Principal Software Engineer
ServiceNow · Santa Clara, CA
$221,200–$387,100from the description
Jul 1, 2026
Santa Clara, CA
Jul 20, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
Principal level · 15+ years · National · Full-time
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
Posted 2 times — it's one opening, so apply once.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $138,970 (middle half $107,524–$175,762). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (7)
The role is explicitly titled and framed as Principal Software Engineer, with 15+ years required and org-wide architectural scope across ITSM/ITOM — this genuinely supports Principal-level classification.
Java and Python are listed together under the requirements section with 'or similar', so they are treated as interchangeable alternatives for the same hard gate on a strong programming language.
Experience with AI-powered products, agentic systems, and automation platforms is described as 'strongly preferred' — not a hard gate.
ITSM, ITOM, CMDB, service mapping, AIOps, and related enterprise IT operations domain experience are described as 'a strong plus' or 'a plus' — preferred, not required.
No specific office location is stated in the posting; compensation is noted as geography-dependent. Work persona (flexible/remote/in-office) is determined per employee — remote=false is set conservatively since full remote is not confirmed.
The compensation range ($221,200–$387,100/year) is explicitly described as base pay only, with additional equity, variable/incentive compensation, and benefits on top.
Ignored 1 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): workflow automation.
Read the full posting
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