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.

Join us to put AI to work for people.

Job Description

This role is for a software engineering director who leads a high-performing team of software engineers building AI-native and cloud-native applications on the ServiceNow platform. The Director combines deep technical credibility with strong people management capabilities, fostering a culture of innovation, ownership, and continuous learning. They are responsible for team performance, career development, hiring, and execution of key business initiatives. This role requires the ability to balance people development with business results, think strategically about AI integration and platform architecture, and influence across the organization to enable team success. The ideal candidate brings experience scaling AI-native teams and a passion for building leaders.

What we do - Finance and Procurement teams are at the forefront of AI-native engineering at ServiceNow—building autonomous solutions for the world's largest enterprises that handle mission-critical financial and procurement operations at unprecedented scale. They continuously learn and integrate the latest AI and cloud-native technologies to deliver performant, resilient systems that transform how businesses manage supplier lifecycles, procurement workflows, payments, and receivables.

Responsibility Area: People Leadership & Development

Build, grow, and maintain a high-performing, diverse team of IC2-IC5 engineers; hire and develop talent at all levels
Set clear expectations for individual and team performance; establish metrics and goals aligned with business objectives
Conduct regular 1:1s with direct reports; provide coaching, feedback, and career guidance tailored to each engineer's growth stage
Create a culture of psychological safety, learning, and ownership; encourage experimentation and learning from failures
Support engineers through career transitions—from IC2 to IC3, IC3 to IC4, and technical-to-management pathways
Identify high-potential engineers and invest in their development; prepare emerging leaders for increased responsibility
Address performance issues promptly and professionally; provide clear paths for improvement or transition
Sponsor team members for growth opportunities, stretch assignments, and leadership development programs
Celebrate wins and recognize contributions; foster a positive, collaborative team environment
Model vulnerability, continuous learning, and AI-native thinking; lead by example in your own growth

Responsibility Area: Hiring & Team Building

Define hiring strategy and conduct recruitment for open positions; build a pipeline of qualified candidates
Lead technical interviews and assessments for engineering candidates at all IC levels; make hiring decisions
Partner with HR and recruiting teams on job descriptions, sourcing strategies, and candidate pipeline management
Evaluate cultural fit and potential; hire for values and growth potential, not just current skills
Onboard new engineers effectively; assign mentors and ensure smooth integration into the team
Build a team with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives; actively work to improve representation
Identify gaps in team capabilities (technical depth, domain expertise, AI/ML fluency) and address through hiring or development
Build relationships with external technical communities to attract and recruit top talent
Participate in employer branding and represent the organization at recruiting events and universities

Responsibility Area: Technical Strategy & Product Leadership

Work with product, design, and cross-functional partners to define product roadmap and technical strategy aligned with business goals
Establish technical direction for the team; make architecture and technology decisions that balance innovation, quality, and delivery
Ensure the team's technical approach stays current with AI/ML advancements and ServiceNow platform evolution
Champion AI-native thinking across the team and organization; help teammates understand how to build with AI at the core
Lead architectural reviews and technical decision-making; provide guidance on complex technical trade-offs
Advocate for technical investments (refactoring, infrastructure, tooling) that improve team productivity and code quality
Set quality standards for code, testing, and security; establish practices that enable sustainable delivery
Partner with IC4/IC5 engineers to set multi-year technical roadmaps and long-term strategic initiatives
Represent the engineering team in product and executive discussions; influence organizational priorities

Responsibility Area: Team Execution & Accountability

Drive team delivery of committed business objectives and product initiatives; maintain accountability for results
Establish clear sprint goals, work-item prioritization, and delivery timelines; remove blockers for team success
Track team metrics: velocity, quality, customer satisfaction, incident response, deployment frequency
Conduct regular retrospectives; identify process improvements and drive adoption of better practices
Manage team capacity; balance new feature development, technical debt reduction, and customer support
Ensure team participation in on-call rotation; monitor incident response and post-incident learning
Report on team progress, risks, and performance to senior leadership; provide transparent communication
Escalate critical issues or resource constraints; collaborate with peer managers to solve cross-team dependencies
Foster a culture of ownership where engineers take responsibility for quality, testing, and production outcomes
Lead team through organizational changes and initiatives; maintain morale and focus during transitions

Responsibility Area: Customer & Cross-Functional Engagement

Build and maintain relationships with key customers and stakeholders; understand their needs and priorities
Participate in customer meetings, technical escalations, and business reviews; represent engineering capabilities and constraints
Work closely with product management, customer success, and other teams; ensure alignment on priorities and capabilities
Lead customer-critical incident response; ensure timely and professional resolution of critical issues
Gather customer feedback and translate into product improvements; communicate back to customers how feedback is addressed
Advocate for customers' needs within the engineering organization; ensure customer voice is heard in decision-making
Build trust and credibility with customers through transparency, responsiveness, and technical leadership
Participate in strategic customer discussions and technology roadmap reviews

Responsibility Area: Organizational Leadership & Culture

Model the organization's values and desired behaviors; set tone for engineering culture within your team and across teams
Contribute to hiring and interview training of other managers; build bench strength in people leadership
Mentor junior managers or peers; contribute to manager development and leadership pipeline
Participate in engineering leadership meetings; contribute to organizational strategy and policy
Promote psychological safety, inclusion, and belonging; actively work to reduce barriers for underrepresented groups
Foster knowledge sharing across the organization; encourage your team to contribute to brown bags, documentation, and communities
Lead by example in work-life balance, continuous learning, and sustainable pace; prevent burnout
Encourage your team to engage with the broader tech community (conferences, open source, speaking, writing)

Responsibility Area: AI-Native Thinking & Innovation Leadership

Develop deep understanding of AI/ML capabilities, limitations, and integration patterns; become a thought leader on AI-native development
Coach your team on AI-native thinking—how to build systems with AI at the core, not as an afterthought
Help engineers understand prompt engineering, retrieval systems, agentic workflows, and responsible AI principles
Establish practices for evaluation-driven development, hallucination detection, and model performance monitoring
Lead discussions on AI safety, data privacy, and responsible AI; ensure team builds with appropriate guardrails
Create learning opportunities for the team to stay current with AI/ML advancements and frameworks
Identify opportunities to apply AI to improve internal processes and team efficiency
Contribute to organizational conversations about AI strategy and responsible AI practices
Stay informed about LLM advancements, new models, and emerging techniques; share insights with your team

Qualifications

12+ years of professional software development experience, with 5+ years in AI-native systems, cloud-native architecture, or equivalent
5+ years of people management experience leading software engineers; track record of developing talent and building high-performing teams
3+ years managing application development on SaaS platforms (ServiceNow, Salesforce, or similar); deep understanding of platform architecture and constraints
3+ years hands-on experience with AI/ML systems, LLM integration, prompt engineering, and responsible AI practices
Demonstrated expertise in hiring, team building, and organizational development; ability to attract and develop top talent
Expert-level understanding of modern software engineering practices: CI/CD, testing, security, deployment
Strong technical credibility; ability to engage in technical discussions with IC4/IC5 engineers; hands-on coding experience still valued
Proficiency in Python, Java, and JavaScript; understanding of ServiceNow scripting and platform APIs
Track record of delivering significant business results through engineering teams; ability to drive accountability and execution
Experience scaling teams and organizations; demonstrated ability to work at multiple levels of complexity
Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills; ability to influence across technical and non-technical stakeholders
Strong coaching and mentoring skills; ability to develop engineers across all career stages
Experience with Agile and Scrum methodologies; ability to adapt to team and organizational needs
Demonstrated understanding of data security, compliance, and responsible AI practices
Strong emotional intelligence; ability to navigate difficult conversations and build trust
Experience with performance management, feedback delivery, and difficult personnel decisions
Passion for building inclusive, psychologically safe teams where all engineers can thrive
Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, business, or related field
Experience leading teams through organizational change, technical migrations, or strategic initiatives
MBA or management certification is a plus; however, demonstrated people leadership capability is more important
Track record of developing talent into senior engineering leadership roles or managers
Active engagement with engineering and AI/ML communities; thought leadership through speaking, writing, or open source is a plus
Experience working with diverse teams and commitment to building inclusive organizations

Preferred Attributes

Experience managing managers or leading multiple teams
Background in both individual contributor and manager roles (not just promoted from individual contribution)
Experience working in fast-paced startup or scale-up environments
Familiarity with data-driven decision making and analytics
Experience with customer-facing or go-to-market organizations
Understanding of product management and business metrics
Track record of improving team efficiency, reducing cycle time, or improving quality metrics
Experience mentoring individuals into management roles

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.

Someone shared one job with you. ASAI keeps finding the rest.

Scored, not searched. Every role ranked against your actual profile.

Alerts as often as hourly. Reach new roles while the pile is still small.

Skill gaps, spelled out. See exactly which requirements you don't meet yet.

Verified jobs, only. Say no to ghost jobs. Your time deserves respect.