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Principal Software Engineer at ServiceNow in Santa Clara, CA

ExperiencedOn-siteFull-timeSanta Clara, CA$221k–$387k/yr

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

About the Team:

The Security and Risk Engineering organization is a dynamic group of builders, thinkers, and problem-solvers dedicated to delivering scalable, world-class AI-powered security solutions to reduce risk and protect the company and our customers. We value AI first solutions, clean architecture, intuitive user experiences, and a culture of continuous improvement. Security is a key strategic growth area for ServiceNow, and every engineer here plays a key role in driving innovation and shaping the quality and reliability of our security and risk products.

What you get to do in this role

Define the technical vision and architecture for AI-native security solutions, leveraging frontier models, agentic AI, reasoning, retrieval, knowledge systems, and advanced ML techniques.
Explore and apply emerging AI capabilities to solve complex cybersecurity problems in fundamentally new ways—not simply augment existing products with AI.

Define technical architecture and engineering standards that improve scalability, reliability, performance, and maintainability.

Partner closely with Product, UX, security researchers, customers, and engineering leaders to identify high-value problems and translate them into differentiated product experiences.
Champion AI-native engineering practices, including extensive use of AI coding agents and autonomous development, testing, evaluation, and operational workflows.
Represent the team's technology and innovation with executives, customers, partners, and the broader engineering organization.

Mentor senior engineers and raise the overall engineering bar through coaching and technical leadership.

To be successful in this role, you have

Deep technical expertise in modern AI/ML, with demonstrated experience building production AI systems using LLMs, foundation models, agentic architectures, RAG, embeddings, knowledge retrieval, model evaluation, and related technologies.
Required skills include React, Node.js, Python, Java, REST, GraphQL, SQL, AWS, Azure, GCP, Docker, and Kubernetes. These skills are currently listed under the Software Development Engineer role and are directly relevant to both positions.
Strong understanding of agentic architectures, including planning and reasoning, tool use, context and memory, multi-agent systems, evaluation, observability, guardrails, and human-in-the-loop patterns.
Strong technical foundation in software architecture, distributed systems, cloud-native platforms, data systems, and APIs, with the ability to go deep into architecture and code.
Experience designing and building highly performant and scalable distributed systems.
Experience with cybersecurity problems such as threat detection, vulnerability and exposure management, security operations, identity security, investigation, risk prioritization, or autonomous remediation strongly preferred.
Strong proficiency in Python and experience with modern AI frameworks and infrastructure; experience with Java, Go, or similar languages is valuable.
An innovator's mindset with the ability to challenge conventional approaches, identify opportunities created by rapidly evolving AI technology, and turn ambitious ideas into working products.
Ability to operate effectively in ambiguity and balance rapid experimentation with the rigor required for enterprise-grade security products.
Strong product instincts and the ability to connect technology innovation to customer problems, differentiated experiences, and business outcomes.
Executive-level communication skills and the ability to articulate a compelling technical vision to engineers, customers, and senior leadership.

Qualifications

15+ years of software engineering experience, including significant technical and engineering leadership responsibility.
Demonstrated experience designing and delivering AI/ML-powered products and platforms in production.

Strong backend engineering experience with distributed systems, APIs, microservices, and cloud-native architectures.
Demonstrated ability to design systems that scale to enterprise workloads.

Hands-on experience with modern AI development technologies, including frontier LLMs, agent frameworks, retrieval/vector technologies, model evaluation and observability.
Extensive experience using AI-native development tools and coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Windsurf, or equivalent as part of the software development lifecycle.

Experience leading technical initiatives spanning multiple teams without direct authority.
Experience with cloud platforms in Kuberneties is a must and modern DevOps practices.

Experience in cybersecurity products or deep familiarity with modern security architectures and security operations is strongly preferred.
Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, or a related technical discipline, or equivalent practical experience.

For positions in this location, we offer a base pay of $221,200 - $387,100, 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 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.