Sr. Staff Information Architect, IA & Taxonomy Solutions

ServiceNow

Salary: $165k - $289k
Experience: 7+ yrs
Location: Kirkland, Washington, United States
Job type: Full-time

Required skills

PoolParty
Semaphore (SmartLogic)
NLP
AI

About the role

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:

Team

The Information Architecture (IA) team focuses on the planning, design, and implementation of information architecture and metadata management to achieve strategic business goals at ServiceNow. Our work spans taxonomy design and governance, data modeling, IA for digital user experiences, and vocabulary standards. We collaborate closely with teams across the company — including Digital Technology, the organizations that own ServiceNow’s digital sites, Customer Support, and Marketing — to deliver taxonomy and IA solutions that help users find the right information through the right channels.

Role

We’re looking for a Senior Staff Information Architect who brings deep expertise in information architecture, taxonomy, and ontology design together with strategic thinking, a product mindset, and a consultative approach. This person will help define where and how IA and taxonomy solutions create value, then drive those solutions from concept through delivery. The role spans IA for digital user experiences, establishing a central taxonomy repository to unify standards across digital sites, automated content tagging, and applying AI to scale and enhance IA and taxonomy work.

This is an individual contributor role. It’s a high-autonomy position for someone who thrives in ambiguity — someone who proactively shapes direction, treats IA and taxonomy as products with real users and adoption strategies, and builds cross-functional alignment naturally. If you naturally gravitate toward defining the framing and charting a path forward, this role was designed for you.

What you get to do in this role:

Define and lead IA and taxonomy strategy for digital experiences – including site architecture, navigation, content structure, and findability improvements – in close collaboration with Content Strategy, Design, UX Research, and Content Governance functions.

Develop and evolve taxonomies, ontologies, and data models that support content classification, knowledge management, and cross-platform consistency.

Lead automated content tagging initiatives, defining the requirements, considerations, and quality standards in partnership with Digital Technology teams.

Establish and steward a central taxonomy repository that serves as a shared source of truth for digital site teams — reducing redundancy and driving consistency while supporting contributions from across the organization.

Identify integration opportunities for taxonomy and IA across the business, build stakeholder alignment around their value, and turn opportunities into scoped projects.

Apply AI and emerging technologies to IA and taxonomy work — from leveraging AI for content classification and metadata enrichment to designing taxonomies and information structures that support AI-driven experiences on digital platforms.

Help build the team’s AI prompt engineering capabilities in collaboration with engineering teams, identifying where AI can accelerate taxonomy development, content tagging, and IA analysis.

Operate as a strategic partner to leadership, proactively identifying where IA and taxonomy can deliver business value and defining the path to get there — including framing proposals, articulating value, and gaining consensus before moving to execution.

Build relationships across Digital Technology, Design, organizations that own digital sites, Support, and Marketing to understand needs, position IA as a strategic enabler, and drive adoption of IA standards and services.

Contribute to team growth by sharing expertise and bringing new perspectives to how the team approaches strategy, systems, and cross-functional engagement.

Qualifications:

What you’ll need to be successful in this role:

7+ years of experience in information architecture, taxonomy design, ontology development, knowledge management, semantic modeling, metadata management, or content strategy (with emphasis on structured content or content modeling), with progressive responsibility for strategic and cross-functional work.

Demonstrated experience leading IA or taxonomy initiatives end-to-end — from identifying the opportunity and defining requirements through stakeholder alignment and delivery.

Deep expertise in taxonomy and ontology design, metadata strategy and modeling, and content classification.

Experience designing IA for digital user experiences, including site architecture, navigation, and content findability.

Strong systems thinking — the ability to understand how content, data, platforms, and business processes interconnect and to design solutions that account for those dependencies.

A product-oriented mindset and consultative working style — you think about IA and taxonomy as products with users and adoption strategies, and you drive outcomes through influence rather than authority.

Track record of building consensus and influencing decisions across organizational boundaries.

Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate technical concepts for diverse audiences and frame proposals that resonate with leadership.

Proven ability to operate independently and define your own path forward in ambiguous or evolving environments.

Preferred qualifications:

Experience with AI applications in content or taxonomy work, such as AI-assisted classification, metadata enrichment, prompt engineering, or knowledge graph development.

Experience in leveraging or critically thinking about how to integrate AI into work processes, decision-making, or problem-solving.

Experience with automated content tagging or classification systems.

Experience with taxonomy management platforms such as PoolParty, Semaphore (SmartLogic), or similar semantic technology tools.

Familiarity with DITA and a baseline understanding of its structure and principles.

Background in product management, solution consulting, or business analysis — particularly scoping solutions, writing requirements, and managing stakeholder alignment.

Experience with structured content strategy, content modeling, or metadata schema design.

Hands-on experience with AI/ML tools, prompt engineering, or NLP techniques applied to content or taxonomy challenges.

Experience with enterprise content platforms, knowledge management systems, or search optimization.

Experience in a technology company or SaaS environment, ideally with exposure to IT service management or customer support ecosystems.

Master’s degree in information science, library science, UX design, or a related field; or a bachelor’s degree with equivalent additional experience.

For positions in this location, we offer a base pay of $165,500 - $289,600, 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 globaltalentss@servicenow.com 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.

About ServiceNow

Provides a cloud platform for automating enterprise digital workflows.

This page is fully interactive when JavaScript is enabled. Please enable JavaScript to apply or browse related roles.