Lead Developer - ServiceNow IRM

Key Skills

ServiceNow IRM | Risk Management | GRC | Flow Designer | Business Rules | Script Includes | REST APIs | IntegrationHub | Performance Analytics | Case Management | Operational Risk | Risk & Controls | AFC | Agile | ServiceNow Development

Role Purpose

The Lead Developer – ServiceNow IRM will lead the technical design, development, configuration, and ongoing enhancement of ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management (IRM) solutions supporting Anti-Financial Crime (AFC) and Operational Risk & Controls capabilities.

This is a senior, hands-on development role requiring deep practical expertise across the ServiceNow IRM product suite, including risk, control, issue, action, assessment, evidence, case, and workflow management capabilities.

The role holder will enhance existing IRM workflows, design and implement new workflows, manage development environments, challenge third-party requirements and designs, and provide technical leadership to the wider development team.

Key Responsibilities

ServiceNow IRM Development

• Lead the design, configuration, and development of solutions using ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management.
  
• Remain hands-on across configuration, scripting, workflow design, testing, deployment, and production support.
  
• Build and enhance IRM capabilities covering:
  
  • Risk identification and assessment
    
  • Control definition, ownership, and testing
    
  • Issues, findings, and remediation actions
    
  • Operational events
    
  • Evidence collection and attestation
    
  • Policy and compliance workflows
    
  • Case management
    
  • Risk and control reporting
    
• Configure and extend IRM data models, records, forms, relationships, user experiences, assessment methodologies, indicators, scoring models, and control evaluation logic.
  
• Design workflows using Flow Designer, decision logic, approvals, tasks, notifications, escalations, and service-level controls.
  
• Develop dashboards, reports, and management information for AFC and Operational Risk & Controls stakeholders.
  
• Support integrations between ServiceNow IRM and upstream/downstream systems using REST APIs, IntegrationHub, and appropriate integration patterns.
  
• Diagnose and resolve defects, data issues, performance problems, and production incidents affecting IRM workflows.
  

Workflow and Case Management

• Maintain and enhance existing AFC and Operational Risk & Controls workflows, ensuring changes are introduced safely and with appropriate regression coverage.
  
• Design new case types and workflow patterns to support investigations, assessments, reviews, escalations, remediation, and closure.
  
• Ensure workflows provide clear ownership, status management, auditability, evidence capture, and end-to-end traceability.
  
• Design effective routing, prioritisation, service-level tracking, exception handling, and escalation mechanisms.
  
• Identify opportunities to simplify, standardise, and automate manual processes through ServiceNow IRM.
  

Technical Leadership

• Lead the ServiceNow IRM development team within an Agile delivery environment, while remaining directly involved in delivery.
  
• Provide day-to-day technical direction, coaching, and support to developers and configuration specialists.
  
• Establish and maintain development, configuration, design, and documentation standards.
  
• Conduct code, configuration, and solution design reviews, ensuring work is appropriately estimated, documented, tested, and deployed.
  
• Guide team members through complex IRM configuration and workflow challenges.
  
• Promote the reuse of standard IRM capabilities, minimise unnecessary customisation, and actively manage technical debt.
  
• Build internal capability and reduce dependency on individual developers or third-party suppliers.
  

Requirements and Design Assurance

• Work with Product Owners, Business Analysts, and stakeholders to translate business, regulatory, and control requirements into robust ServiceNow IRM designs.
  
• Review and challenge requirements that are incomplete, inconsistent, operationally unclear, or misaligned with IRM capabilities.
  
• Assess whether requirements should be met through standard configuration, extension, integration, or process change.
  
• Review and challenge third-party requirements, designs, and technical deliverables.
  
• Identify design defects, gaps, unnecessary complexity, unsupported customisation, and technical debt.
  
• Ensure designs use standard ServiceNow IRM functionality appropriately rather than recreating capabilities through bespoke development.
  
• Provide clear recommendations where the platform has constraints or where requirements conflict with good IRM design practices.
  
• Ensure designs address security, data quality, auditability, performance, resilience, and supportability.
  

Platform and Environment Management

• Configure, maintain, and support ServiceNow IRM development, test, and production environments.
  
• Manage scoped applications, configuration, update sets, source control, release packages, and deployment activities.
  
• Maintain appropriate environment controls, access restrictions, and segregation of duties.
  
• Support IRM platform upgrades, store application updates, patches, regression testing, and release impact assessments.
  
• Maintain technical documentation, configuration records, deployment instructions, and support procedures.
  
• Ensure environment stability and consistency across the development lifecycle, including production validation and post-implementation assurance.
  

Agile Delivery and Stakeholder Engagement

• Lead development activity through backlog refinement, sprint planning, daily stand-ups, reviews, and retrospectives.
  
• Support Product Owners in shaping and prioritising the IRM product backlog and converting requirements into development-ready stories.
  
• Produce reliable estimates, identify technical dependencies and risks, and coordinate development, testing, defect resolution, and deployment.
  
• Work closely with AFC, Operational Risk & Controls, Compliance, Technology, and Operations stakeholders.
  
• Explain ServiceNow IRM capabilities, configuration options, product limitations, and design trade-offs in clear business language.
  
• Demonstrate new capabilities, prototypes, and workflow enhancements, while managing stakeholder expectations transparently.
  

Governance, Risk and Controls

• Ensure ServiceNow IRM solutions meet requirements for security, privacy, resilience, and auditability.
  
• Embed appropriate access controls, workflow approvals, evidence capture, record traceability, and audit trails.
  
• Ensure risk, control, issue, and action records remain complete, accurate, and supportable.
  
• Support governance over configuration changes and production deployments.
  
• Support internal audit, assurance, and regulatory evidence requests relating to IRM workflows.
  
• Ensure production issues and control weaknesses are remediated promptly and sustainably.
  

Required Experience and Capabilities

• Significant hands-on experience designing and developing ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management (IRM) solutions.
  
• Strong knowledge of ServiceNow IRM architecture, data structures, and workflow capabilities.
  
• Practical experience across multiple IRM areas, such as:
  • Risk Management
    
  • Policy and Compliance Management
    
  • Audit Management
    
  • Operational Risk Management
    
  • Regulatory Change Management
    
  • Business Continuity Management
    
  • Third-Party Risk Management
    
• Experience configuring risk and control frameworks, assessments, indicators, issues, findings, and remediation actions.
  
• Experience designing case management and workflow solutions within ServiceNow IRM.
  
• Strong technical knowledge of:
  • Flow Designer
    
  • Business Rules
    
  • Script Includes
    
  • Client Scripts
    
  • UI Policies and Actions
    
  • Access Control Lists (ACLs)
    
  • ServiceNow tables and data models
    
  • Notifications and approvals
    
  • Reporting and Performance Analytics
    
  • REST APIs
    
  • IntegrationHub
    
• Experience enhancing and supporting live, business-critical IRM workflows and designing new workflows based on business, regulatory, and control requirements.
  
• Strong understanding of environment management, release management, and controlled deployment practices.
  
• Experience reviewing and challenging third-party requirements, designs, and development outputs.
  
• Experience leading developers and providing technical coaching and oversight within Agile delivery teams.
  
• Ability to explain complex ServiceNow IRM capabilities and limitations to non-technical stakeholders.
  
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and production support skills.
  

Required Certifications

• ServiceNow Certified System Administrator (CSA)
  
• ServiceNow Certified Implementation Specialist – Risk and Compliance