Associate Director, Software Engineering

Job Overview

The Associate Director, ServiceNow ITSM Transformation & AI Operations will lead the modernization of our Company's IT Service Management capabilities through AI-driven operations, automation, and process transformation. This role is responsible for advancing an intelligent operating model that connects ServiceNow, Ansible, BigPanda, observability platforms, and software development processes to improve service reliability, operational efficiency, and employee experience.

Primary Responsibilities

• Lead the strategy, transformation, and continuous improvement of ITSM processes, including Incident, Problem, Change, Request, and Major Incident Management.
• Drive adoption of AI-powered and Agentic AI solutions to automate service operations, incident resolution, and workflow orchestration.
• Define and implement end-to-end workflows across ServiceNow, BigPanda, observability platforms, and SDLC tools such as Jira, GitHub, and Azure DevOps.
• Partner with Infrastructure, Engineering, Security, Architecture, and Product teams to improve operational resilience and service quality.
• Identify and deliver high-value AI, automation, and AIOps use cases that reduce manual effort and accelerate issue resolution.
• Establish governance, KPIs, and value realization of metrics for AI-enabled service operations.
• Lead cross-functional initiatives and influence stakeholders to drive adoption of future-state operating models.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
• 12+ years of experience in ITSM, IT Operations, or ServiceNow leadership roles.
• ServiceNow certifications (CSA, CAD, CIS, and AI-related modules)
• Strong expertise in ServiceNow ITSM and process transformation.
• Experience with ITOM, Event Management, AIOps, workflow automation, and enterprise integrations.
• Proven ability to lead large-scale transformation initiatives and deliver measurable business outcomes.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with ServiceNow ITOM, CMDB, Service Mapping, AI Control Tower, and AI Agents.
• Experience integrating with BigPanda or similar AIOps platforms.
• Knowledge of Agentic AI, Generative AI, intelligent automation, and autonomous workflows.
• Experience integrating ServiceNow with DevOps and SDLC platforms.
• Experience in a regulated industry such as pharmaceuticals or healthcare.

Success Measures

• Increased automation and AI adoption across IT Operations.
• Reduced incident volume and mean time to resolution (MTTR).
• Improved service reliability and operational efficiency.
• Successful deployment of Agentic AI use cases and autonomous workflows.
• Measurable business value through process modernization and AI-driven transformation.

Additional information

This leadership role will be instrumental in transforming our Company's IT Operations into an AI-enabled, increasingly autonomous service management ecosystem.

Required Skills

Automation, Business Informatics, Business Transformation, Change Management, Computer Science, Data Engineering, Data Visualization, Design Applications, Design for Maintainability, Emotional Resilience, Information Technology (IT), Information Technology Management, Orchestration (Computing), Red Hat Ansible, Service Operations, Software Configurations, Software Development, Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), Solution Architecture, System Designs, System Integration, Systems Automation, Testing, Use Cases, Workflow Automation

Preferred Skills

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US and Puerto Rico Residents Only

• Our company is committed to inclusion, ensuring that candidates can engage in a hiring process that exhibits their true capabilities. Please click here if you need an accommodation during the application or hiring process.
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• We are proud to be a company that embraces the value of bringing together, talented, and committed people with diverse experiences, perspectives, skills and backgrounds.
• The fastest way to breakthrough innovation is when people with diverse ideas, broad experiences, backgrounds, and skills come together in an inclusive environment.
• We encourage our colleagues to respectfully challenge one another’s thinking and approach problems collectively.

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• The primary location for this posting is: USA - New Jersey - Rahway

Pay and benefits

Where required by law, the compensation range for this role is provided below.

The salary range for the primary location of this role is

$142,400.00 - $224,100.00

This range reflects the Company's reasonable expectation of the base salary applicable to this role at the time of posting. An employee’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, government requirements, and business or organizational needs. The successful candidate will be eligible for annual bonus and long-term incentive, if applicable.

We offer a comprehensive package of benefits. Available benefits include medical, dental, vision healthcare and other insurance benefits (for employee and family), retirement benefits, including 401(k), paid holidays, vacation, and compassionate and sick days.

Additional location(s): Please note the salary range above applies to the Primary Location of the position. Where a role has other listed locations, different compensation guidelines may apply. You may find the salary ranges for additional locations below. If the salary range is not listed for the location you are applying to, our Talent Acquisition team will provide further information to you relevant to your location.

Search Firm Representatives Please Read Carefully

Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA, also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, Rahway, NJ, USA, does not accept unsolicited assistance from search firms for employment opportunities. All CVs / resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at our company without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of our company.

No fee will be paid in the event a candidate is hired by our company as a result of an agency referral where no pre-existing agreement is in place. Where agency agreements are in place, introductions are position specific. Please, no phone calls or emails.

Employee Status: Regular

Travel Requirements

Flexible Work Arrangements: Hybrid

Job Posting End Date: 11/30/2026

*A job posting is effective until 11:59:59PM on the day BEFORE the listed job posting end date. Please ensure you apply to a job posting no later than the day BEFORE the job posting end date.