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Senior Staff Software Engineer

Element AI

Software Engineering

San Diego, CA, USA

USD 168,900-295,600 / year + Equity

Posted on Dec 16, 2025

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Company Description

It all started in sunny San Diego, California in 2004 when a visionary engineer, Fred Luddy, saw the potential to transform how we work. Fast forward to today — ServiceNow stands as a global market leader, bringing innovative AI-enhanced technology to over 8,100 customers, including 85% of the Fortune 500®. Our intelligent cloud-based platform seamlessly connects people, systems, and processes to empower organizations to find smarter, faster, and better ways to work. But this is just the beginning of our journey. Join us as we pursue our purpose to make the world work better for everyone.

Job Description

About the Role:

The Senior Staff Software Engineer is a technical leader responsible for driving architectural decisions, ensuring code quality, and mentoring engineers across multiple levels. This role focuses on building scalable, maintainable, and performant systems within the Flow Engine and related platform components. The engineer is expected to influence design principles, guide best practices, and collaborate cross-functionally to deliver enterprise-grade solutions.

What you get to do in this role:

Design and develop scalable, maintainable, and reusable software components with a strong emphasis on performance and reliability.
Own critical components of the Flow Engine and related systems, ensuring robustness and efficiency.
Collaborate with product managers and other engineering teams to define frameworks for new capabilities (e.g., alert mechanisms, event management integration, etc.) and translate requirements into well-architected solutions, owning features from design through delivery
Lead design discussions enforce SOLID principles and modern software design patterns
Drive clarity on the technical approaches for high-impact customer scenarios, such as queue management and performance optimization.
Contribute to the design and implementation of new products and features while enhancing existing product capabilities.
Provide architectural guidance for complex features and epics.
Integrate automated testing into development workflows to ensure consistent quality across releases.
Participate in design and code reviews ensuring best practices in performance, maintainability, and testability
Develop comprehensive test strategies covering functional, regression, integration, and performance aspects.
Contribute to internal and external documentation strategies, ensuring technical changes (e.g., Flow Engine enhancements) are communicated effectively without overpromising performance.
Foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement by sharing best practices in engineering and quality
Promote a culture of engineering craftsmanship, knowledge-sharing, and thoughtful quality practices across the team.
Mentor engineers at all levels, offering constructive feedback on debugging, design, and coding practices.

Qualifications

Experience in leveraging or critical 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.
Experience In using AI Productivity tools such as Windsurf, Cursor, etc. is a plus or nice to have.
10+ years of Software Development experience in Enterprise-Scale Systems.
Expert-level experience and understandnig of Java, including performance tuning and memory optimization.
Proficiency in JavaScript for front-end or full stack development
Strong knowledge of relational databases (design, optimization, and query performance)
Strong knowledge of data structures, algorithms, object-oriented design, design patterns, and performance optimization
Deep expertise in software architecture and design principals (SOLID, design patterns)
Proficiency in event-driven architecture and alerting frameworks.
Familiarity with automated testing frameworks (e.g., JUnit, Selenium, TestNG) and integrating tests into CI/CD pipelines
Understanding software quality principles including reliability, observability, and production readiness.
Strong debugging and problem-solving skills across complex distributed systems.
Ability to troubleshoot complex systems and optimize performance across the stack.
Comfort with development tools such as IDEs, debuggers, profilers, source control, and Unix-based systems
Excellent written and verbal communication skills for technical and non-technical audiences.
Ability to lead cross-functional initiatives and influence technical direction.
Experience working in teams responsible for both engineering and quality.

FD21

For positions in this location, we offer a base pay of $168,900 - $295,600, 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, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin or nationality, ancestry, age, disability, gender identity or expression, marital status, 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.

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