Principal Software Engineer - Multi-Cloud Control Plane - Kubernetes

Own high-impact technical direction for ServiceNow’s cloud-native control plane platform across Kubernetes, distributed systems, and hyperscaler infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Set technical direction for the cloud-native platform across multiple engineering teams and organizations, defining architecture and standards for how Kubernetes, distributed systems, and hyperscaler infrastructure are built and operated at scale.
• Drive the most difficult and ambiguous platform problems, including multi-cloud topology, control-plane design, workload isolation, identity and trust fabric, and reliability at scale across hundreds of clusters and dozens of product workloads.
• Partner with engineering fellows, principal engineers, and other senior technical leaders to align on architectural decisions and adopt best practices across the platform ecosystem.
• Identify and reduce the biggest technical risks in key initiatives with C-suite visibility, making calls on managed vs. self-managed tradeoffs, substrate portability, and multi-hyperscaler strategy.
• Design and build critical components when needed, including control planes, operators, infrastructure abstractions, and the systems other teams build on.
• Mentor staff and principal engineers and shape the next generation of technical leadership.

Requirements

• Experience leveraging or critically evaluating how to integrate AI into engineering and platform work, including AI-powered tooling, automation of operational workflows, agentic systems for fleet visibility and operations, and reasoning about AI’s impact on how infrastructure is built and run.
• 12+ years designing, building, and operating large-scale distributed systems in production, with deep expertise operating Kubernetes at scale (multi-cluster, multi-region, multi-tenant).
• Hands-on, authoritative experience across one or more hyperscalers: AWS, Azure, GCP, including managed Kubernetes offerings (EKS, AKS, GKE) and tradeoffs in networking, IAM, and capacity.
• Proven track record providing technical leadership across multiple engineering teams, influencing architecture and direction without relying on positional authority.
• Deep expertise in platform building blocks, including operator/controller patterns, infrastructure-as-code and control planes (e.g., Crossplane), GitOps-based delivery, container networking (CNI), and service mesh.
• Strong programming skills in Go and fluency across the cloud-native ecosystem.

Technologies

• Kubernetes
• AWS, EKS
• Azure, AKS
• GCP, GKE
• Go
• Crossplane
• GitOps
• CNI
• service mesh
• SPIFFE, SPIRE
• mTLS
• Kata Containers

Benefits

• Base pay of $254,500 - $445,400 per year, 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 and family leave programs.

Position Details

• Location: San Diego, CA (hybrid)
• Work model: Flexible (Hybrid)
• Flexible positions require 2 days per week in a ServiceNow office.
• Offices include Santa Clara, CA; San Diego, CA; and Kirkland, WA.

It Also Helps If You Have

• Experience designing identity and trust fabrics for distributed systems, including workload identity, mTLS, and standards such as SPIFFE/SPIRE.
• Experience with multi-tenant workload isolation and runtime security (e.g., Kata Containers, sandboxed runtimes).
• Experience building and operating platforms for regulated or federal markets (e.g., FedRAMP, air-gapped or self-hosted distribution, 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, with the platform managed as a product with a roadmap, contracts, and a delivery pipeline.

Additional Information

• Work personas: Flexible, remote, or required in office categories based on employee work and work location. Eligibility may include checking the distance between your primary residence and the closest ServiceNow office using a third-party service.
• Accommodations: If you require a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process, or cannot use the online application and need an alternative method, contact [email protected].
• Export control regulations: For positions requiring access to controlled technology (including U.S. Export Administration Regulations), ServiceNow may need export control approval for certain individuals. Employment is contingent upon required export licenses or approvals from relevant authorities.