Staff Software Engineer Jobs in San Diego, CA

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.

About Team

Flow by ServiceNow is a standalone conversational AI service desk, with its own product and its own codebase. Employees ask for help wherever they already work — Slack, Microsoft Teams, email, or the browser. Flow answers from connected knowledge, handles the request, and runs automations the team publishes. AI is how the product works, and a person stays in control when the action is sensitive.

Flow is a new company inside ServiceNow, reimagining every function from first principles. We hire builders with agency and curiosity who use AI as the default way to design, review, and operate. They challenge inherited ways of working and treat their work as craft.

On AI-Native Engineering, you’ll set technical direction for the systems that make Flow intelligent: the agent runtime, the tool surface a model sees, the prompt and context layers, the retrieval that grounds every answer, and the evaluation discipline that tells us whether a change made the product better. This is a hands-on role with broad influence — you’ll make architectural calls, raise the engineering bar, and help the team move from AI-assisted development to AI-native delivery.

What you’ll do

• Lead the design and delivery of complex, cross-functional features across the product, from architecture through production operations.
• Build AI-native capabilities: agent loops and the tools they call, prompt and context design, retrieval that grounds and cites its answers, and the eval harnesses that tell us whether a change actually made the product better — with reliability and governance built in.
• Define and drive how the team uses AI across the development lifecycle: code generation, test automation, review, triage, and documentation. Agentic coding is central to how this team ships. Measure the impact and share what works.
• Mentor senior and mid-level engineers and set standards for code quality, observability, and safe AI usage.
• Partner with product, UX, and other engineering leads to turn ambiguous problems into scoped, shippable plans.
• Own production quality for your area, including defect triage, release readiness, and gate reviews.

What we’re looking for

We don’t expect anyone to match every line below. Depth matters more to us than a match on any particular toolchain — be excellent in a modern typed stack and quick to pick up a new one.

• Experience leveraging or critically thinking about how to integrate AI into work processes, decision-making, or problem-solving. This includes current, hands-on fluency with AI-assisted and agentic development, and an opinion on where those tools help and where they don’t.
• 12+ years of software engineering experience, with a track record of technical leadership at the staff level or equivalent.
• Strong proficiency in TypeScript or another statically typed language, plus solid system design skills.
• Hands-on experience building or integrating LLM-based features: prompt design, retrieval or context management, evaluation, and cost/latency tradeoffs.
• Working knowledge of agentic architectures, including tool use, orchestration, and human-in-the-loop controls.
• Clear written and verbal communication, including the ability to brief senior leaders and align multiple teams.
• Familiarity with enterprise SaaS, multi-tenant systems, and secure, compliant software delivery.

Why this role matters

The agent runtime is the product. The patterns you set — how an agent decides, which tools it may call, what it must prove before it acts, and how we measure whether it got better — are what customers experience as intelligent workflows.

For positions in this location, we offer a base pay of $171,900 - $300,800, 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.

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 globaltalentss@servicenow.com 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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