[Hiring] Senior Staff Database Engineer @ServiceNow

Role Description

Please Note: This role includes on-call rotation responsibilities.

Our SWAT (Software Action Team) ensures the production stability of customer applications and infrastructure services. Our engineers are the last line of defense — production champions who own stability at every service level and act as the ultimate escalation point for internal and external customers.

We are looking for a strong database engineer with deep technical expertise, sharp logical reasoning, and the flexibility to thrive in a fast-paced, high-stakes environment. If you are passionate about chasing down complex issues in large-scale distributed systems under real-world load, this role is for you. In this role you will support the infrastructure by learning the platform from end to end.

What you get to do in this role:

• Become an SME in production database troubleshooting, ServiceNow instance performance, and Linux performance analysis — both on-prem and on Hyperscaler.
• Own complex incident root cause analysis across multi-tenant PostgreSQL/MariaDB fleets at scale.
• Develop observability tooling and automation to prevent recurrence of critical issues.
• Influence infrastructure decisions that shape our multi-tenant cloud platform.
• Mentor and collaborate with engineers across operations, support, and development.

Qualifications

• Experience in leveraging or critically thinking about how to integrate AI into work processes, decision-making, or problem-solving.
• 12 years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree; or 8 years and a Master's degree; or a PhD with 5 years experience; or equivalent experience in database engineering in large-scale, enterprise environments.
• Deep PostgreSQL expertise including MVCC, transaction management, vacuum mechanics, WAL architecture, advanced query performance tuning, buffer management, and backup/restore.
• Experience supporting large-scale, multi-tenant SaaS, PaaS, or cloud infrastructure platforms.
• Strong Unix/Linux skills — file system navigation, permissions, process management, performance diagnostics.
• Deep understanding of RedHat Linux internals with hands-on expertise diagnosing CPU, memory, and I/O issues at the OS level.
• Experience with public cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP).
• Strong problem-solving ability, logical thinking, and a genuine curiosity to understand complex systems end to end.

Requirements

• Experience with ServiceNow platform, scripting, tuning, and troubleshooting is highly preferred.
• Scripting proficiency: shell, Python, JavaScript, Ansible.
• Experience with schemas, replication, indexing, and query optimization techniques.
• Familiarity with Kubernetes and CI/CD pipelines.

Benefits

• Base pay of $165,500 - $289,600, plus equity (when applicable), variable/incentive compensation and benefits.
• Health plans, including flexible spending accounts.
• 401(k) Plan with company match.
• ESPP, matching donations.
• Flexible time away plan and family leave programs.