Platform Architect

Position Summary We are seeking a senior ServiceNow Platform Architect to serve as the technical owner of our ServiceNow platform. This role is responsible for the architectural integrity, scalability, security posture, and long-term health of the platform — from go-live stabilization through post-go-live roadmap execution. The Platform Architect will define and enforce technical standards, govern configuration and customization decisions, guide a small in-house platform team, and serve as the senior technical voice in platform governance. The right candidate is equally comfortable reviewing an update set, challenging a design proposal, and explaining architectural risk to senior leadership. Key Responsibilities Platform Architecture & Governance

• Own the end-to-end technical architecture of a single ServiceNow instance serving three lines of business, and support of shared service design.
• Establish and enforce platform development standards: scoped application strategy, update set / source control discipline, configuration-over-customization principles, and technical debt controls.
• Define instance strategy (sub-production environments, clone schedules, release pipeline) and own upgrade strategy, release readiness assessment, and upgrade planning aligned to ServiceNow's N-1 support policy and release cadence.
• Serve as the senior technical authority in platform governance bodies; review and approve or reject design proposals from internal teams and implementation partners.
• Conduct periodic instance health assessments (performance, security, scalability, usability, upgradability) and drive remediation of findings.

Module Scope & Delivery

• Provide architectural oversight across the licensed portfolio: ITSM Pro (Incident, Change, Problem, Request/Catalog), CMDB with ITOM Discovery, Hardware Asset Management Pro (HAM Pro) and Software Asset Management Pro (SAM Pro), Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM), and Integration Hub (Starter tier).
• Own CMDB architecture, including CSDM alignment, Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE) configuration, data source precedence, CMDB governance standards, data ownership models, and ongoing data quality management.
• Experience supporting, implementing, or providing architectural oversight for Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) is preferred.
• Establish platform data governance standards, including data quality measurements, stewardship expectations, lifecycle management, and remediation processes for critical platform data.
• Design and govern integrations via Integration Hub (Starter tier) and REST APIs, including monitoring/alerting integrations (e.g., PagerDuty), with attention to Starter-tier flow and transaction limits, spoke availability, and the licensing case for a Pro/Enterprise upgrade if integration demand outgrows it.

AI & Automation Strategy

• Develop the platform's AI readiness roadmap, including evaluation of Now Assist and agentic AI capabilities (e.g., AI Agents, Now Assist Skill Kit) against business value, data readiness, and licensing posture.
• Establish governance guardrails for AI-driven automation before enablement: data quality prerequisites, security review, human-in-the-loop standards, and measurable success criteria.
• Advise leadership on AI entitlement gaps and the build/buy/wait tradeoffs of emerging ServiceNow AI capabilities.

Security & Compliance

• Own the platform security posture: ACL architecture, role design, instance hardening, scoped app permissions, and vulnerability response. (including timely assessment of ServiceNow security advisories).
• Ensure platform compliance with organizational security policy and audit requirements; partner with InfoSec on instance hardening, access reviews and integration security.

Team Enablement & Vendor Oversight

• Mentor and technically lead a small in-house platform team (developer, admin), raising team capability through code review, pairing, and standards documentation.
• Provide technical oversight of implementation partners: validate estimates, review deliverables, and hold vendors accountable to architectural standards.
• Partner with the Sr. Manager, Service Delivery Products on demand intake, roadmap sequencing, and translating business demand into sound technical delivery.
• Provide effort and complexity estimates for internally-scoped work to support the Sr. Manager, Service Delivery Products in roadmap planning and prioritization — distinct from validating implementation-partner estimates, which is a separate responsibility above.

• 7+ years of hands-on ServiceNow experience, with at least 3+ years in architect or platform owner capacity on an enterprise instance.

• ServiceNow Certified System Administrator (CSA) required. Candidates must also hold at least one advanced ServiceNow certification, such as Certified Application Developer (CAD) or a Certified Implementation Specialist (CIS) certification in ITSM, Discovery, HAM, SAM, or Data Foundations (CMDB/CSDM). ServiceNow Certified Technical Architect (CTA) is strongly preferred. Demonstrated experience architecting and governing enterprise ServiceNow platforms is valued more highly than certification count.

• Deep expertise in CMDB architecture, CSDM, IRE, and ITOM Discovery design.

• Hands-on architectural experience with SAM Pro and HAM Pro, including software normalization and reconciliation, entitlement management, and hardware lifecycle workflows.

• Strong integration architecture experience with Integration Hub, REST/SOAP APIs, and MID Server topology.

• Working proficiency in JavaScript/GlideScript and the Glide API sufficient to conduct meaningful code and design reviews (hands-on scripting is a plus, not a requirement, given the architecture/governance focus of this role).

• Working knowledge of ServiceNow release management, upgrade planning, and the N-1 support policy.

• Proven ability to communicate architectural risk and tradeoffs to non-technical executives, and to hold ground constructively under stakeholder pressure.

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on experience evaluating or implementing Now Assist, AI Agents, or other ServiceNow GenAI capabilities.
• Experience standing up platform governance in an organization with low ITSM process maturity.
• Familiarity with HR Service Delivery (HRSD) implementation patterns. HRSD is not currently licensed but is a candidate for future roadmap expansion.
• Experience supervising implementation partners and validating vendor estimates and deliverables.