Vice President, AI & Machine Learning Engineering

ServiceNow•Santa Clara, CA

About The Position

At ServiceNow, we're building the AI control tower for business reinvention. We are seeking an exceptional VP of AI & Machine Learning Engineering to lead the teams building our core AI products and capabilities — branded as Now Assist — delivered across IT, HR, Supply Chain, Finance, and CRM, serving industries from telco and healthcare to manufacturing, banking, and insurance. This leader will drive the architecture, development, and delivery of key AI/ML capabilities embedded across the Now Platform — including AI model strategy, natural language understanding, agentic AI orchestration, voice, recommendation systems, and the ML infrastructure that powers enterprise-scale operations. A key focus area is applying autonomous AI to the enterprise work context — building multi-step, multi-department business process automation that fundamentally changes how the world's largest companies operate. This includes advancing ServiceNow's model strategy, training and deploying purpose-built models optimized for enterprise workflows, and delivering omni-channel AI resolution across Chat, Voice, Computer Use, and Generative UI — with governance, trust, and transparency. You will lead a world-class AI/ML engineering organization, partnering closely with Product, Platform, Data, UX, and Cloud teams to embed intelligence into every layer of the ServiceNow experience. This is a high-impact leadership role with direct influence on ServiceNow's AI-first transformation and competitive differentiation.

Requirements

MS or PhD in Computer Science, AI, Machine Learning, or a closely related field. Exceptional candidates with a BS and a strong industry track record will also be considered.
12+ years of progressive experience in AI/ML engineering and research, with 3+ years in senior leadership roles (Senior Director or VP level) at leading technology companies.
Deep technical expertise across the modern AI stack: large language models, transformer architectures, generative AI, NLP/NLU, agentic AI systems, RAG, and reinforcement learning.
Proven track record fine-tuning and deploying foundation models at production scale, with hands-on knowledge of distributed training, model optimization, and inference efficiency.
Experience building and scaling ML platforms and infrastructure — including feature stores, model registries, experimentation frameworks, and CI/CD pipelines for ML systems.
Demonstrated success shipping AI-powered products in enterprise or B2B SaaS contexts, with clear understanding of governance and trust requirements for Fortune 500 customers.
Strong publication record or patent portfolio in top venues (NeurIPS, ICML, CVPR, ACL, KDD) and active engagement with the research community.
Experience leading globally distributed engineering teams of 100+, with a track record of recruiting and retaining world-class AI talent.
Strong executive presence — able to communicate AI strategy and technical vision to senior leadership, customers, and non-technical stakeholders with clarity and conviction.
Strategic thinker with a builder's mindset, balancing long-term research investments with near-term product delivery in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.

Nice To Haves

Prior Director or VP title at a major technology company or high-growth AI-native company.
Experience with enterprise workflow platforms, knowledge management systems, or operational intelligence at scale.
Background in building or integrating conversational AI, chatbot, or virtual agent technologies for enterprise use cases.
Experience supporting M&A technical integration — helping absorb acquired AI teams and technology into a larger platform organization.
Thought leadership through published research, open-source contributions, conference presentations, or advisory roles in the AI community.

Responsibilities

Define and execute AI/ML strategy for your engineering domain, aligning research, engineering, and product delivery to ServiceNow's business objectives and revenue growth.
Drive development and scaling of the Agentic AI Platform & Search — building foundational infrastructure for autonomous, multi-step agents that orchestrate complex, multi-department business processes with built-in governance and trust.
Deliver omni-channel AI resolution and fulfillment, enabling seamless autonomous experiences across Chat, Voice, Computer Use, and Generative UI.
Lead model strategy execution — including third-party and domain-specific models — optimizing for enterprise workflows at Fortune 500 scale.
Build and operate enterprise-grade ML infrastructure: model training pipelines, feature stores, model serving, A/B experimentation, and MLOps at cloud scale.
Lead applied research in NLP, generative AI, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), vision, recommendation systems, and reinforcement learning for enterprise use cases.
Partner across Platform, Data, Product, and UX teams to deliver intelligence at the right time, with the right context, in the flow of work.
Recruit, develop, and scale a global AI/ML engineering organization of 100+ across the US, India, and Europe, cultivating a culture of research excellence and product impact.
Represent ServiceNow as a thought leader in enterprise AI — engaging the broader AI community, supporting publications and conference participation, and helping attract world-class talent.