ServiceNow: Director of Engineering - AI Control Tower — Santa Clara, California, United States

About ServiceNow

ServiceNow develops an enterprise software platform bringing together data, workflows and AI for business operations. Its employer introduction traces the business to automating a repetitive workplace task and describes a continuing focus on freeing people from routine work. The platform is intended to connect technology with how organisations carry out their processes. This makes workflow automation and the use of information in everyday business activity central themes, rather than a product aimed at only one industry.

The position and its setting

ServiceNow lists Director of Engineering - AI Control Tower in Santa Clara, California, United States, under reference JB0074388. The details below separate the work described by the employer from essential conditions, preferred experience and practical preparation advice.

• Department: Engineering, Infrastructure and Operations
• Employment type: Full-time
• Employer listing date: 23 October 2026
• Brands: ServiceNow

Responsibilities and work described

• The Role
• The AI Control Tower is ServiceNow's central hub for governing every AI model, agent, and dataset across the enterprise
• This isn't a role for someone who has managed mature systems
• It's for someone who has built something from scratch — in a small, fast company where there was no playbook — and who is now ready to do it at the scale and ambition of ServiceNow
• Reporting to the VP of Engineering, AICT, you will lead one or more product areas within the AICT platform, with scope and ownership evolving as the product and team grow
• You are AI-native
• You don't just understand AI conceptually — you use it daily, you build with it, and you bring that instinct into how your team designs and ships
• You have done this before and know the difference between motion and progress
• 1.0 to Adoption Drive the full arc from early release to meaningful customer adoption
• AI-Native Engineering Set the standard for how your team uses AI in its own development practice — from AI-assisted code review and testing to designing platform features that assume AI agents are first-class users
• You lead by example: your team should see you using AI tools as fluently as you use a terminal
• Team Building Recruit, develop, and retain a high-performing engineering team
• You are a technical voice who can also grow engineers — you give clear feedback, create stretch opportunities, and build the kind of team culture that makes people want to stay and do their best work
• Cross-Functional Execution Work closely with Product Management, Design, and partner engineering teams to align dependencies and ship coherent experiences
• Represent engineering in planning and review forums with senior leadership

Essential requirements and candidate background

• Required
• 10+ years in software engineering with 4+ years leading engineering teams (as a manager of managers or senior manager)
• Demonstrable startup experience at a company with fewer than 100 employees, where you were hands-on building and shipping a product — not just working at a startup, but building one
• Experience driving adoption of a 1.0 or early-stage product: you have the scars from a launch that didn't go perfectly and the wins from figuring out how to turn it around
• Deep technical foundation in cloud-native SaaS, including multi-tenant architectures, large-scale API design (REST/gRPC), Kubernetes orchestration, multi-cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, CloudFormation, Helm)
• Understanding: database schema design, data modeling, and modern data platforms, including relational, graph, vector, columnar, OLAP, and streaming data architectures, with the ability to design scalable data models for AI and enterprise workloads
• Database schema design,, data modeling, and event-driven architectures
• Operate at both the architectural level and the pull request level when it matters
• Track record of building and retaining engineering teams, including in competitive talent markets

Education and qualification routes

• Degree / qualification: MS or PhD in Computer Science, AI, or a related technical field

Preferred experience and additional strengths

• Experience building governance, observability, or compliance products — you understand why enterprises care about auditability and have designed for it
• Familiarity: agentic frameworks and the operational realities of running agents in production (tool reliability, context management, failure modes)
• Background in enterprise security, IAM, or data governance
• Familiarity: MCP, OpenAPI, or other AI interoperability standards
• 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

Location, schedule and contract conditions

For this overseas or regional listing, confirm work authorisation and any location restrictions with the employer. The location does not establish visa sponsorship or permission to work remotely from India.

• Work arrangement: Hybrid
• Advertised location: Santa Clara, California, United States

Employer details to confirm

• The employer’s seniority category and its stated experience requirements do not agree. Follow the role-specific requirements above rather than assuming this is a fresher opening.

Conditions requiring the complete notice

Some passages contain complex or combined conditions that have not been reduced to short eligibility statements here. Read the complete linked notice for those passages, including any alternatives, exceptions or restrictions. The concise facts above should not be treated as the full wording of every condition.

Pay and application dates

A verified salary figure is not established in this article. An online estimate for another Director of Engineering - AI Control Tower vacancy is not an offer for reference JB0074388; use the employer’s own pay disclosure and recruitment communication.

A closing date is not confirmed in this article. Check the current employer page before submitting: an undated posting can change or be withdrawn.

How to apply to ServiceNow

Applications follow the official employer page linked below.

Open the official ServiceNow posting below and match the title and reference JB0074388.

Compare your qualifications and experience with the essential conditions for the Santa Clara, California, United States position, then read the preferred criteria separately.

Prepare an accurate CV and the supporting items requested in that employer’s application. Provide only information and documents you are authorised to share.

Use the employer’s application option, complete the required fields and review the submission. Retain the acknowledgement when one is provided. Job Alerts World does not receive the application.

Practical preparation: Kubernetes

Kubernetes references can cover deploying workloads, managing configuration or operating a cluster. Explain which of those you did, how the application was packaged and how you investigated failures or verified a release.

Relevant skills

• Kubernetes
• CI/CD
• AWS
• GCP
• Azure
• MCP
• REST APIs
• APIs
• AI/ML
• ServiceNow
• AI
• Google Cloud
• Terraform