Lead ServiceNow Architect

Job Description

Role Summary

The Senior ServiceNow Architect is accountable for the end-to-end technical architecture, governance, and strategic evolution of the ServiceNow platform, with a strong focus on ITSM, ITOM, CMDB, CSDM, and Discovery.

This role provides architectural leadership across the ServiceNow estate, ensuring the platform is scalable, secure, supportable, and aligned to ServiceNow best practices and industry frameworks such as ITIL. The architect defines the technical roadmap, governs design decisions, and acts as the senior technical authority across delivery teams and stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

Platform Architecture & Strategy

• Own and maintain the ServiceNow platform architecture, ensuring alignment with enterprise architecture standards and ServiceNow OOTB best practices.

• Define and govern the ServiceNow technical roadmap, balancing short term delivery needs with long term platform sustainability.

• Act as the design authority for all significant platform changes, integrations, and enhancements.

• Ensure architectural consistency across ITSM, ITOM, CSM, and future ServiceNow capability expansion.

CMDB, CSDM & Discovery Leadership

• Design, implement, and govern a robust CMDB architecture, ensuring accuracy, completeness, and fitness for purpose.

• Lead the adoption and ongoing maturity of the Common Service Data Model (CSDM) across business, application, and infrastructure layers.

• Define and enforce CMDB data governance, including CI lifecycle management, ownership models, reconciliation rules, and data quality KPIs.

• Architect and oversee ServiceNow Discovery solutions (horizontal and cloud), ensuring reliable, automated population of the CMDB.

• Ensure CMDB alignment with downstream consumers such as Incident, Problem, Change, ITOM Health, and Service Mapping.

Solution Design & Delivery Governance

• Design end to end ServiceNow solutions, from requirements through to build, test, and deployment.

• Provide hands on architectural guidance to developers and implementation teams, reviewing designs and code where required.

• Ensure solutions minimise customisation and maximise OOTB capabilities, configuration over custom code, and reuse.

• Govern technical delivery through design reviews, architecture boards, and technical assurance checkpoints.

Integrations & Platform Engineering

• Architect and govern integrations using REST, SOAP, IntegrationHub, MID Servers, and event based patterns.

• Ensure integration designs are secure, resilient, scalable, and aligned with enterprise integration standards.

• Oversee MID Server architecture, credential management, and network/security considerations.

• Ensure performance, availability, and resilience of the ServiceNow platform.

Stakeholder & Senior Leadership

• Act as a trusted advisor to platform owners, senior stakeholders, and programme leadership.

• Translate business requirements into clear, pragmatic architectural solutions.

• Mentor and develop Solution Architects, Technical Leads, and senior developers.

• Contribute to practice assets, standards, accelerators, and continuous improvement initiatives.

Required Skills & Experience

Technical & Functional Expertise

• Extensive experience designing and architecting ServiceNow enterprise implementations.

• Deep expertise in:

o ITSM (Incident, Problem, Change, Request, Knowledge)

o CMDB & CSDM (v4+ concepts, domains, service lifecycle)

o ITOM (Discovery, Service Mapping, Event Management – preferred)

• Strong understanding of ITIL processes and how they are implemented in ServiceNow.

• Proven experience governing complex, multi team ServiceNow delivery programmes.

Architecture & Delivery

• Proven experience defining platform wide architecture standards and guardrails.

• Strong integration design experience (REST/SOAP, IntegrationHub, MID Server patterns).

• Experience working in Agile / Scrum delivery environments.

• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.

ServiceNow Certifications

Mandatory / Strongly Expected

• ServiceNow Certified System Administrator (CSA)

• ServiceNow Certified Implementation Specialist – ITSM (CIS ITSM)

• ServiceNow Certified Implementation Specialist – Discovery or ITOM (or equivalent ITOM CIS)

Highly Recommended for Success in the Role

• ServiceNow Certified Application Developer (CAD)

• ServiceNow Certified Implementation Specialist – Service Mapping

• ServiceNow Certified Implementation Specialist – CMDB / CSDM aligned modules (where available)

Architect Level / Strategic Certifications (Preferred)

• ServiceNow Certified Master Architect (CMA) or

• ServiceNow Certified Technical Architect (CTA) or actively progressing toward CTA

• ITIL v4 Foundation or higher