Staff Software Engineer - Data Platform - Kubernetes - Distributed Systems - Federal
Staff engineer (IC4) on ServiceNow's Data Platform team designs, builds, and operates cloud-native Kubernetes platform components — Go-based operators, controllers, automation, and services other teams depend on — supporting US Regulated (Federal) Markets, with on-call and mentoring. Hybrid: 2 days/week in a ServiceNow office.
- Compensation
- $149.8K–$262.2K / yr
- Location
- Santa Clara, California, us
- Work setup
- Hybrid
- Seniority
- Staff
- Employment
- Full time
- Experience
- 3+ years
- Category
- Data engineering
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- 8+ years software development experience with Bachelor's; OR 5+ years with Master's; OR 3+ years with PhD; OR equivalent work experience
- 5+ years hands-on experience building, deploying and operating workloads on Kubernetes
- Working experience with at least one major hyperscaler (AWS, Azure, GCP), including core compute, networking, and IAM primitives
- Strong programming skills in Go (or another systems language with willingness to work primarily in Go)
- Solid working knowledge of containers, CI/CD and GitOps-based delivery, and infrastructure-as-code
- A track record of delivering complex features or services as a key contributor
- Experience leveraging or critically thinking about how to integrate AI into engineering work
- Must pass USFedPASS background screening (credit check, criminal/misdemeanor check, drug test); only US citizens, US naturalized citizens, or US Permanent Residents (green card) considered
Nice to have
- Experience building Kubernetes controllers or working with the operator pattern
- Familiarity with container networking (CNI) or service mesh
- Experience with workload identity, mTLS, or secrets management
- Experience with observability — metrics, tracing, and dashboards
- Experience with managed Kubernetes (EKS/AKS/GKE) and infrastructure-as-code tools such as Terraform
Full description
Position Location:
This is a Flexible (Hybrid) position. Flexible positions require 2 days per week in a ServiceNow office location. We have offices in several locations, including San Francisco, CA; Pleasanton, CA; Santa Clara, CA; San Diego, CA; and Kirkland, WA
Please Note: This position will include supporting our US Regulated Markets.
“This position requires passing a ServiceNow background screening, USFedPASS (US Federal Personnel Authorization Screening Standards). This includes a credit check, criminal/misdemeanor check and taking a drug test. Any employment is contingent upon passing the screening. Due to Federal requirements, only US citizens, US naturalized citizens or US Permanent Residents, holding a green card, will be considered.About the team:
We are seeking a Staff Software Engineer (IC4 Level) to join our Data Platform Engineering organization. You are a strong hands-on contributor who will own well-scoped components and projects within the team and deliver them end-to-end.
What you get to do in this role:
- You will design, build, and operate components and services within the cloud-native platform, taking features from design through to production.
- You will lead well-scoped projects within your team, turning requirements and rough ideas into solid technical designs and delivering them.
- You will collaborate with senior, staff, and principal engineers to align your work with the platform’s architecture and standards.
- You will contribute to the reliability, scalability, and operability of what you build — writing tests and instrumentation, improving runbooks, and participating in on-call.
- You will spend most of your time hands-on building — operators, controllers, automation, and platform services that other teams depend on.
- You will help onboard and mentor junior engineers through code review, design feedback, and pairing.
To be successful in this role you have:
- Experience leveraging or critically thinking about how to integrate AI into engineering work — whether using AI-powered coding and operational tooling, automating workflows, or reasoning about how AI changes the way software and infrastructure are built.
- 8+ years of software development experience with a Bachelor's degree; OR 5+ years with a Master's degree; OR 3+ years with a PhD; OR equivalent work experience.
- 5+ years of hands-on experience building, deploying and operating workloads on Kubernetes.
- Working experience with at least one major hyperscaler (AWS, Azure, GCP), including its core compute, networking, and IAM primitives.
- A track record of delivering complex features or services as a key contributor.