ServiceNow is seeking a distinguished Principal Software Engineer to lead technical direction for its cloud-native platform in the areas of Kubernetes, distributed systems, and multi-cloud control-plane design. This hybrid role is based in Santa Clara, CA and sits at the center of the toughest, most ambiguous platform challenges, partnering across senior engineering leaders to set architecture and operational standards at scale.
What you’ll do
- Set technical direction for the cloud-native platform across multiple engineering teams and organizations, defining architecture and standards for building and operating Kubernetes, distributed systems, and hyperscaler infrastructure at scale.
- Own the hardest, most ambiguous technical problems, including multi-cloud topology, control-plane design, workload isolation, identity and trust fabric, and reliability across hundreds of clusters and dozens of product workloads.
- Collaborate with engineering fellows, principal engineers, and other senior technical leaders to align architectural decisions and drive adoption of best practices across the platform ecosystem.
- Identify and mitigate major technical risks in initiatives with C-suite visibility, making decisions on managed versus self-managed tradeoffs, substrate portability, and multi-hyperscaler strategy.
- Design and build critical platform components where needed, including control planes, operators, infrastructure abstractions, and the systems other teams build on top of.
- Mentor staff and principal engineers and help shape the organization’s next generation of technical leadership.
What you bring
- Experience leveraging or critically thinking about how to integrate AI into engineering and platform work, including AI-powered tooling, automation of operational workflows, agentic systems for fleet visibility and operations, or reasoning about AI’s impact on infrastructure design and operations.
- 12+ years of experience designing, building, and operating large-scale distributed systems in production, with deep expertise running Kubernetes at scale (multi-cluster, multi-region, multi-tenant).
- Hands-on, authoritative experience across one or more major hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, GCP), including managed Kubernetes offerings (EKS, AKS, GKE) and the networking, IAM, and capacity tradeoffs that come with each.
- Proven ability to provide technical leadership across multiple engineering teams, influencing architecture and direction without relying on positional authority.
- Deep expertise in modern platform building blocks, including operator/controller patterns, infrastructure-as-code and control planes (such as Crossplane), GitOps-based delivery, container networking (CNI), and service mesh.
- Strong programming skills in Go and fluency across the cloud-native ecosystem.
Technologies you’ll work with
- Kubernetes, AWS, Azure, GCP
- EKS, AKS, GKE
- Go, Crossplane
- GitOps, CNI, service mesh
- SPIFFE, SPIRE, mTLS
- Kata Containers
- FedRAMP, OCI
Compensation and benefits
- Base pay of $254,500 - $445,400, plus equity (when applicable)
- Variable/incentive compensation and benefits
- Health plans, including flexible spending accounts
- 401(k) Plan with company match
- ESPP
- Matching donations
- Flexible time away plan
- Family leave programs
Location and work model
- Santa Clara, CA (hybrid)
- Flexible (Hybrid) positions require 2 days per week in a ServiceNow office.
- ServiceNow offices include Santa Clara, CA, San Diego, CA, and Kirkland, WA.
Additional helpful experience
- Experience designing identity and trust fabrics for distributed systems, including workload identity and mTLS, plus standards such as SPIFFE/SPIRE.
- Experience with multi-tenant workload isolation and runtime security, such as Kata Containers and sandboxed runtimes.
- Experience building and operating platforms for regulated or federal markets, including FedRAMP, air-gapped or self-hosted distribution, and OCI bundling.
- Experience with observability at scale, including metrics, tracing, and SLO-driven operations across a large fleet.
- A platform-as-product mindset, treating internal engineering teams as customers and the platform as a product with a roadmap, contracts, and a delivery pipeline.
Work persona and eligibility notes
ServiceNow approaches its distributed world of work with flexibility and trust. Work personas (flexible, remote, or required in office) are assigned based on job requirements and the employee’s assigned work location. ServiceNow may confirm the distance between an employee’s primary residence and the closest ServiceNow office using a third-party service for persona eligibility.
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 required by relevant export control authorities.
Accommodations
If you require a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process, or are unable to use the online application and need an alternative method to apply, contact globaltalentss@servicenow.com for assistance.
