Director, Strategic Initiatives

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
ServiceNow's Customer Excellence Group (CEG) is in the middle of a fundamental transformation - redesigning how we deliver customer outcomes in an AI-native world. This role sits at the center of that work.
As Director of CEG Strategic Initiatives, you'll own and drive the highest-priority transformation programs across our post-sale organization. This is not a strategy role that stops at the slide deck. You'll frame the problem, build the plan, run the workstream, and drive it to execution - often managing through influence across senior stakeholders who don't report to you.
You'll work across commercial model design, operating model transformation, and delivery model optimization - the kind of work where getting the framing right matters as much as getting the execution right. The team is small, fast, and high-trust. The work is visible at the SVP+ level and has direct impact on how ServiceNow scales its customer-facing organization.
What you get to do in this role:
Lead Strategic Initiatives End-to-End

• Own one or more of CEG's top transformation workstreams from problem framing through execution - commercial model, delivery model, operating model, or renewals transformation.
• Build the business case, design the solution, align stakeholders, and drive implementation. You're not handing off to a delivery team - you are the delivery team.
• Manage initiative governance: milestones, decision points, dependencies, and escalation paths. Keep complex programs on track when multiple senior leaders have competing priorities.

Shape CEG Strategy

• Translate ambiguous executive direction into structured strategic options with clear tradeoffs and recommendations.
• Build and maintain the analytical models that underpin major decisions: headcount planning, insource/outsource economics, service delivery tiering, AI efficiency overlays.
• Develop strategy narratives and board-ready materials that frame CEG's transformation story for SVP and C-level audiences.

Drive Cross-Functional Alignment

• Operate as the connective tissue between CEG leadership, geo leaders, Finance, Product, and field teams. Translate between strategic intent and operational reality.
• Navigate complex stakeholder dynamics where formal authority is limited and influence is everything. Manage up, across, and into partner organizations (consulting firms, outsourcing partners).
• Serve as the quality-control layer on programs where the temptation is to announce before we're ready. Protect program integrity without slowing momentum.

Build for Scale

• Design frameworks, playbooks, and operating cadences that outlast any single initiative. The goal is to productize how CEG runs transformation, not just run one project at a time.
• Stand up reporting and decision-support infrastructure: OKR cascades, initiative dashboards, executive briefing cadences.
• Identify and champion "no-regrets bets" - moves we should make regardless of which strategic direction we ultimately choose.

Qualifications
To be successful in this role you have:

• Experience in leveraging or critically thinking about how to integrate AI into work processes, decision-making, or problem-solving. This may include using AI-powered tools, automating workflows, analyzing AI-driven insights, or exploring AI's potential impact on the function or industry.
• 8+ years in strategy, management consulting, business transformation, or corporate development roles. You've run cross-functional programs with senior stakeholder complexity, not just contributed to them.
• Demonstrated ability to structure ambiguous problems and drive them to resolution. Comfortable building the plane while flying it.
• Strong financial and operational modeling skills. You can build the headcount model, stress-test the assumptions, and present the recommendation in the same meeting.
• Executive communication skills - you can write a tight one-pager, present to an SVP, and draft a stakeholder email that lands, all in the same day.
• Experience managing through influence in matrixed organizations. You know how to align people who don't report to you and hold the line when things get political.
• Comfort with AI tools as part of your workflow. We use AI extensively in how we work - for analysis, content development, and decision support. You should be someone who's already integrating these tools into how you operate.

Preferred:

• Experience in enterprise SaaS, customer success, or professional services transformation.
• Background in M&A integration, large-scale org design, or operating model transformation.
• Familiarity with outsourcing strategy, shared services design, or global delivery model optimization.
• Experience with zero-based planning, headcount optimization, or cost transformation programs.

What This Role Is Not:

• This is not a traditional strategy role where you build decks and hand them to someone else to execute. It's not a PMO role tracking other people's workstreams. And it's not an analytics role building dashboards in a support function. This is a leadership role where you own outcomes, operate with significant autonomy, and are accountable for moving the business forward on programs that matter.

FD21
For positions in this location, we offer a base pay of $192,400 - $336,700, 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.
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