ServiceNow Platform Owner & Chief Architect

Johnson Controls, a global leader in thermal management, mission-critical building systems, energy efficiency, and decarbonization, helps customers use energy more productively, reduce carbon emissions, and operate with the precision and resilience required in rapidly expanding industries such as data centers, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, advanced manufacturing, and higher education.

For more than 140 years, Johnson Controls has delivered performance where it really matters. Backed by advanced technology, lifecycle services and an industry-leading field organization, we elevate customer performance, turn goals into real-world results and help move society forward.

Role Overview

The ServiceNow Platform Owner & Chief Architect is accountable for the technical strategy, architecture, engineering standards, platform lifecycle, security, performance, integrations, and technical execution of the enterprise ServiceNow platform.

This role is the single accountable leader for platform architecture and technical delivery. Process outcomes, functional adoption, operating procedures, and service performance remain owned by the respective process and product owners, including ITSM, CMDB, SAM/HAM, SecOps, HRSD, Knowledge, Service Catalog, and Digital Workplace stakeholders.

The role partners with process owners to translate business and operational priorities into scalable, secure, maintainable, and supportable ServiceNow solutions. It ensures the platform enables the desired process outcomes without assuming direct accountability for those process outcomes.

The role combines executive-level platform ownership with hands-on architectural leadership. As the technical authority for ServiceNow, this leader defines the long-term platform vision, establishes architecture standards, governs technical decisions, leads modernization, and ensures sustainable solutions across the enterprise.

This leader directly leads or governs the ServiceNow engineering, administration, support, architecture, and development organizations based on the approved operating model. Where resources are distributed or matrixed, the role sets platform standards, delivery expectations, technical governance, and decision ownership across all teams involved in platform delivery.

Platform Scope

Responsible for technical strategy, architecture, technical governance, platform health, engineering standards, integrations, release quality, and technical ownership across the following ServiceNow capabilities:

• IT Service Management (ITSM)

• IT Operations Management (ITOM)

• Configuration Management Database (CMDB)

• Application Portfolio Management (APM)/ EnterpriseArchitecture

• Software Asset Management (SAM Pro)

• Hardware Asset Management (HAM Pro)

• Human Resources Service Delivery (HRSD)

• Security Operations (SecOps)

• Knowledge Management

• Service Catalog

• Service Portal / Employee Center

• ServiceNow Integrations and platform extensions

• Future AI, Virtual Agent, Automation, and Digital Workflow capabilities

Key Responsibilities

• Own the enterprise ServiceNow platform roadmap, technical strategy, and multi-year modernization plan, maintaining a quarterly roadmap and aligning priorities through a monthly platform governance forum with ITSM, CMDB, SAM/HAM, SecOps, HRSD, Infrastructure, Security, and business stakeholders.

• Serve as the chief architect for the ServiceNow ecosystem, establishing architectural standards, development principles, technical governance models, reusable patterns, and decision frameworks.

• Lead the technical enablement of AI, automation, Virtual Agent, and digital workflow capabilities within ServiceNow, establishing reusable architecture patterns, governance standards, and scalable platform solutions that accelerate transformation while maintaining platform integrity and supportability.

• Lead platform architecture decisions across ServiceNow modules, integrations, workflows, custom applications, automation, AI, and digital workflow capabilities.

• Define platform standards for scalability, maintainability, performance, security, compliance, reliability, observability, and supportability.

• Govern platform upgrades, releases, patching strategies, testing methodologies, deployment controls, production readiness, and release quality.

• Own platform security, technical compliance, audit readiness, access governance, and technical risk management activities in partnership with enterprise security and compliance teams.

• Define integration architecture between ServiceNow and enterprise systems, cloud platforms, identity solutions, monitoring tools, HR systems, ERP platforms, collaboration tools, and third-party applications.

• Establish development standards, coding practices, peer review expectations, technical design reviews, quality gates, architectural governance controls, and exception management.

• Lead technical debt reduction, platform simplification, customization rationalization, unused workflow retirement, upgrade readiness improvement, and defect leakage reduction initiatives.

• Evaluate and approve significant platform design decisions, customizations, integrations, technical exceptions, and architecture deviations.

• Partner with process and product owners to understand requirements, assess technical feasibility, prioritize platform enhancements, and deliver solutions that support functional outcomes without taking ownership of process execution or adoption.

• Manage the platform backlog, release calendar, engineering capacity, delivery sequencing, and technical dependencies in alignment with business priorities and process owner requirements.

• Manage ServiceNow licensing inputs, platform investments, vendor relationships, implementation partners, support partners, and commercial discussions related to technical platform delivery and lifecycle needs.

• Define platform KPIs focused on availability, performance, environmental stability, release quality, defect leakage, backlog aging, customization health, upgrade readiness, integration reliability, security posture, and value enablement.

• Serve as the executive escalation point for major platform issues, platform instability, critical delivery risks, vendor escalations, and strategic architectural decisions.

Leadership Responsibilities

• Lead the ServiceNow engineering, administration, platform support, architecture, and development organizations responsible for platform health and technical delivery.

• Manage an organization of architects, developers, administrators, support personnel, and technical delivery partners.

• Establish an operating rhythm that includes daily or near-daily technical standups, weekly platform leadership reviews, release readiness reviews, backlog health reviews, architecture reviews, and monthly stakeholder governance.

• Set clear decision ownership, escalation paths, technical standards, delivery expectations, and quality controls across internal teams and delivery partners.

• Develop technical talent pipelines, succession plans, architectural capability, platform engineering practices, and continuous learning across the ServiceNow organization.

• Build and maintain a global ServiceNow technical organization capable of supporting enterprise-scale growth, platform modernization, and business expansion.

• Foster a culture focused on technical excellence, fewer handoffs, faster and clearer decisions, lower rework, better service experience, and measurable improvement in delivery quality.

Success measures (Outcome-Based)

• Improved ServiceNow platform availability, performance, stability, and reliability across production and non-production environments.

• Reduced platform technical debt, unnecessary customization, unused workflows, architectural exceptions, and upgrade blockers.

• Increased delivery and adoption of AI and automation capabilities through reusable platform services, resulting in reduced manual effort, improved workflow efficiency, faster service delivery, and measurable business value realization.

• Improved upgrade readiness, release quality, deployment discipline, testing effectiveness, and production change success for platform releases.

• Reduced defect leakage, rework, incident recurrence, failed deployments, and avoidable platform-related escalations.

• Improved platform backlog health through clearer prioritization, reduced aging, better dependency management, and more predictable delivery commitments.

• Improved integration reliability, data exchange quality, monitoring visibility, and technical resilience across enterprise systems connected to ServiceNow.

• Improved platform security posture, access governance, audit readiness, compliance evidence quality, and technical risk management.

• Increased reuse of approved architecture patterns, technical standards, common components, automation foundations, and scalable platform capabilities.

• Improved productivity and effectiveness of ServiceNow developers, administrators, architects, and support teams through clearer standards, operating rhythm, and decision ownership.

• Improved stakeholder confidence in ServiceNow technical delivery through transparent governance, reliable roadmap execution, faster issue resolution, and measurable platform value enablement.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of ServiceNow experience with progressive responsibilities across architecture, engineering, and platform leadership.

• 5+ years managing large ServiceNow technical organizations.

• Deep expertise across multiple ServiceNow product lines including ITSM, ITOM, CMDB, Asset Management, HRSD, SecOps.

• Proven experience designing enterprise-scale ServiceNow architectures and complex integration ecosystems.

• Demonstrated experience designing and implementing enterprise-scale AI, automation, self-service, and digital workflow solutions within ServiceNow, with a proven ability to translate emerging technologies into secure, scalable, and supportable platform capabilities.

• Strong understanding of platform governance, lifecycle management, and technical strategy.

• Experience leading platform transformation, modernization, and large-scale implementation initiatives.

• Expertise in ServiceNow architecture, workflows, scripting, APIs, integration frameworks, and platform best practices.

• Exceptional stakeholder management, executive communication, and organizational leadership skills.

• Experience leading global, distributed technical teams.

• ServiceNow Certified Technical Architect (CTA) preferred.

Preferred Skills

• ServiceNow Certified System Administrator(CSA).

• Multiple CIS certifications across ServiceNow products.

• ITIL v4 certification.

• Experience with cloud platforms, enterprise integrations, and modern architecture practices.

• Experience implementing AI, automation, virtual agent, and self-service capabilities within the ServiceNow ecosystem.

What do we offer?

• Comprehensive benefits package.

• Opportunities for professional growth and development.

• Supportive and inclusive work environment.

• Commitment to work-life balance and employee well-being.

• Engagement in meaningful projects that make a difference.

Johnson Controls does not request pregnancy or HIV testing as a condition for hiring, continued employment, or promotion, in accordance with its commitment to labor equality and non-discrimination.