Director of Engineering, HR Service Delivery

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

About the Role

ServiceNow is seeking a Director of Engineering to lead the architecture, delivery, and evolution of key services within the HR Service Delivery (HRSD) portfolio. HRSD helps organizations deliver seamless employee experiences through intelligent workflows, case management, knowledge, lifecycle events, document management, and AI-powered employee assistance.

As a Director of Engineering, you will lead an organization of approximately 20 engineers responsible for building and operating critical HRSD services that serve some of the world's largest enterprises. You will define technical strategy, drive execution, and ensure the delivery of highly scalable, reliable, and secure cloud services that power employee experiences across the ServiceNow platform.

This role also provides a unique opportunity to shape how AI transforms software engineering. You will drive the adoption of AI-assisted development practices, automation, and intelligent engineering workflows to improve productivity, accelerate innovation, and raise the quality bar across your organization. The objective is not simply efficiency, but reinvesting engineering capacity into delivering greater customer value and product innovation.

Location: San Francisco, CA | Santa Clara, CA | San Diego, CA Work Model: Hybrid

What You'll Do

Lead Critical HRSD Services

Own the technical strategy, architecture, delivery, and operational excellence of key services within the HR Service Delivery portfolio. Build scalable platform capabilities that support employee service management, knowledge experiences, lifecycle workflows, document management, and emerging AI-powered HR solutions.

Deliver AI-Powered Employee Experiences

Drive the development of intelligent, AI-native capabilities that help employees find information, complete tasks, resolve issues, and navigate key moments in their employment journey. Partner closely with product and design teams to translate customer needs into impactful solutions.

Drive Technical Strategy and Architecture

Make long-term architectural decisions that improve scalability, reliability, extensibility, and operational efficiency. Balance near-term delivery commitments with investments in platform modernization and technical innovation.

Transform Engineering Through AI

Champion the adoption of AI-assisted engineering practices across the software development lifecycle. Leverage modern AI capabilities to improve developer productivity, automate repetitive work, enhance quality, and accelerate delivery while maintaining strong engineering accountability and oversight.

Build World-Class Engineering Teams

Recruit, develop, and retain exceptional engineering talent. Coach engineers and emerging leaders, foster a culture of ownership and continuous learning, and create an environment where teams can perform at their highest level.

Drive Engineering Excellence

Establish a high bar for software quality, operational rigor, security, reliability, and maintainability. Use data and metrics to continuously improve engineering effectiveness, system health, and customer outcomes.

Partner Across the Organization

Collaborate closely with Product Management, Design, Customer Success, Platform Engineering, and executive leadership to align priorities, drive execution, and deliver customer value.

Ensure Security and Trust

Build services that meet the highest standards for security, privacy, compliance, and responsible AI. Safeguard sensitive employee information while enabling innovation at enterprise scale.

Qualifications

Qualifications

Leadership Experience

12+ years of software engineering experience with a proven track record of delivering enterprise-scale products and services

5+ years of engineering leadership experience, including experience managing engineering managers and senior technical leaders

Demonstrated success driving technical strategy and execution across multiple teams and stakeholders

Proven track record of building and leading high-performing engineering organizations

Technical Expertise

Strong background in distributed systems, cloud-native architectures, APIs, data platforms, and enterprise software development

Experience building and operating highly available, mission-critical services at scale

Proficiency in modern programming languages such as Java, Python, Go, or similar technologies

Strong understanding of software architecture, system design, observability, performance, and reliability engineering

AI and Automation Experience

Experience building, integrating, or operating AI-powered product capabilities

Familiarity with large language models, retrieval systems, agentic workflows, semantic search, and modern AI development frameworks

Passion for applying AI and automation to improve both customer experiences and engineering productivity

Leadership Attributes

Strong technical judgment and a customer-first mindset

Ability to balance innovation with operational excellence

Excellent communication and influence skills across technical and executive audiences

Proven ability to build high-performing teams and develop future leaders

Thrives in fast-moving environments and brings clarity to complex problems

Education

B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Science, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.

Why Join ServiceNow

This is an opportunity to lead critical services within one of ServiceNow's most strategic product portfolios while helping define the future of AI-powered employee experiences.

You will:

Own foundational services that power employee experiences for leading global enterprises

Help shape the next generation of AI capabilities across the HRSD portfolio

Drive adoption of AI-assisted engineering practices that transform how software is built

Partner with world-class engineering, product, design, and AI teams

Lead a high-impact organization with significant influence on product strategy and technical direction

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 genera