance strategies
- Ability to build scalable, fault-tolerant ingestion and transformation workflows
- Experience integrating data lakes with analytics engines, query services, or machine learning platforms
What the Team is Saying
ServiceNow Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage is described as comprehensive with multiple plan choices and strong perceived coverage, alongside mental-health resources and wellbeing support. Company materials and employer-verified summaries also note inclusive care options and supportive programs.
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Parental & Family Support — Parental leave and family-planning support are characterized as generous, with fully paid leave and resources such as fertility, caregiving, and adoption assistance. Backup care and other family-focused programs are also highlighted as part of the package.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Equity components like RSUs and an employee stock purchase plan are presented as meaningful, widely available parts of total rewards. Many role and benefits overviews emphasize equity’s role in boosting overall compensation alongside bonuses.
ServiceNow Insights
What We Do
As the AI platform for business transformation, we're putting AI to work across organizations — freeing people for work that matters. Making old tech work with new tech. Reaching across departments, from the front office to the back office and every office in between. Our ambition? To become the AI defining enterprise software company of the 21st century (or "AI DESCO21C," as we like to call it). With more than 8,400+ customers, we serve approximately 90% of the Fortune 500®, and we're proud to be a Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For® and World's Most Admired Companies™. Explore your future career with us, visit www.careers.servicenow.com From Fortune. ©2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All rights reserved. Used under license.
Why Work With Us
By joining ServiceNow, you are part of an ambitious team of change-makers who have a restless curiosity and a drive for ingenuity. We're committed to helping our people do their best work and live their best lives so we can fulfill our purpose together. At the fastest-growing enterprise software company, you can grow your career faster.
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ServiceNow Offices
Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
At ServiceNow, we lead with flexibility and trust. For some, home is the primary workplace. For those who come into a ServiceNow workplace, you are empowered to make team-guided and individual-led decisions on how and when you use the workplace.
