Director/Associate Director - ServiceNow Architect
KPMG in Qatar
Role:Director/Associate Director - ServiceNow Architect
About KPMG CASA
This role is a regional role within KPMG CASA, based in Qatar, Bahrain or Kuwait, with regular travel across the CASA member firms.
KPMG CASA brings together KPMG's member firms in Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, the Caspian region and Sri Lanka into one cluster, so that clients across the Gulf, Central Asia and South Asia are served by one team to one standard.
KPMG has been established in the Gulf for decades, in Qatar since 1977, and each member firm is locally led and among the largest professional services firms in its market. Our firms provide Audit, Tax and Advisory services locally, drawing on the latest thinking and best practice from across the KPMG global network.
We recruit the best and brightest from around the world and move people and expertise between member firms, so this role can be based in Qatar, Bahrain or Kuwait and will work with clients across the cluster.
Business Unit Overview
KPMG's Advisory practice is one of the largest Advisory businesses worldwide and the major growth area for our organization. We work with clients to identify and tackle their challenges in Growth, Governance and Performance, supporting them as they restructure, modernise and expand.
Within Advisory, the Technology & Alliances practice for the CASA cluster (Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Caspian region and Sri Lanka) brings together KPMG's business advisory DNA and our strategic alliances with ServiceNow and Microsoft. The practice shapes and delivers large transformation programmes for government, energy and financial services clients, drawing on KPMG member firms across the region and the KPMG Delivery Network for delivery capacity.
Role Overview
We are looking for a ServiceNow Architect to lead the technical shape of our ServiceNow pursuits and anchor the platform architecture of the programmes we win across the CASA cluster. The role is regional and can be based in Qatar, Bahrain or Kuwait. The Architect is KPMG's senior ServiceNow authority in front of clients and ServiceNow during the sales cycle, and the design authority once a programme is mobilised.
The role combines presales leadership (C-level presentations, proposals, demonstrations and estimates) with deep platform architecture across the ServiceNow workflows: IT workflows (ITSM, ITOM, ITAM), Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM), Core Business Suite (CBS) and Global Business Services (GBS), Customer workflows, Risk (IRM/GRC), App Engine and ServiceNow AI (Now Assist, AI Agents and AI Control Tower). It requires the breadth to position the whole platform, the depth to defend a design in front of ServiceNow's own architects, and the commercial judgement to shape deals that KPMG can deliver profitably.
Primary Job Responsibilities & Accountabilities
Presales and Deal Shaping
Lead the solution strategy for ServiceNow pursuits from qualification to contract: discovery workshops, platform roadmap, target architecture, implementation approach, licensing alignment and commercial model.
Prepare and deliver C-level presentations and executive briefings that connect the client's business outcomes (service quality, cost, risk, employee and citizen experience) to the proposed ServiceNow and AI architecture.
Own the technical sections of proposals and RFP/RFI/RFQ responses: solution description, platform architecture, scope and assumptions, data migration and integration approach, delivery plan and risk register.
Position ServiceNow as the backbone of Global Business Services (GBS) and shared-services operating models, working with KPMG's advisory teams on the target operating model, service catalogue, business case and transition plan.
Design and run demonstrations, proofs of value and pilots on ServiceNow personal developer instances or partner demo environments, tailored to the client's processes and data, including Now Assist and AI Agent scenarios.
Produce bottom-up effort estimates by application and release, resource plans and licence (subscription) recommendations, and defend them in internal pricing and risk reviews.
Shape competitive positioning against other platforms and system integrators, and articulate KPMG's differentiation of advisory-led, outcome-based ServiceNow delivery.
ServiceNow Alliance Engagement
Act as the day-to-day technical counterpart to ServiceNow account executives, solution consultants, Partner Managers and ServiceNow Impact teams on joint pursuits.
Drive co-sell: align on account plans, leverage ServiceNow partner programmes, pursue joint demos and reference wins.
Maintain KPMG's standing in the ServiceNow Partner Program: product line achievements, certified headcount, customer satisfaction and specialisations.
Platform Architecture
Define target platform architectures across ITSM, ITOM (Discovery, Service Mapping, Event Management), ITAM (HAM/SAM), SPM, Core Business Suite (HR, finance, procurement, legal and workplace service delivery), GBS shared-services operating models, Customer Service Management, IRM/GRC, App Engine and Now Assist, including the CMDB and CSDM data model, integration layer and security model.
Produce high-level and detailed design documents, integration specifications (IntegrationHub, REST/SOAP, MID Server) and non-functional requirements that delivery teams and the KPMG Delivery Network can build from without re-work.
Govern platform health: instance strategy, upgrade approach, technical debt and out-of-the-box-first configuration standards, in line with ServiceNow best practice.
Advise on hosting, data residency and AI governance for ServiceNow in regulated GCC environments, including the implications for Now Assist and generative AI features.
AI and Now Assist
Lead AI envisioning and use-case prioritisation workshops: map Now Assist skills and AI Agent use cases to the client's workflows and rank them by value, data readiness and risk.
Design agentic architectures on the ServiceNow AI Platform: Now Assist across ITSM, CSM, HRSD, SPM and Creator; AI Agents built in AI Agent Studio and coordinated by the AI Agent Orchestrator; cross-system agent interaction through AI Agent Fabric (MCP and A2A); all grounded on the Workflow Data Fabric and a trustworthy CMDB/CSDM.
Define the client's AI governance model with the AI Control Tower: discovery, observation, governance, security and value measurement of AI agents across ServiceNow and third-party platforms, including Microsoft Agent 365 and Copilot agents.
Demonstrate AI in the client's context: Now Assist and AI Agent proofs of value on partner instances with the client's data, processes and knowledge.
Advise on LLM choice, data residency and where AI processing runs for regulated GCC clients, and on the controls regulators, CISOs and risk functions will expect.
Size and price AI: Now Assist and AI Agent subscription models, assist and usage estimates, and the value case per use case.
Work with ServiceNow's AI specialist and partner teams on joint AI pursuits and co-innovation, and bring KPMG's AI assets and accelerators into the solution.
Delivery Assurance
Carry the solution from pursuit into delivery: lead the hand-over to delivery and KPMG Delivery Network teams and remain design authority through mobilisation and key design decisions.
Validate architecture deliverables, run design reviews and risk analysis on in-flight programmes, and intervene when implementations drift from the sold design or from platform best practice.
Practice Development
Build reusable assets: reference architectures, demo kits, estimation models, proposal boilerplate and KPMG accelerators for the CASA ServiceNow practice.
Coach consultants and developers, and help grow a certified ServiceNow bench across the CASA member firms and the KPMG Delivery Network.
Stay current on the ServiceNow release roadmap, especially the AI portfolio (Now Assist, AI Agents, AI Control Tower, Autonomous Workforce), and translate new capabilities into KPMG offerings for government, energy and financial services clients.
Qualification and Experience
Education
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology or a related field. A Master's degree or MBA is a plus.
Experience
10+ years in technology consulting or enterprise software delivery, of which 6+ years on the ServiceNow platform.
Architect-level ownership of at least three end-to-end ServiceNow implementations spanning two or more workflow families (for example ITSM plus ITOM, SPM or HRSD), at a ServiceNow partner, system integrator or consulting firm.
3+ years in a presales or solution-lead role with a track record of shaping and winning ServiceNow deals above USD 1 million, including presenting to CIO, CTO, CFO and board-level audiences.
Proven experience leading the technical response to complex RFPs for government, energy or financial services clients, and producing architecture documents, estimates and licence recommendations.
Experience working with ServiceNow account and partner teams on joint pursuits.
Experience in the GCC, with exposure to data residency, sovereign hosting and public-sector procurement, is strongly preferred.
Technical Skills
IT workflows (ITx): ITSM (incident, problem, change, request, knowledge, Service Operations Workspace), ITOM (Discovery, Service Mapping, Event Management, Cloud Management), ITAM (Hardware and Software Asset Management) and the CMDB on the Common Service Data Model (CSDM).
Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM): demand, project and portfolio management, agile development, resource and financial planning, alignment planning.
Core Business Suite (CBS): HR Service Delivery, Finance Case Management, Procurement Case Management, Legal Service Delivery and Workplace Service Delivery, Employee Center and Employee Journey Management.
Global Business Services (GBS): designing ServiceNow as the shared-services platform for a GBS operating model, including the enterprise service catalogue, multi-function case management, SLAs, chargeback and service performance reporting.
ServiceNow AI: Now Assist (ITSM, CSM, HRSD, SPM, Creator, Now Assist Skill Kit, Now Assist in Virtual Agent), AI Agents (AI Agent Studio, AI Agent Orchestrator, AI Agent Fabric with MCP and A2A), AI Control Tower, Workflow Data Fabric and Knowledge Graph, Autonomous Workforce, integration with Microsoft Foundry / Copilot and other enterprise LLMs, AI governance and data-residency controls.
Wider platform: Customer Service Management, Integrated Risk Management / GRC, Security Operations and App Engine (low-code and custom applications).
Platform engineering: platform architecture and instance strategy, security model and ACLs, scripting (JavaScript, Glide), IntegrationHub, REST/SOAP and MID Server integration, Performance Analytics and reporting, upgrade and release management, ServiceNow DevOps / source control.
Methods: ServiceNow Now Create and Success methodology, ITIL 4, Agile and hybrid delivery, Azure DevOps or Jira.
Certifications
CSA plus at least two Certified Implementation Specialist (CIS) certifications are required. CTA or CMA is strongly preferred; a candidate on the architect pathway (ArchX) with a committed completion date will be considered.
Foundation (required): ServiceNow Certified System Administrator (CSA); Certified Application Developer (CAD) a plus
IT workflows (ITx): CIS-ITSM, CIS-ITOM (Discovery / Event Management), CIS-HAM or CIS-SAM; CIS-Data Foundation (CIS-DF), now a prerequisite for the main CIS tracks
SPM: CIS-SPM (Strategic Portfolio Management)
Core Business Suite (CBS): CIS-HRSD; related ServiceNow product micro-certifications (Legal, Procurement, Workplace) a plus
AI: ServiceNow AI micro-certifications and accreditations (Now Assist, AI Agent Studio, AI Control Tower) strongly preferred
Other workflows (plus): CIS-CSM, CIS-Risk and Compliance
Architect (strongly preferred): ServiceNow Certified Technical Architect (CTA) or Certified Master Architect (CMA)
Industry: ITIL 4 Foundation required; TOGAF a plus
Core Competencies
Executive communication: Presents platform architecture and roadmaps to C-level audiences in business terms; writes proposals that are clear, concise and persuasive.
Commercial acumen: Shapes deals that are winnable, deliverable and profitable; understands ServiceNow subscription models, scoping levers and partner economics.
Stakeholder engagement: Builds trust quickly with client executives, ServiceNow counterparts and KPMG partners across Advisory, Tax and Audit.
Collaboration: Works effectively across KPMG member firms, the KPMG Delivery Network and alliance partners in a multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural team.
Analytical thinking: Translates ambiguous business requirements into practical, scalable and maintainable platform designs that stay close to out-of-the-box.
AI fluency: Explains what Now Assist and AI Agents can and cannot do for a client's business, and designs for value, governance and adoption rather than novelty.
Ownership: Carries a solution from first conversation through contract and into delivery, and is accountable for what was sold.
Languages: Fluent English is required; Arabic is a strong plus for client-facing work across the GCC.
