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
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
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.
Team 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.
What you get to do in this role:
- 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.
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.
- 12+ years of hands‑on engineering experience in distributed systems, data platforms, or large‑scale backend infrastructure with a Bachelor's degree; OR 8+ years with a Master's degree; OR 6+ years with a PhD OR equivalent work experience.
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.
- Deep programming expertise and hands-on experience working with Helm (charts authoring, templating, managing overlay layering across environments)
- 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.
- Security systems, methods and protocols.
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.
- GitOps and release engineering for distributed k8s-native services.
- Strong expertise in designing and architecting platforms using:
- Kubernetes (workload deployments, upgrades, monitoring and maintenance).
- Apache Iceberg (tables, catalogs, data encryption, 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.
For positions in this location, we offer a base pay of $181,200 - $317,100, 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 InformationWork 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
- 12+ years of hands-on engineering experience with a bachelor's degree, 8+ years with a master's degree, 6+ years with a PhD, or equivalent experience
- Experience with distributed systems, data platforms, or large-scale backend infrastructure
- Strong distributed systems architecture, design patterns, and algorithms fundamentals
- Deep Java programming expertise, including JVM internals, memory models, and garbage collection
- Experience with JVM performance tuning, profiling, and diagnosing performance bottlenecks
- Deep hands-on expertise with Helm, including chart authoring, templating, and environment overlays
- Strong understanding of concurrency, networking, sockets, operating system internals, and performance optimization
- Experience building and operating large-scale distributed systems
- Experience with relational databases such as Oracle, MySQL, or PostgreSQL
- Knowledge of security systems, methods, and protocols
- Experience with large-scale distributed system deployments, replication, fault tolerance, and high availability
- DevOps experience operationalizing distributed platforms, including GitOps and release engineering for Kubernetes-native services
- Expertise with Kubernetes, Apache Iceberg, Apache Kafka, Apache Flink, and Apache Spark
- 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
- Experience applying or evaluating AI in engineering work, coding tools, operational tooling, or workflow automation
- Must pass ServiceNow USFedPASS background screening, including credit, criminal/misdemeanor, and drug testing
- Must be a U.S. citizen, naturalized U.S. citizen, or U.S. permanent resident with a green card
What the Team is Saying
ServiceNow Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage is described as robust, with multiple medical plan options, strong dental/vision, and access to mental-health resources. Feedback suggests the breadth and quality of healthcare offerings are standout aspects of the package.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Flexible PTO, paid holidays, company-wide wellbeing days, and paid volunteer time are emphasized. Feedback suggests these options provide meaningful flexibility and support for time away.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Equity is a notable part of total rewards, including RSUs and an employee stock purchase plan with a purchase discount. Feedback suggests these programs meaningfully enhance total compensation.
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.
