Senior Software Engineering Manager | Applied AI Engineering

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• Experience in leveraging or critically thinking about how to integrate AI into work processes, decision-making, or problem-solving. This may include using AI-powered tools, automating workflows, analyzing AI-driven insights, or exploring AI’s potential impact on the function or industry.
• 10 to 15 years building and shipping software systems at scale (backend, full stack, data, or platform engineering) OR similar experience with education
• Proven track record of building or scaling a high-performing engineering team, with 2+ years managing engineers
• Deep technical fluency: you can code review, evaluate architecture tradeoffs, and unblock the hardest problems your team faces
• Demonstrated ability to distinguish “build it ourselves” from “enable someone else to build it”: this role demands both engineering execution and a coaching mindset
• Comfort operating with significant ambiguity, standing up a new function from the ground up
• A track record of establishing engineering best practices and holding a team to a high bar of technical excellence

Preferred Qualifications

• Security domain experience (incident response, SOC, threat intelligence, hunting, vulnerability management, etc.), or a strong appetite to learn it quickly
• Experience applying AI/ML to operational or workflow automation at scale
• Familiarity with modern data infrastructure
• Experience building enablement programs, internal platforms, or tooling for non-engineer end users

For positions in this location, we offer a base pay of $190,900 - $334,100, 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.

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., The ServiceNow Security Organization (SSO) delivers world-class, innovative security solutions to reduce risk and protect the company and our customers. We enable our customers to migrate their most sensitive data and workloads to the cloud, accelerating our business so that we are the most trusted SaaS provider. We create an environment where our employees are proud to work and can make a positive impact

Cyber defense doesn’t scale through headcount alone. It scales when systems make defenders exponentially more effective. We’re looking for a Sr Software Engineering Manager to join Cyber Defense Engineering and build the Applied AI Engineering function: a small, high-caliber engineering team applying AI and automation to some of the most challenging problems in cyber defense, protecting a platform trusted by thousands of the world’s largest enterprises.

You’ll own the architecture for systems that automate security incident investigations, accelerate threat hunting, operationalize threat intelligence, scale attack path management, and turn security issue management into measurable risk reduction. You’ll also build the internal capability for security practitioners to extend that automation themselves, so your systems compound impact rather than create new bottlenecks.

This is a rare opportunity to define how AI transforms cyber defense at scale, with the technical latitude and executive backing to do it right.

What You’ll Do

• Own AI-Powered Security Architecture: Set the technical strategy and architecture for AI-powered use cases across cyber defense domains, including threat intelligence, threat hunting, security operations, incident response, attack path management, and security issue management
• Unify Data Into Defender-Ready Systems: Build solutions that fully leverage internal telemetry, asset data, context, and external intelligence to deliver domain-specific use cases that enable cyber defenders
• Enable Practitioner Self-Sufficiency: Empower security practitioners to extend and maintain automation themselves, compounding your team’s impact over time
• Build a World-Class Engineering Team: Recruit and grow a high-performing engineering team, setting a high technical bar and building durable career paths
• Drive Shipping Velocity: Establish a rapid, low-risk shipping cadence, owning architecture decisions and removing blockers so your team moves fast without breaking things
• Shape the Roadmap Cross-Functionally: Partner closely with Security Operations, Threat Intelligence, Hunting, Red Team, and more on priorities