Senior Manager , Software Engineering - Agentic AI

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.

What we do

Finance and Procurement teams are at the forefront of AI-native engineering at ServiceNow—building autonomous solutions for the world's largest enterprises that handle mission-critical financial and procurement operations at unprecedented scale.

They continuously learn and integrate the latest AI and cloud-native technologies to deliver performant, resilient systems that transform how businesses manage supplier lifecycles, procurement workflows, payments, and receivables.

This role is for a Senior Engineering Manager who leads a high-performing team of software engineers building AI-native and cloud-native applications on the ServiceNow platform.

The Senior Manager combines deep technical credibility with strong people management capabilities, fostering a culture of innovation, ownership, and continuous learning. They are responsible for team performance, career development, hiring, and execution of key business initiatives. This role requires the ability to balance people development with business results, think strategically about AI integration and platform architecture, and influence across the organization to enable team success. The ideal candidate brings experience scaling AI-native teams and a passion for building leaders.

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.

Responsibilities

Build, grow, and maintain a high-performing, diverse team of IC2-IC5 engineers, hire and develop talent at all levels; Set clear expectations for individual and team performance, establish metrics and goals aligned with business objectives; Conduct regular 1:1s with direct reports, provide coaching, feedback, and career guidance tailored to each engineer's growth stage; Create a culture of psychological safety, learning, and ownership, encourage experimentation and learning from failures; Support engineers through career transitions—from IC2 to IC3, IC3 to IC4, and technical-to-management pathways; Identify high-potential engineers and invest in their development, prepare emerging leaders for increased responsibility; Address performance issues promptly and professionally, provide clear paths for improvement or transition; Sponsor team members for growth opportunities, stretch assignments, and leadership development programs; Celebrate wins and recognize contributions, foster a positive, collaborative team environment; Model vulnerability, continuous learning, and AI-native thinking, lead by example in your own growth; Define hiring strategy and conduct recruitment for open positions, build a pipeline of qualified candidates; Lead technical interviews and assessments for engineering candidates at all IC levels, make hiring decisions; Partner with HR and recruiting teams on job descriptions, sourcing strategies, and candidate pipeline management; Evaluate cultural fit and potential, hire for values and growth potential, not just current skills; Onboard new engineers effectively, assign mentors and ensure smooth integration into the team; Build a team with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives, actively work to improve representation; Identify gaps in team capabilities (technical depth, domain expertise, AI/ML fluency) and address through hiring or development; Build relationships with external technical communities to attract and recruit top talent; Participate in employer branding and represent the organization at recruiting events and universities; Responsibility Area: Technical Strategy & Product Leadership; Work with product, design, and cross-functional partners to define product roadmap and technical strategy aligned with business goals; Establish technical direction for the team, make architecture and technology decisions that balance innovation, quality, and delivery; Ensure the team's technical approach stays current with AI/ML advancements and ServiceNow platform evolution; Champion AI-native thinking across the team and organization, help teammates understand how to build with AI at the core; Lead architectural reviews and technical decision-making, provide guidance on complex technical trade-offs; Advocate for technical investments (refactoring, infrastructure, tooling) that improve team productivity and code quality; Set quality standards for code, testing, and security, establish practices that enable sustainable delivery; Partner with IC4/IC5 engineers to set multi-year technical roadmaps and long-term strategic initiatives; Represent the engineering team in product and executive discussions, influence organizational priorities; Drive team delivery of committed business objectives and product initiatives, maintain accountability for results; Establish clear sprint goals, work-item prioritization, and delivery timelines, remove blockers for team success; Track team metrics: velocity, quality, customer satisfaction, incident response, deployment frequency; Conduct regular retrospectives, identify process improvements and drive adoption of better practices; Manage team capacity, balance new feature development, technical debt reduction, and customer support; Ensure team participation in on-call rotation, monitor incident response and post-incident learning; Report on team progress, risks, and performance to senior leadership, provide transparent communication; Escalate critical issues or resource constraints, collaborate with peer managers to solve cross-team dependencies; Foster a culture of ownership where engineers take responsibility for quality, testing, and production outcomes; Lead team through organizational changes and initiatives, maintain morale and focus during transitions; Build and maintain relationships with key customers and stakeholders, understand their needs and priorities

Requirements

12+ years of professional software development experience, with 5+ years in AI-native systems, cloud-native architecture, or equivalent; 4+ years of people management experience leading software engineers, track record of developing talent and building high-performing teams; 3+ years managing application development on SaaS platforms (ServiceNow, Salesforce, or similar), deep understanding of platform architecture and constraints; 3+ years hands-on experience with AI/ML systems, LLM integration, prompt engineering, and responsible AI practices; Demonstrated expertise in hiring, team building, and organizational development, ability to attract and develop top talent; Expert-level understanding of modern software engineering practices: CI/CD, testing, security, deployment; Strong technical credibility, ability to engage in technical discussions with IC4/IC5 engineers, hands-on coding experience still valued; Deep proficiency in Python, Java, and JavaScript, understanding of ServiceNow scripting and platform APIs; Track record of delivering significant business results through engineering teams, ability to drive accountability and execution; Experience scaling teams and organizations, demonstrated ability to work at multiple levels of complexity; Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, ability to influence across technical and non-technical stakeholders; Strong coaching and mentoring skills, ability to develop engineers across all career stages; Experience with Agile and Scrum methodologies, ability to adapt to team and organizational needs; Demonstrated understanding of data security, compliance, and responsible AI practices; Strong emotional intelligence, ability to navigate difficult conversations and build trust; Experience with performance management, feedback delivery, and difficult personnel decisions; Passion for building inclusive, psychologically safe teams where all engineers can thrive; Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, business, or related field; Experience leading teams through organizational change, technical migrations, or strategic initiatives; MBA or management certification is a plus, however, demonstrated people leadership capability is more important; Track record of developing talent into senior engineering leadership roles or managers; Active engagement with engineering and AI/ML communities, thought leadership through speaking, writing, or open source is a plus; Experience working with diverse teams and commitment to building inclusive organizations