Position overview
KPMG is seeking a ServiceNow Senior Manager to own the platform as a whole — its strategy, its governance, its commercials and its people. You will set the roadmap for ServiceNow across the firm, lead the team that builds and runs it, manage the licence position and our implementation partners, and act as the single point of accountability for platform health, security and the value the platform returns to the business.
This is a platform ownership role. We are looking for a leader who has been accountable for an enterprise ServiceNow estate: not a project manager who has delivered ServiceNow work, and not a senior developer seeking a first leadership position. You will retain enough technical depth to challenge a design, judge an estimate and hold a vendor to account, while spending most of your time on strategy, governance and people.
Key responsibilities
Platform strategy and roadmap
- Own and publish the ServiceNow strategy and multi-year roadmap, and align it with the wider technology and business agenda.
- Drive adoption and expansion of the platform across business units, making the case for new capability on value rather than on availability.
- Lead enterprise-scale ServiceNow programmes covering upgrades, new module implementations and major integrations.
- Evaluate emerging platform capability, including Now Assist and AI-led service automation, and decide what the firm adopts and when.
Leadership of the ServiceNow function
- Lead the blended technical and functional team, including the ServiceNow Manager, administrators, developers, business analysts and any partner or managed service resource.
- Set the operating model for the function, covering demand intake, prioritisation, delivery method and run responsibilities.
- Build capability deliberately through succession planning, certification pathways and structured upskilling, so that the platform is not dependent on individuals.
Governance and architecture
- Own platform governance: architecture standards, design authority, change control and the technical debt position.
- Hold the line on out-of-the-box configuration over customisation, and own the decision when the firm departs from it.
- Own the CMDB and Common Service Data Model position, including service ownership, data quality targets and the discovery footprint.
- Own the instance strategy, release calendar and upgrade cadence across the two ServiceNow family releases each year.
- Define the service management framework the platform enforces, including SLA and OLA design, major incident governance and service reporting.
Commercial and vendor management
- Own the ServiceNow subscription and licence entitlement position, including forecasting, true-up, renewal negotiation and cost optimisation.
- Manage implementation partners and managed service providers, covering statements of work, delivery quality, and commercial and performance reviews.
- Own the platform budget and build the business case for investment in new capability.
- Security, risk and compliance
- Own the platform's security posture, including instance hardening, role and access design, segregation of duties and privileged access.
- Ensure the platform meets data privacy, residency and retention obligations in every jurisdiction it serves, and act as the point of contact for internal and external audit.
- Maintain the risk register for the platform and the continuity and recovery position for the service.
Stakeholder and executive engagement
- Act as the primary liaison between business stakeholders and the technical team, translating in both directions without losing precision.
- Engage partners and functional leaders on where ServiceNow can carry their process, and manage expectations on what it will not do.
- Report platform performance, value and risk to technology leadership and to relevant steering committees.
Qualifications and certifications
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering or a related discipline. A postgraduate qualification is an advantage but is not a substitute for platform ownership experience.
- 12+ years of overall IT experience, with a strong track record in enterprise technology environments.
- 8+ years of hands-on ServiceNow experience, including platform administration, development, governance, and strategic ownership.
- 5+ years of leadership experience, managing cross-functional technical and functional teams, including third-party vendors and managed service providers.
- Proven experience with end-to-end ownership of an enterprise-scale, multi-module ServiceNow platform, encompassing strategy, operations, roadmap, and continuous improvement.
- Essential: ServiceNow Certified System Administrator (CSA).
- Essential: ITIL 4 Managing Professional, or an equivalent senior service management credential.
- Strongly preferred: two or more Certified Implementation Specialist (CIS) credentials across ITSM, ITOM and HRSD.
- Advantageous: Certified Technical Architect or Certified Master Architect, and a recognized program or portfolio management qualification.
