Senior Database Engineer

Postgres, MySQL
UNITED STATES
October 22, 2026
Full Time
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Job Description

Company: ServiceNow
Location: Santa Clara
Workplace Type: Hybrid
Employment Type: Full-time
Pay / Compensation: $127,600 – $216,900, plus equity, variable/incentive compensation, and benefits

About the Role

ServiceNow is seeking a Senior Database Engineer to join our Software Action Team (SWAT). In this role, you will ensure the production stability of our customer applications and infrastructure services from an operations perspective. You will act as the last level of support, focusing on production database troubleshooting, performance analysis, and chasing complex issues across dynamic, real-world workloads.

What You’ll Do / Key Responsibilities

  • Production Troubleshooting: Become an SME in production database troubleshooting, ServiceNow instance performance issues, and Linux performance analysis on-prem and on Hyperscaler.
  • Incident Management: Own complex incident RCA across multi-tenant PostgreSQL and MariaDB fleets at scale.
  • Observability & Automation: Develop observability and automation to prevent the recurrence of critical issues.
  • Infrastructure Influence: Influence infrastructure decisions that shape our multi-tenant cloud platform.
  • Mentorship: Mentor and collaborate with engineers across operations, support, and development.

Requirements & Qualifications

  • 5+ years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree (or 3+ years with a Master’s degree, PhD without experience, or equivalent work experience).
  • 5+ years of experience supporting or testing large-scale web-based distributed applications.
  • 5+ years of experience on multiple relational databases (especially on Postgres databases).
  • Deep technical knowledge of database internals including MVCC, transaction management, vacuum mechanics, database and query performance tuning, buffer management, WAL architecture, and backup/restore.
  • 5+ years of hands-on experience working on a SaaS, PaaS, or Cloud Infrastructure product/solution.
  • Strong Unix skills including development, navigation, file manipulation, permissions, searching/finding files and text contents, and administrative actions.
  • Strong problem-solving and analytical skills with an aptitude for learning new technologies.

Preferred / Bonus Qualifications (if applicable)

  • Experience with the ServiceNow platform, scripting, tuning, and troubleshooting.
  • Scripting proficiency in basic shell scripting, Python, Javascript, and Ansible.
  • Good understanding of schemas, table spaces, indexing, and database performance optimization.
  • Familiarity or knowledge of CentOS/RedHat operating systems.
  • Formal experience on a DevOps (Kubernetes and CI/CD pipeline), Performance, or support team supporting a web-based application.

Benefits & Perks (if applicable)

  • Health plans including flexible spending accounts
  • 401(k) Plan with company match
  • Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)
  • Matching donations program
  • Flexible time away plan and family leave programs

ServiceNow is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, gender identity, veteran status, or any other category protected by law.

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