Principal Data Platform Software Engineer Distributed Systems Kubernetes

What you get to do in this role:

• As a Principal Engineer you will help to set the technical direction for our cloud-native platform across multiple engineering teams and organizations. You will be part of a team defining the architecture and standards for how Kubernetes distributed systems and hyperscaler infrastructure are built and operated at scale.
• You will assist in solving the hardest most ambiguous technical problems in the platform domain multi-cloud topology control-plane design workload isolation identity and trust fabric and reliability at the scale of hundreds of clusters and dozens of product workloads.
• You will work with a team of principal engineers and engineering fellows and other senior technical leaders to help drive consistent architectural decisions and the adoption of best practices across the entire platform ecosystem.
• You will assist in identifying and mitigating the biggest technical risks in initiatives with C-suite visibility.
• You will help mentor staff and senior engineers and shape the next generation of the organizations technical leadership.

Qualifications :

To be successful in this role you have:

• Experience leveraging or critically thinking about how to integrate AI into engineering and platform work whether using AI-powered tooling automating operational workflows building agentic systems for fleet visibility and operations or reasoning about AIs impact on how infrastructure is built and run.
• 15 years of experience with a Bachelor degree or 12 years with a Masters degree 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 their managed Kubernetes offerings (EKS AKS GKE) and the networking IAM and capacity tradeoffs that come with each.
• A proven track record of providing technical leadership across multiple engineering teams influencing architecture and direction without relying on positional authority.
• Deep expertise in the core building blocks of a modern platform: the operator/controller pattern 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.

It also helps if you have:

• Experience designing identity and trust fabrics for distributed systems 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 (FedRAMP air-gapped or self-hosted distribution OCI bundling).
• Experience with observability at scale 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.

For positions in this location we offer a base pay of $240100 - $420200 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 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 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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Remote Work :

No

Employment Type :

Full-time