Senior Staff Applications Development Engineer

First seen Oct 6, 2026 · open on SmartRecruiters as of Nov 8, 2026

$190,900–$334,100annualized + equitySanta Clara, CAFull-time

Senior Staff Software Engineer on ServiceNow’s Industry Vertical Engineering team, building and operating AI-native enterprise applications for high-tech and regulated-industry workflows at production scale.

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At a glance

Posted base pay

$191K–$334KAbove the median

Midpoint $263K · median $225K

Median $225K

This job$191K–$334KStaff+ FDE postings388 postings · middle 50% of posted pay$197K–$262K

The work

Builds what the customer runs

Balance Mostly building

Project stages

Pre-sales (not covered)
Proof of concept (not covered)
Implementation
Operations

Coding: Writes production code
Builds for: External customers
Level: Staff+
Role: Technical lead

What they ask for

Experience

10+ yearsprofessional software engineering experience in the SaaS industry, building and operating products at production scale
10+ yearsJava or a similar object-oriented languagePreferred

Background

Software engineering

Do you meet what the posting states?

The posting asks for 10+ years. How many do you have?

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Conditions

Location: Santa Clara, CA
Employment type: Full-time
Pay: Pay details
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.

What you’ll do

Build and operate AI-native enterprise applications, integrations, and conversational channels for industry-specific workflows.
Design agentic behavior, autonomous workflows, instructions, guardrails, and human handoffs.
Create evaluation, testing, monitoring, and reliability systems for non-deterministic AI behavior.
Deliver solutions directly in customer environments and feed production evidence back into the product.

What you’ll bring

10+ years of professional software engineering experience in SaaS and 10+ years with Java or a similar object-oriented language.
Hands-on experience building and operating production-scale software, including AI-native application features.
Experience authoring prompts and agentic instructions, designing autonomous workflows, and evaluating non-deterministic behavior.
Advanced knowledge of algorithms, object-oriented design, system design, distributed systems, APIs, data modeling, and performance optimization.

About ServiceNow

Enterprise AI workflow platform connecting people, systems, data, and agents so large organizations can automate IT, employee, customer, security, and industry operations.

Public · 5000+ people

View posting at ServiceNow

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