ServiceNow Platform Owner (COEI Lead)

About the Role

We are looking for a visionary and strategic leader to establish, develop, and lead a ServiceNow Center of Excellence and Innovation (CoEI) within our client’s organization. This pivotal role will be responsible for crafting the organizational blueprint, implementing robust governance and delivery frameworks, and steering cross-functional teams to drive the strategic vision of ServiceNow as a transformative enterprise platform. The ideal candidate will bring a rare combination of deep ServiceNow expertise, enterprise leadership acumen, stakeholder management prowess, and change leadership to scale the platform’s value across the organization.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Vision

As the driving force behind the ServiceNow platform, you will define and articulate a compelling vision and business case for ServiceNow as a cornerstone of digital transformation. Your responsibilities include:

• Developing and communicating a clear, measurable business case that aligns ServiceNow’s capabilities with enterprise objectives and secures executive sponsorship.
• Assuming full ownership of all ServiceNow instances across the enterprise, acting as the single point of accountability for platform oversight and performance.
• Establishing and leading strategic governance functions, including steering committees, demand boards, and design boards, to ensure informed and effective decision-making across all stakeholder groups.
• Championing organizational change management initiatives to drive widespread ServiceNow adoption, collaborating closely with leadership to address resistance and cultivate champions of the platform.

CoEI Structure & Team Building

You will design and implement a high-performing CoEI organizational structure, structured around four core functions:

• Strategy: Defining the long-term roadmap and aligning ServiceNow initiatives with business goals.
• Business Engagement & Delivery: Serving as the bridge between the CoEI and business stakeholders to ensure seamless delivery of platform capabilities.
• Platform Architecture & Support: Overseeing the technical architecture, security, and performance of the ServiceNow platform.
• Innovation: Identifying and scaling opportunities for digital workflow innovation across the enterprise.

Additionally, you will build and mentor high-performing teams, define career development paths, and establish clear roles, responsibilities, and accountabilities (RACI) to foster collaboration between the CoEI, business partners, service owners, process owners, and development teams.

Delivery & Value Realization

Your role will encompass defining and delivering ServiceNow as a Service (SaaS) offerings to business stakeholders, including new capabilities, upgrades, workflow optimizations, and training. Key responsibilities include:

• Establishing Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and engagement commitments to ensure consistent service delivery.
• Implementing demand management and prioritization processes that balance immediate business demands with long-term strategic roadmap priorities.
• Overseeing the end-to-end delivery of new ServiceNow capabilities, ensuring projects are completed on time, within budget, and to the highest quality standards.
• Managing the demand-to-release cycle and driving platform hygiene through regular upgrades and proactive platform management.
• Addressing application escalations and complex cross-functional issues at the enterprise level to minimize disruptions.

Governance, Standards & Risk Management

You will establish and enforce technical governance policies and standards to ensure consistency, security, and compliance across the ServiceNow platform. This includes:

• Defining and implementing governance frameworks for configuration, customization, development, security, data management, and integration.
• Overseeing compliance and security frameworks to mitigate risks such as ungoverned customization, platform performance degradation, and security vulnerabilities.
• Developing measurement and reporting frameworks to track platform health, adoption rates, value realization, and innovation capture.

Innovation & Enterprise Transformation

Position ServiceNow as a strategic enterprise platform that transcends its role as an IT tool by identifying and scaling opportunities for digital workflow innovation across the organization. Your responsibilities will include:

• Leading the identification of innovation opportunities across business lines and coaching business partners in digital transformation thinking.
• Building and nurturing communities of practice to facilitate knowledge sharing and promote best practices among service owners, process owners, and development teams.

Stakeholder Management

As the primary advocate for ServiceNow at the executive and business leadership level, you will:

• Cultivate and maintain strong relationships with C-suite sponsors, business unit leaders, service owners, process owners, and IT leadership.
• Consistently communicate progress, value, and risks to executive sponsors and stakeholders to ensure alignment and transparency.
• Identify and recruit business champions to drive adoption and foster a culture of innovation.