Senior AI Strategist

Senior AI Strategist

Cognizant’s AI Market Unit sits at the intersection of strategy consulting, AI innovation, and enterprise technology services. We design and execute AI-driven reinventions that allow organizations to realize exceptional business value from artificial intelligence. Our mission is to help C-suite executives harness AI as a force to disrupt their industries, capture market share, and unlock sustainable growth.

We combine deep industry expertise with hands-on AI capability—spanning agentic architectures, GenAI, and enterprise ML—to build differentiated offerings that move from concept to commercial impact at speed. We are trusted advisors who shape technology’s role in business strategy, not just its implementation.

A strategy-first thinker who thrives at the intersection of AI capability and business opportunity. You have a consulting mindset: you instinctively structure problems, build hypotheses, pressure-test assumptions, and drive toward actionable recommendations backed by data. You combine strategic rigor with genuine AI literacy—you can articulate how an AI offering solves a specific industry problem and work with engineers and SMEs to ensure the value proposition is technically grounded.

You are energized by shaping offerings that don’t exist yet, by turning market signals and client pain into structured, commercially strong propositions. You are a natural collaborator who can lead cross-functional discussions across service lines, industry teams, and offering leads to build consensus and drive decisions. You thrive in fast-moving environments where the work is high-visibility and directly tied to Cognizant’s AI growth agenda.

The Senior AI Strategist plays a pivotal role in shaping Cognizant’s AI portfolio by designing high-impact AI offerings, building compelling value propositions, and driving offering readiness across the AI Market Unit. This is a strategy and offering development role—you will own the journey from market opportunity identification through offering design, prioritization, and go-to-market enablement.

You will work closely with offering leads, subject matter experts, Cognizant service lines, and industry teams to lead offering discussions, align stakeholders, and ensure offerings are commercially differentiated and delivery-ready. When offerings are brought to clients, you will help prepare client-facing materials and support presentations alongside the account and industry teams.

Offering Strategy & Design

• Lead the design and development of AI-led offerings by synthesizing market signals, competitive intelligence, industry trends, and client demand into structured, commercially viable propositions

• Conduct industry-specific opportunity assessments using frameworks including TAM analysis, competitive landscape mapping, client demand validation, and delivery-readiness scoring

• Define offering roadmaps and prioritization tiers (Launch Ready, In Progress, Early Stage) to guide investment decisions and resource allocation across the AI portfolio

• Build business cases and value narratives that quantify the impact of AI offerings for target industries (banking, healthcare payer, life sciences, and beyond)

• Own the offering bill of materials—ensuring each offering has clearly defined scope, differentiators, delivery model, pricing guidance, and proof points

Cross-Functional Offering Leadership

• Lead offering discussions and workshops across Cognizant service lines, industry verticals, and technology teams to align on offering positioning, scope, and go-to-market approach

• Partner with offering leads and subject matter experts to translate technical AI capabilities into business-oriented value propositions that resonate with industry buyers

• Coordinate with industry teams to ensure offerings are tailored to vertical-specific pain points, regulatory contexts, and competitive dynamics

• Drive stakeholder alignment across multiple functions—bridging the gap between engineering, delivery, industry, and commercial teams to move offerings from concept to market

• Facilitate prioritization and trade-off discussions with senior leadership, using data-driven frameworks to support portfolio investment decisions

Client Enablement & Presentation Support

• Develop executive-ready offering decks, one-pagers, battlecards, and presentation materials that articulate AI offering value in client-facing contexts

• Support account and industry teams in preparing for client meetings by tailoring offering narratives to specific client challenges and industry contexts

• Present AI offerings to clients alongside account teams and offering leads when needed, articulating differentiation and business impact with clarity

• Pressure-test offering assumptions and AI-generated insights using critical judgment, domain knowledge, and rigorous analysis before they reach clients

Thought Leadership & Market Intelligence

• Lead the creation of thought leadership assets—white papers, point-of-view documents, industry briefs—that establish Cognizant’s position as a leading AI strategy advisor

• Monitor and synthesize emerging AI trends, competitive moves, and regulatory developments to inform offering strategy and portfolio direction

• Contribute to internal knowledge capital by codifying frameworks, methodologies, and reusable IP that accelerate future offering development

• Build and maintain a competitive intelligence view of how peers (Accenture, Deloitte, IBM, Capgemini) are positioning their AI offerings

• 7+ years of experience in strategy consulting, technology strategy, AI/digital advisory, or offering/product strategy at a consulting firm, professional services organization, or technology company

• Demonstrated experience designing and developing technology or AI offerings, including defining value propositions, building business cases, and creating go-to-market materials

• Proven ability to lead cross-functional discussions and drive alignment across diverse stakeholder groups (engineering, delivery, industry, commercial)

• Strong analytical skills with experience conducting market assessments, competitive analysis, and quantitative modeling to inform strategic decisions

• Track record of developing executive-ready presentations, offering decks, and thought leadership content for senior audiences

• Strong understanding of the AI/ML landscape including GenAI, agentic AI, LLMs, and enterprise AI platforms

• Excellent communication and facilitation skills—able to synthesize complex technical concepts into clear business narratives

• 3+ years of experience managing or mentoring team members and structuring analytical workstreams

• Bachelor’s degree required

• MBA or equivalent graduate degree from a top-tier program

• Prior experience at a Big 4, MBB, or Tier 1 technology strategy or offering development practice

• Deep domain expertise in one or more priority industries: banking & capital markets, healthcare payer, or life sciences

• Experience with GTM strategy, offering launch, or product management in a B2B enterprise context

• Exposure to hyperscaler ecosystems (AWS, Azure, GCP) and AI platform partner models

• Track record of published thought leadership (articles, speaking engagements, industry reports)

• Ability to evaluate AI-generated outputs critically, with an understanding of data limitations, model risk, and bias

• Familiarity with offering lifecycle frameworks, RACI models, and portfolio prioritization methodologies

Salary and Other Compensation:

Applications will be accepted until July 30, 2026

The annual base salary for this position is between $150,000 - $175,000 depending on experience and other qualifications of the successful candidate.

This position is also eligible for Cognizant’s discretionary annual incentive program, based on performance and subject to the terms of Cognizant’s applicable plans.

Benefits: Cognizant offers the following benefits for this position, subject to applicable eligibility requirements:

• Medical/Dental/Vision/Life Insurance
• Paid holidays plus Paid Time Off
• 401(k) plan and contributions
• Long-term/Short-term Disability
• Paid Parental Leave
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Disclaimer: The salary, other compensation, and benefits 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.

What we offer

• The chance to work with impact. Here, you’re empowered to bring your biggest thinking to help our company and clients improve everyday life.
• Ownership over your career. Stay at the top of your game through our award-winning learning and development ecosystem. And when your ambitions change or we offer new opportunities, we help you pivot by providing reskilling, on-the-job learning and guidance to find new roles that might be a better fit.
• The opportunity to thrive on a high caliber team with heart. We celebrate each other’s experiences and perspectives and promote a sense of belonging through our affinity groups and diversity and inclusion initiatives.
• A comprehensive total rewards package, including a competitive salary and a pension plan with matching contributions.
• Flexible health and financial benefits to support you and your eligible dependents—from day one.
• True work-life balance. Be at your best through paid time off, flexible work arrangements, volunteering opportunities, social events, and so much more.  

About us
Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH) is an AI Builder and technology services provider, building the bridge 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, realize tangible returns and keep global enterprises ahead in a fast-changing world. See how at www.cognizant.com or @cognizant.

Other employment-related information
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, provincial or local laws.

If you have a disability that requires reasonable accommodation to search for a job opening or submit an application, please email [email protected] with your request and contact information.

Language requirements vary depending on roles, but we ask that all candidates have basic English proficiency for company-wide communications purposes. For roles based in Quebec, professional English proficiency is required, as you’ll deliver services to and collaborate with stakeholders outside the province who may not speak French.