Senior, Expert

Senior Staff Data Platform Engineer - Data Access Team

Santa Clara, United States, San Francisco, Pleasanton, San Diego, Kirkland · Hybrid$201–352k

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

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; and Kirkland, WA

Are you energized by the power of enterprise-scale data to transform how we work? At ServiceNow, our mission is to “make the world of work, work better for people,” and our AI-driven platform is delivering on that promise. We're the #1 enterprise platform for uniting AI, data, and workflows — simplifying how people work, automating what slows them down, and enabling seamless, impactful experiences.

About the Role — Senior Staff Data Platform Software Engineer, Data Access Team

Every workflow, AI agent, and application on the ServiceNow AI Platform depends on one thing: getting the right data, fast, correctly, and securely. As part of the Persistence organization, you'll build the layer that makes that possible, the foundation under a platform that 85% of the Fortune 500 runs their business on.

You'll help:

Give developers and customers faster, more reliable, more secure access to the data platform they build on
Push the limits of IO, transactions, and concurrency across relational, time-series, and columnar engines
Turn hard infrastructure problems into simple capabilities and automation for the developers and customers who build on the platform

About the Team

The Data Access team owns the ServiceNow ORM and data access layer. We take the platform's logical object model and translate every data request into high-performance queries against many database engines, including our homegrown RaptorDB (PostgreSQL), MariaDB, Oracle, and Trino, graph databases, and time-series databases. Our home-grown SQL generation engine, table management, and database metadata services are what let application developers build powerful applications across industries without ever having to manage engine complexity.

That makes us one of the most leveraged teams in the company. A single improvement to our engine speeds up thousands of applications and millions of queries, and getting it wrong is not an option.

As a Senior Staff Software Engineer, you'll be a key technical leader in the Platform Persistence group. You'll set the architectural direction for the data access layer as it expands into new engines and AI-driven workloads, and raise the bar for engineering craftsmanship across the organization.

Why you'll love it here

Problems that are hard: Query translation across heterogeneous engines, concurrency and locking at scale, and production issues that only show up at extreme volume.
Impact you can measure: Your work touches every product on the platform.
Real ownership: You'll set direction, write the design docs, and take features from idea to production, shaping the roadmap alongside product and engineering leadership.
A team that likes the craft: We care about clean architecture, deep debugging, and mentoring each other, and we enjoy working through the gnarly problems together.

What you'll do

Set the technical direction and architecture strategy for the data access layer, balancing long-term scalability with delivery
Work on core data architecture that touches every part of the product, keeping it high-quality, reliable, secure, and fast
Own features from design through delivery, turning business requirements into well-architected, cross-team solutions
Lead design and code reviews, championing performance, maintainability, and testability across multiple teams
Define comprehensive test strategies covering functional, regression, integration, and performance testing
Diagnose and resolve the hardest production issues across the stack
Mentor engineers at every level and raise the technical bar across the organization

To be successful:

Having aptitude for learning new technologies quickly
Demonstrated success completing complex, cross-team projects, on time and with quality
Experience with troubleshooting difficult production issues e.g., memory leaks, concurrency issues, locking issues, network problems, intermittent failures etc. across the stack
Track record of technical leadership — influencing architecture and engineering decisions across multiple teams without relying on direct authority
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including experience authoring design docs/RFCs and presenting technical strategy to senior engineering leadership

Qualifications

To be successful in this role you have:

12+ years of software development experience with a Bachelor's degree; OR 8+ years with a Master's degree; OR 5+ years with a PhD; OR equivalent work experience.
A demonstrated track record of technical leadership at a Staff or Senior Staff level (or equivalent)
Expert level with core Java development
Advanced-Expert level of backend platform development
Expert level understanding of best practices for object-oriented and modularized software, with emphasis on Java
Knowledge and/or experience with relational databases: PostgreSQL, Oracle, MySQL, Trino, etc.
Strong knowledge of data structures, algorithms, object-oriented design, design patterns, and performance optimization at scale
Experience with automated testing frameworks (e.g., JUnit, Selenium, TestNG) and integrating tests into CI/CD pipelines
Deep understanding of software quality principles including reliability, observability, and production readiness
Good understanding of cloud-based and distributed systems
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.

Nice to have:

Familiarity with ServiceNow platform is a plus
Familiarity with RDBMS internals
Familiarity with Neo4J and graph databases
Passionate about database technologies
Experience with Unix shell
Experience working in a DevOps environment
Experience working in a customer focused environment

For positions in this location, we offer a base pay of $201,300 - $352,300, 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 [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.

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