Sr Software Engineer, Platform Cryptography

Element AI

Santa Clara, CA · $143k–$243k a year · Posted October 3, 2026

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Pay compared with the market

This listing pays about $193,300 a year. Across 50 open sr. software engineer listings that state pay, the middle half runs $160,500 to $192,000 and the median is $169,500. That is 14% above the median, above the middle half of those listings.

Listed pay is what employers advertise, not what people are paid.

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About the job

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

Team

Platform Security builds foundational security infrastructure and AI-driven detection systems for enterprise-scale operations. Our mission is to make security proactive, intelligent, and seamlessly integrated into the ServiceNow platform. Cryptography within Platform Security owns the cryptographic backbone of the ServiceNow platform across multiple domains: certificate lifecycle, key management, secrets distribution, and workload identity for a SaaS platform. This is core, regulated-environment security engineering

Role Summary

As a Senior Software Engineer, Core Cryptography, you will design and build secure, high-quality cryptographic services — key management, PKI, secrets — for a large-scale multi-tenant SaaS platform. You will bring hands-on engineering depth, a security-first mindset, and the ability to apply ML/AI techniques to strengthen how the system detects misuse and anomalies, working under the technical direction of staff+ engineers on the team.

What You Get to Do in This Role

Design, develop, and maintain high-quality, secure cryptographic services meeting FIPS compliance and regulated-environment requirements

Build and operate services within the core crypto ecosystem — key management, certificate lifecycle, secrets distribution — with reliability and security as first-class requirements

Apply ML/statistical techniques where they add real value — flagging anomalous key usage, abnormal secrets access, or unusual certificate request patterns

Contribute to building inference/detection pipelines that surface cryptographic misuse or compromise indicators in near real time

Collaborate with product owners, security architects, and engineering teams to translate security and compliance requirements into working code

Operate services on Kubernetes in a multi-tenant SaaS environment — deployment, CI/CD, on-call, incident response

Write secure code by default: threat-model your own designs, review others' code with the same rigor, catch logic errors and cryptographic anti-patterns

Stay current on cryptographic advancements, including post-quantum readiness, and bring relevant ideas to the team

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications

4+ years professional software engineering experience; Java, Go, or equivalent OO language at production scale

Advanced knowledge of data structures, algorithms, object-oriented design, design patterns, and performance/scale considerations

Familiarity with distributed systems concepts — resource isolation, concurrency, and scaling execution across shared infrastructure

Demonstrated capability to manage multiple projects with material technical risk across teams and processes

Hands-on experience deploying and operating services on Kubernetes in a SaaS/multi-tenant environment

Working knowledge of core cryptographic primitives (symmetric/asymmetric encryption, hashing, digital signatures, PKI/TLS fundamentals)

Demonstrated security-conscious coding habits: secure coding, code review, unit testing, automation

Additional Qualifications

Direct experience with cryptography, PKI, key management, or secrets management systems

Some applied ML/AI exposure — anomaly detection, classification, or critically integrating AI tooling into engineering workflows — over pure research background

Experience building distributed backend systems (microservices, SQL/NoSQL data stores)

Exposure to regulated environments (FIPS 140-2/3, FedRAMP, or similar)

For positions in this location, we offer a base pay of $143,200 - $243,400 , 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.