Senior Director, Platform Architecture – Financial Services , Santa Clara

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 Organization

The AMS Delivery Excellence Group integrates Expert Services professional services teams and Platform Architecture advisory capabilities to deliver unified Impact and Expert Services solutions. This organization is central to ServiceNow's strategy of accelerating customer time-to-value through technical excellence, AI-powered automation, and seamless delivery experiences.

The AMS Financial Services portfolio encompasses some of ServiceNow's most strategically important and highly regulated customer segments — spanning Banking & Capital Markets, Insurance, Wealth & Asset Management, and Fintech. These customers operate in environments defined by regulatory complexity, risk management imperatives, core system modernization, and an accelerating shift toward AI-driven automation. Platform Architecture plays a critical advisory role in helping FSI customers navigate this landscape and realize transformational outcomes on the ServiceNow platform.

The Senior Director of Platform Architecture – Financial Services is a strategic executive who defines the vision for platform architecture across the FSI vertical. This role manages multiple Directors and Senior Managers leading 60+ Platform Architects, cultivates C-suite relationships across FSI enterprise accounts, and drives AI-powered transformation initiatives. This leader ensures alignment with FSI business priorities, shapes the future of integrated Impact and Expert Services delivery, and builds high-performing teams with deep financial services industry and technical expertise.

What You Get to Do in This Role

Lead Strategic FSI Industry Alignment at Scale

Maintain deep financial services industry expertise through close alignment with Major Area leaders across Banking & Capital Markets, Insurance, Wealth & Asset Management, and Fintech
Develop and enable high-performing Directors, Senior Managers, and Platform Architects to address complex, FSI-specific challenges including regulatory compliance, risk management transformation, core banking modernization, and AI-driven process automation
Actively engage with Major Area organizations to ensure architectural strategies for resourcing and talent deployment remain aligned with FSI market trends, regulatory shifts, customer needs, and organizational priorities
Drive thought leadership, reference architectures, and FSI-specific playbooks tailored to the unique compliance, integration, and governance requirements of financial services customers
Build and Lead a High-Performing Multi-Level Organization
Manage multiple Directors and Senior Managers with responsibility for coaching, performance assessment, career development, and quality oversight across 60+ Platform Architects
Attract, recruit, and hire top talent for Director, Senior Manager, and Platform Architect roles, leveraging networks across FSI verticals and enterprise markets
Proactively manage pipeline of accounts across all FSI Major Areas, ensuring visibility into upcoming projects and resource needs to support strategic business growth
Ensure proper staffing for all engagements by matching skills, experience, certifications, and FSI domain knowledge to project needs, optimizing team performance and customer outcomes
Drive AI tooling opportunities to increase job satisfaction, process efficiency, and collaboration between Platform Architecture and Expert Services teams
Monitor and adjust staffing plans and skillsets to maintain alignment with FSI Major Area priorities, regulatory trends, and evolving delivery needs
Embed a customer-first mindset and foster continuous learning, especially in AI, automation, financial services platform innovation, and regulatory technology
Build a welcoming culture that embraces and models ServiceNow's core values across a geographically and industry-diverse organization
Shape Platform Architecture Strategy for Customer Outcomes
Influence Impact product roadmap by identifying and communicating customer insights, emerging architecture patterns, and FSI-specific opportunities for innovation across Banking, Insurance, Capital Markets, and Wealth Management
Serve as executive sponsor for major modernization initiatives, enterprise-scale digital transformations, and industry-specific platform programs — including core banking system migrations, insurance claims transformation, and regulatory reporting automation
Foster a culture of continuous improvement and technical excellence, empowering teams to experiment, learn, and adopt best practices that advance FSI-specific organizational capabilities
Build strategic partnerships across Customer Outcomes, Sales, Product, and Partner ecosystems to drive adoption, value realization, and enterprise digital transformation at scale within the FSI vertical
Ensure Platform Architects deliver architectural guidance across the full customer lifecycle: strategic roadmaps, solution design, deployment oversight, optimization initiatives, and ongoing technical governance — with FSI regulatory and data governance requirements as a first-class design consideration
Enable Integrated Impact + Expert Services Delivery
Define how Platform Architects provide architectural oversight and guidance for Expert Services-led implementations across FSI accounts, ensuring technical excellence and platform best practices through Config Assist and new Impact offerings
Collaborate with Expert Services Workflow leaders to build seamless delivery experiences integrating Impact advisory capabilities with ES professional services execution across all FSI Major Areas
Drive Platform Architect technical fluency and delivery excellence to guide complex FSI implementations — including multi-cloud integrations, data sovereignty requirements, and compliance-driven configuration patterns — while maintaining clear role differentiation from hands-on implementation work
Drive Pre-Sales Excellence and Strategic Growth
Collaborate with GTM teams to define strategy for leveraging Platform Architecture within pre-sales motions and strategic deal pursuits across FSI enterprise accounts
Advocate ServiceNow best practices, AI-powered capabilities, and FSI-specific use cases including intelligent risk operations, regulatory change management, financial crime prevention, and connected front-to-back office transformation
Support pre-sales motions with guidance on customer technical readiness and solution architecture for complex FSI transformations, including due diligence on regulatory constraints and architectural scalability
Manage Business Performance
Own key business metrics including customer satisfaction (CSAT), Net Promoter Score (NPS), Gross Revenue Retention (GRR), and Impact bookings contribution across all FSI Major Areas
Manage revenue targets, team utilization, margin performance, and operational expenses for the FSI Platform Architecture organization
Collaborate with Finance and Operations business partners to forecast capacity, manage headcount plans, and optimize resource deployment across the FSI vertical

Qualifications

Experience & Leadership

10–15+ years in consulting, digital transformation, or enterprise architecture leadership, with significant tenure in or serving the financial services industry

5+ years managing multi-level teams including Directors and Senior Managers in distributed or geographically dispersed organizations

Proven track record building and scaling technical teams from 30+ to 100+ professionals in FSI or highly regulated industry contexts

Demonstrated ability to engage and influence C-suite executives (CIO/CTO/CDO/CRO/CISO) across tier-1 financial institutions, insurance carriers, capital markets firms, and wealth management organizations

Financial Services Domain Expertise

Deep expertise in one or more FSI sub-verticals: Banking & Capital Markets, Insurance, Wealth & Asset Management, or Fintech

Working knowledge of FSI regulatory frameworks including Basel III/IV, Dodd-Frank, DORA, MiFID II, GDPR, SOX, PCI-DSS, and prudential regulatory requirements, and their implications for enterprise technology architecture

Experience navigating core banking/insurance system modernization programs, data governance at FSI scale, and cloud adoption within regulated environments

Understanding of FSI-specific risk operations, financial crime prevention, regulatory reporting automation, and connected front-to-back office transformation use cases

Technical & Strategic Capabilities

Deep understanding of AI, automation, data architecture, and emerging technology trends — with ability to translate these for FSI risk and compliance contexts

Experience shaping enterprise operating models, digital transformation programs, and platform strategies within regulated industries

Strong business acumen including P&L management, financial planning, and operational metrics

Expertise in ServiceNow platform and multiple product suites preferred; experience with FSI-relevant modules (IRM, SecOps, FSO, CSM) a strong plus

For positions in this location, we offer a base pay of $228,900 - $412,000, 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.