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AI Value Architect

00070407132

Job Summary :

The AI Value Architect owns the AI value journey for a business area (for example Revenue and Commercial, Operations and Guest, or Finance, HR and Cargo) end to end: all the AI we build and run to create value there. You are an elevated technical product leader who sits between the business and the engineers: you turn business needs into a prioritized backlog, lead a standing squad, and still build alongside them. This is a leadership role, not a facilitation one. You are the AI counterpart to the business area’s leadership, and you align AI efforts across squads so the whole vertical compounds rather than fragments.

Accountabilities & Responsibilities

  • Own the value, not just the delivery. Start from the business outcome and the why, then lead your squad from discovery to production and measurable impact.
  • Own the AI value journey for your business area single-threaded: one owner, one set of outcomes, and clear accountability to the business.
  • Translate business needs into a prioritized AI backlog with your Business Product Owner, and make the calls on what to build, what to defer, and what not to build.
  • Lead a standing squad of Forward Deployed AI Engineers, set the technical direction, and keep quality, evaluation, security and cost on track.
  • Stay hands-on: code alongside the team, review, and shape the agentic architecture. No overhead, everyone builds, the AI Value Architect included.
  • Define the success measures, feedback loops and validation gates for your business area’s AI work, and build the measurement discipline to show the business impact of the AI investment.
  • Run tight feedback loops and take a systems view across the delivery lifecycle: know when to adjust, redesign or pivot, and balance your squad’s capacity between building reusable AI capability and delivering with it.
  • Align AI efforts across business areas and squads: find synergies, reuse patterns, surface and unlock underused capability, and prevent parallel reinvention, on the Hub’s paved road and MCP fabric.
  • Be the AI counterpart to your business area’s leadership: build trust, manage expectations on cost, performance and feasibility, and turn AI into outcomes the business owns.
  • Coach and grow your squad and business partners on effective and responsible AI use, lift the business area’s AI fluency over time, and build lasting AI expertise in a standing team rather than project-hopping.
  • Protect the guest and the operation: keep solutions human-centric and speak up when AI is not the right tool.

Education & Experience

  • We look for a technical product leader who pairs deep business understanding with hands-on agentic-AI engineering and owns outcomes end to end:
  • Deep business understanding: you sit with senior stakeholders as a credible peer and turn business goals into AI outcomes, ideally in aviation or a comparable operations-heavy domain.
  • Hands-on engineering: you have built and shipped agentic AI and production software yourself, and you still code alongside your squad. This is a build-first leader, not a manager who has left the tools behind. You keep your own AI
  • fluency current and stay close to new AI capabilities relevant to your business area, so your advice carries weight.
  • Single-threaded ownership: a track record of owning a product or an end-to-end outcome from discovery through production to measurable business impact.
  • Experience leading, coaching and growing a small technical team, and setting direction on architecture, quality, evaluation, security and cost.
  • Strong grasp of the agentic AI stack the squads run on: LLM orchestration, tool calling, RAG, MCP integrations, guardrails, evaluation, and the trade-offs of latency, quality, cost and reliability.
  • A record of aligning work across teams, defining success measures and feedback loops, and turning scattered efforts into reusable patterns and shared platforms.
  • Curiosity and a business-first, human-centric mindset: aviation is made for humans, by humans, and AI supports people, it does not replace them. Fluent English, comfortable in a culturally diverse, international team.
  • Typically 8+ years across software and AI, including hands-on GenAI and LLM work and time owning delivery. A natural next step for a Forward Deployed AI Engineer (Technical Lead) who has grown into business ownership.
  • Master’s degree, or a strong Bachelor’s degree, in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Science, AI/ML or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience; relevant cloud-AI, GenAI, agentic-AI or MLOps certifications are an advantage.

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About Cognizant: 
Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH) is an AI Builder and technology services provider, bridging the gap between AI investment and enterprise value by building full-stack AI solutions for our clients. Our deep industry, process and engineering expertise enables us to build an organization’s unique context into technology systems that amplify human potential, drive tangible outcomes and keep global enterprises ahead in a fast-changing world. See how at cognizant.ai or @cognizant.

Additional employment information
Compensation information is accurate as of the date of this posting. Cognizant reserves the right to modify this information at any time, subject to applicable law.

Applicants may be required to attend interviews in person or by video conference. In addition, candidates may be required to present their current state or government issued ID during each interview.

Cognizant is an equal opportunity employer. Your application and candidacy will not be considered based on race, color, sex, religion, creed, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

Benefits that help you thrive and grow

Our benefits program is built with you in mind—so you can enjoy a fulfilling, balanced and healthy life.

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Financial wellbeing

We regularly review market data to ensure compensation reflects the value you bring. Your benefits extend beyond pay and may include retirement plans, financial education, etc.

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Physical and mental health

We empower you to prioritize your wellbeing through paid time off, flexible working where possible, healthcare plans, counselling, our Mental Health Allyship program and more. 

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Your career, your way

With 350,000+ roles at Cognizant, you’ll have opportunities explore new technologies, industries and locations—and build the skills you need to grow your career.

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Real-world impact

Think about the biggest brands you rely on. Chances are, they rely on us to help strengthen their business. Here, you’ll turn bold ideas into solutions that improve lives everywhere.

Your path to Cognizant

Here’s what you can expect from our hiring process. Please keep in mind that it may vary by role and location. Explore our FAQs to learn more.

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Step 1: Apply to the right opportunity

Find an open role that matches your skills and career goals and show us why you’re the person for the job. Don’t see the right opportunity? Consider joining our Talent Community.

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Step 2: Connect with your recruiter

If one of our recruiters sees a fit, they’ll set up a short intro call to learn more about you and how your experiences and skills match the role.

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Step 3: Show off your skills

If you and our team would like to continue the process, you’ll interview with our hiring team. Some roles may also require technical assessments and/or client interviews.

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Step 4: Decision time

Our team will then review each candidates’ potential to succeed in the role. This step may take some time because we want to find the right fit for both you and us—but you can count on us to keep you updated.

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Cognizant has given me the opportunity to thrive as a leader and as a person. The culture of recognition, the great benefits and the sense of community motivate me, and I strive to give my best every day.
Decree Olam Team Leader - Intuitive Operations & Automation
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Cognizant has one of the best learning ecosystems you can ask for. From sponsored certifications to training platforms to mentorship, we have all that we need to grow.
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I have the privilege of working with an amazing, diverse team with loads of international experience. It’s inspiring when we all bring our different thinking, skills and experience together to deliver great things.
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