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About This Role
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 team
The Conversational AI team at ServiceNow builds the core platform behind ServiceNow Otto, our conversational AI experience. We are a group of applied scientists and software engineers working at the intersection of research and production. Our work spans the full stack that makes Otto capable: agent orchestration, including harness engineering, prompt tuning, agent skills, policy design, and quality evaluation across languages; the A2A and MCP protocols that let agents collaborate and connect to tools; background channels and conversational triggers that bring agents into action; AI-native licensing and pricing; and the central caching layer that connects the ServiceNow platform to the services powering Otto.
We are seeking a Staff AI-Native DevOps Engineer to lead a new DevOps practice within the Conversational AI team. You will own the build, deployment, and reliability of the systems behind ServiceNow Otto, our conversational AI platform, from commit through production across our SaaS environments. Your work will span CI/CD pipelines, release automation, infrastructure on Kubernetes, observability, and the operational tooling that lets agent orchestration, MCP and A2A services, and the central caching layer ship safely and frequently. You will partner closely with applied scientists and software engineers to make AI-native delivery repeatable, measurable, and secure. This role combines deep expertise in cloud infrastructure, containerization, orchestration, and infrastructure as code with a practical understanding of how ML and LLM-based services behave in production, and a bias toward pragmatic engineering with measurable impact on deployment velocity and service reliability.
Qualifications To be successful in this role you have:
- Deep expertise in designing, building, and operating scalable, reliable, and secure cloud-native applications and infrastructure.
- Strong software engineering skills, with experience developing infrastructure tooling and automation using Go, Python, or similar languages.
- Experience leading complex infrastructure initiatives, establishing engineering best practices, and driving adoption across multiple teams.
- Strong problem-solving skills, with the ability to diagnose complex distributed systems issues and drive improvements in performance, reliability, and operational efficiency.
- Strong understanding of modern AI technologies, including Large Language Models (LLMs), Generative AI, and agentic architectures, with the ability to apply these concepts to engineering and operational challenges.
- An AI-native engineering mindset, proactively leveraging AI tools and automation to accelerate development, improve operational efficiency, and deliver more intelligent, resilient systems.
DevOps:
- Deploy, scale, and operate distributed microservices in production Kubernetes environments, including managing application lifecycle, networking, security, and service reliability.
- Design and implement infrastructure automation using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and Kubernetes-native tooling, including Terraform, Ansible, Helm, and Kubernetes Operators.
- Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines and GitOps workflows using tools such as Jenkins, GitHub Actions, Tekton, and ArgoCD to automate testing, deployment, and release management.
- Implement observability, monitoring, and incident response practices, performing root cause analysis and driving remediation to improve availability, fault tolerance, and operational resilience.
- Architect and optimize cloud infrastructure across public and private cloud environments, with an emphasis on security, scalability, cost efficiency, and operational simplicity.
AI skills:
Artificial intelligence strategy is a critical skill at your level — it applies to how you build and to what you build.
- Confident use of AI coding assistants such as GitHub Copilot or Cursor, paired with the critical eye to review AI-generated code as rigorously as any other — catching logic errors, security anti-patterns, and missed edge cases rather than treating model output as production-ready.
- AI-assisted debugging and trace analysis, and a clear understanding of the data privacy rules governing what goes into a prompt.
- Understanding of LLM-powered application architectures, including model inference, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), tool calling, and agentic workflows, with an awareness of their infrastructure, scalability, and reliability implications.
- Ability to deploy, operate, and troubleshoot AI-powered services in production, including managing model API integrations, observability, latency, resource utilization, and operational costs.
Minimum requirements
- 8+ years of professional software engineering, infrastructure engineering, DevOps, or related experience.
- 6+ years of experience deploying and operating containerized applications and distributed services in production environments.
- 4+ years of hands-on experience with Kubernetes, cloud infrastructure, and infrastructure automation.
- Proficiency in at least one programming or scripting language, such as Go, Python, or Bash, with experience building production-grade automation and tooling.
- Practical experience using AI-assisted development tools in software engineering workflows, with demonstrated ability to validate, debug, and safely integrate AI-generated code.
- Working knowledge of LLMs, Generative AI, and agentic AI concepts, including their integration patterns and operational considerations.
Preferred requirements
- 12+ years of experience in software engineering, infrastructure engineering, DevOps, or platform engineering.
- Extensive experience architecting and operating Kubernetes-based SaaS platforms at scale, including multi-service deployments and complex production environments.
- Experience developing Kubernetes Operators, custom controllers, or other Kubernetes-native automation to manage application lifecycle and infrastructure operations.
- Demonstrated technical leadership in driving cross-team infrastructure initiatives, improving production reliability, and establishing scalable platform engineering practices.
- Hands-on experience deploying, integrating, or operating LLM-powered applications or agentic systems in production environments. Experience building AI-enabled infrastructure automation, observability, incident diagnosis, or remediation workflows to improve platform reliability and engineering productivity.
For positions in this location, we offer a base pay of $201,300 - $352,300, 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.
Additional Information 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 [email protected] 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.
From Fortune. ©2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All rights reserved. Used under license.
Salary Context
This $201K-$352K range is above the 75th percentile for AI/ML Engineer roles in our dataset (median: $178K across 2239 roles with salary data).
View full AI/ML Engineer salary data →Role Details
About This Role
AI/ML Engineers build and deploy machine learning models in production. They work across the full ML lifecycle: data pipelines, model training, evaluation, and serving infrastructure. The role has evolved significantly over the past two years. Where ML Engineers once spent most of their time on model architecture, the job now tilts heavily toward inference optimization, cost management, and integrating LLM capabilities into existing systems. Companies want engineers who can ship production systems, and the experimenter-only role is fading fast.
Day-to-day, you're writing training pipelines, debugging data quality issues, setting up evaluation frameworks, and figuring out why your model performs differently in staging than it did on your dev set. The best ML engineers are obsessive about reproducibility and measurement. They instrument everything. They know that a model is only as good as the data feeding it and the infrastructure serving it.
Across the 11,520 AI roles we're tracking, AI/ML Engineer positions make up 76% of the market. At ServiceNow, this role fits into their broader AI and engineering organization.
Demand for AI/ML Engineers has been strong and consistent. Unlike some AI roles that spike with hype cycles, ML engineering is a foundational need. Every company deploying AI models needs people who can keep them running, and the gap between research prototypes and production systems keeps growing.
What the Work Looks Like
A typical week might include: debugging a data pipeline that's silently dropping 3% of training examples, running A/B tests on a new model version, writing documentation for a feature flag system that lets you roll back model deployments, and reviewing a junior engineer's PR for a new evaluation metric. Meetings tend to be cross-functional since ML touches product, engineering, and data teams.
Demand for AI/ML Engineers has been strong and consistent. Unlike some AI roles that spike with hype cycles, ML engineering is a foundational need. Every company deploying AI models needs people who can keep them running, and the gap between research prototypes and production systems keeps growing.
Skills Required
Python and PyTorch dominate the requirements. Most roles expect experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and familiarity with ML frameworks like TensorFlow or JAX. RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) has become a top-3 skill requirement as companies integrate LLMs into their products. Docker and Kubernetes show up in about a third of postings, reflecting the production focus of the role.
Beyond the core stack, employers increasingly want experience with experiment tracking tools (MLflow, Weights & Biases), feature stores, and vector databases. Fine-tuning experience is valuable but less common than you'd think from reading Twitter. Most production LLM work is RAG and prompt engineering, not fine-tuning. If you have both, you're in a strong position.
Companies that are serious about AI/ML hiring tend to post specific infrastructure details in the job description: the frameworks they use, their model serving stack, their data pipeline tools. Vague postings that just say 'ML experience required' without specifics are often companies that haven't figured out what they need yet.
Compensation Benchmarks
AI/ML Engineer roles pay a median of $212,040 based on 13,780 positions with disclosed compensation. Senior-level AI roles across all categories have a median of $230,000. This role's midpoint ($276K) sits 31% above the category median. Disclosed range: $201K to $352K.
Across all AI roles, the market median is $213,480. Top-quartile compensation starts at $264,000. The 90th percentile reaches $318,400. For comparison, the highest-paying categories include AI Safety ($266,050) and AI Engineering Manager ($253,461). By seniority level: Entry: $112,320; Mid: $193,200; Senior: $230,000; Director: $272,250; VP: $235,830.
ServiceNow AI Hiring
ServiceNow has 32 open AI roles right now. They're hiring across Research Engineer, AI/ML Engineer, AI Product Manager, Research Scientist. Positions span Santa Clara, CA, US, London, England, UK, Chicago, IL, US. Compensation range: $158K - $420K.
Location Context
Across all AI roles, 6% (708 positions) offer remote work, while 10,737 require on-site attendance. Top AI hiring metros: New York (3,257 roles, $221,000 median); San Francisco (2,766 roles, $260,550 median); Los Angeles (1,580 roles, $210,000 median).
Career Path
Common paths into AI/ML Engineer roles include Data Scientist, Software Engineer, Research Engineer.
From here, career progression typically leads toward ML Architect, AI Engineering Manager, Principal ML Engineer.
The fastest path into ML engineering is through software engineering with a self-directed ML education. A CS degree helps, but production engineering skills matter more than academic credentials. Build something that works, deploy it, and measure it. That portfolio project is worth more than a Coursera certificate. For career growth, the fork comes around the senior level: go deep on technical complexity (staff/principal track) or move into managing ML teams.
What to Expect in Interviews
Expect system design questions around ML pipelines: how you'd build a training pipeline for a specific use case, handle data drift, or design A/B testing infrastructure for model deployments. Coding rounds typically involve Python, with emphasis on data manipulation (pandas, numpy) and algorithm implementation. Take-home assignments often ask you to build an end-to-end ML pipeline from raw data to deployed model.
When evaluating opportunities: Companies that are serious about AI/ML hiring tend to post specific infrastructure details in the job description: the frameworks they use, their model serving stack, their data pipeline tools. Vague postings that just say 'ML experience required' without specifics are often companies that haven't figured out what they need yet.
AI Hiring Overview
The AI job market has 11,520 open positions tracked in our dataset. By seniority: 140 entry-level, 5,630 mid-level, 4,176 senior, and 1,574 leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level). Remote roles make up 6% of the market (708 positions). The remaining 10,737 roles require on-site or hybrid attendance.
The market median for AI roles is $213,480. Top-quartile compensation starts at $264,000. The 90th percentile reaches $318,400. Highest-paying categories: AI Safety ($266,050 median, 70 roles); AI Engineering Manager ($253,461 median, 58 roles); Research Engineer ($252,000 median, 476 roles).
Demand for AI/ML Engineers has been strong and consistent. Unlike some AI roles that spike with hype cycles, ML engineering is a foundational need. Every company deploying AI models needs people who can keep them running, and the gap between research prototypes and production systems keeps growing.
The AI Job Market Today
The AI job market spans 11,520 open positions across 16 role categories. The largest categories by volume: AI/ML Engineer (8,769), AI Software Engineer (586), AI Product Manager (511). These three account for the majority of open positions, though smaller categories often have higher per-role compensation because of specialized skill requirements.
The seniority mix tells a story about where AI teams are in their maturity. Entry-level roles (140) are outnumbered by mid-level (5,630) and senior (4,176) positions, reflecting that most companies are past the 'build a team from scratch' phase and need experienced engineers who can ship production systems. Leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level) total 1,574 positions, representing the bottleneck between technical execution and organizational strategy.
Remote work availability sits at 6% of all AI roles (708 positions), with 10,737 requiring on-site or hybrid attendance. The remote share has stabilized after the post-pandemic correction. Senior and specialized roles (Research Scientist, ML Architect) are more likely to be remote-eligible than entry-level positions, partly because experienced hires have more negotiating power and partly because these roles require less hands-on mentorship.
AI compensation is structured in clear tiers. The market median sits at $213,480. Top-quartile roles start at $264,000, and the 90th percentile reaches $318,400. These figures include base salary with disclosed compensation. Total compensation (including equity, bonuses, and sign-on) runs 20-40% higher at companies that offer those components.
Category matters for compensation. AI Safety roles lead at $266,050 median, while Prompt Engineer roles sit at $140,000. The spread between highest and lowest-paying categories reflects the premium on specialized technical skills versus broader analytical roles.
The most in-demand skills across all AI postings: Python (2,267 postings), Aws (1,178 postings), Azure (972 postings), Rag (924 postings), Gcp (715 postings), Pytorch (586 postings), Claude (572 postings), Kubernetes (559 postings). Python dominates, appearing in the vast majority of role descriptions regardless of category. Cloud platform experience (AWS, GCP, Azure) is the second most common requirement. The newer entrants to the top skills list (RAG, vector databases, LLM APIs) reflect the shift from traditional ML toward generative AI applications.
Frequently Asked Questions
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