Novaworks Launches AI-Native Core HR Operating System for Total Workforce Management — Built on ServiceNow
HR Tech / Agentic AI & Workforce Management | 5 min read
Novaworks, the AI-native provider of a Core HR operating system for Total Workforce Management, has announced the launch of its Core HR SuperAgent, Special Agents, and Policy Advisor — a suite of tools designed to unify processes for employees, contractors, and AI agents within a single operating layer built on ServiceNow's enterprise AI infrastructure. The launch was unveiled at ServiceNow's annual Knowledge 2026 conference in Las Vegas and marks the company's first major public demonstration since its March 2026 founding — signalling that the AI-native layer for Total Workforce Management is not a future state but is already in active implementation with enterprise customers.
The Problem — Legacy HCM Was Built for a Workforce That No Longer Exists
The modern enterprise workforce has fundamentally changed. Organisations today manage a complex mix of full-time employees, contractors, deskless workers, and AI agents — yet most of the systems they rely on were architected for a static, human-only workforce that no longer reflects operational reality. Legacy HCM platforms were built to manage HR transactions, not to orchestrate outcomes across a blended, intelligent workforce. Novaworks was built specifically to solve this problem — not by retrofitting AI onto legacy architecture, but by building a new operating layer from the ground up, natively embedded in the ServiceNow platform.
The architectural logic is deliberate: ServiceNow provides the enterprise workflow infrastructure and AI platform; Novaworks provides the HR intelligence layer on top of it. Critically, the platform is designed to be additive — it extends and enhances existing ServiceNow investments rather than replacing them, giving enterprise customers a lower-risk path to AI-native workforce management without disrupting current technology deployments.
"This product enables a new operating model for both the company and HR. When you can derive context from every aspect of your workforce, you can scale hyper-personalization across the enterprise. HR stops managing transactions and starts orchestrating outcomes."
— Kelley Steven-Waiss, CEO and Co-Founder, Novaworks
Three Operating Layers — The Core HR OS in Detail
The Novaworks platform is organised into three distinct layers, each addressing a different dimension of Total Workforce Management:
- Nova HR Concierge — converts HR centres of excellence into agentic workflows. Functions that have historically required coordination across multiple teams — including onboarding, performance, benefits, and workforce transitions — are now delivered by agents with built-in guardrails and full visibility through ServiceNow's AI Control Tower. Organisations maintain governance without sacrificing speed.
- Nova Special Agents — deliver hyper-personalised experiences at the individual level. Where legacy systems offered identical experiences to all workers, Novaworks provides a tailored experience for each person — whether a full-time employee, a contractor, or a deskless worker who has never had meaningful access to enterprise HR services. The experience is contextual, consistent, and driven by what the worker actually needs.
- Nova Policy Advisor — transforms compliance from a reactive function into a proactive one, giving HR and legal teams real-time policy guidance embedded directly in the workflow rather than siloed in a separate system.
AI is routed through Now Assist, and agent governance and visibility are managed through ServiceNow's AI Control Tower — giving CEOs and CFOs a board-defensible AI transformation story grounded in enterprise-grade governance infrastructure that is already in place.
Built for HR and IT — Early Adoption Already Underway
Novaworks is purposefully built to serve two distinct internal customers simultaneously. For HR leaders, it delivers compliance, employee experience, and operational efficiency. For IT leaders, it delivers security, governance, and technology consolidation — all within the trusted ServiceNow environment. This dual mandate is a significant differentiator in a market where most HR platforms are optimised for one side of the house at the expense of the other.
Among the first organisations implementing the Novaworks platform is Ateko — a ServiceNow Elite Partner and Bell Canada company serving enterprise clients across financial services, telecommunications, and government. Ateko's experience with the platform surfaced workforce complexity in its own operations that had not previously been quantified — a finding that underscores both the depth of the platform's analytical capability and the operational blind spots that most legacy systems leave unaddressed.
"Managing a workforce that now includes employees, contractors, and AI agents is a real operational challenge at enterprise scale, and most of the systems organizations rely on were not built for it. What drew us to Novaworks is that they are building from the actual problem. The implementation process surfaced workforce complexity in our own operations that we had not previously quantified."
— Lukas Lhotsky, President, Ateko
Founding Team, Funding, and the Road Ahead
Novaworks was co-founded by Kelley Steven-Waiss and Eswar Vandanapu — two operators who previously built and sold Hitch Works, Inc. to ServiceNow in 2022, giving them rare insider knowledge of the platform they are now building on top of. Steven-Waiss subsequently served as Chief Transformation Officer at ServiceNow before returning to entrepreneurship to build the next layer. They are joined by Melanie Lougee, formerly VP of Vision and Experience at Workday, as Chief Product Officer, and the company has appointed former President of SAP SuccessFactors Meg Bear to its Board of Directors — an advisory bench that spans the full competitive landscape of enterprise HR.
The company launched in March 2026 with an $8 million seed round led by Stalwart Ventures, with strategic co-investment from ServiceNow Ventures and Bell Ventures — a funding syndicate that signals both commercial and platform-level conviction in the Novaworks thesis. Funds are being deployed across product development, team expansion, and enterprise customer acquisition. For more information, visit novaworks.ai.
Key Takeaways
- • Novaworks has launched its Core HR SuperAgent, Special Agents, and Policy Advisor at ServiceNow's Knowledge 2026 conference — an AI-native operating system that unifies employees, contractors, and AI agents within a single workforce management layer built on ServiceNow's enterprise AI infrastructure.
- • The platform has three operating layers: Nova HR Concierge (converts HR centres of excellence into agentic workflows with ServiceNow AI Control Tower governance), Nova Special Agents (hyper-personalised experiences for every worker type), and Nova Policy Advisor (proactive compliance guidance embedded in the workflow).
- • Architecture is deliberately additive: ServiceNow handles enterprise workflow infrastructure and AI; Novaworks adds the HR intelligence layer on top — extending existing customer investments rather than replacing them. AI routed through Now Assist; governance via ServiceNow's AI Control Tower.
- • Ateko (ServiceNow Elite Partner; Bell Canada company; serves financial services, telco, and government) is among the first enterprise implementations, with early results already surfacing previously unquantified workforce complexity.
- • Founded by Kelley Steven-Waiss and Eswar Vandanapu (who previously built and sold Hitch Works to ServiceNow in 2022), with CPO Melanie Lougee (ex-Workday) and board member Meg Bear (former President, SAP SuccessFactors). Backed by an $8M seed round led by Stalwart Ventures, with strategic investment from ServiceNow Ventures and Bell Ventures.