Leading at Cognizant
This is a Leadership role at Cognizant. We believe how you lead is as important as what you deliver. Cognizant leaders at every level: Drive our business strategy and inspire teams around our future. Live the leadership behaviors, leading themselves, others and the business. Uphold our Values, role modeling them in every action and decision. Nurture our people and culture, creating a workplace where all can thrive.
At Cognizant, leadership transcends titles and is embodied in actions and behaviors. We empower our leaders at every level to drive business strategy, inspire teams, uphold our values, and foster an inclusive culture.
About the role
As a Senior Partner Consulting, AI, you will define the direction for enterprise-scale GenAI adoption while leading critical client relationships with strong technical credibility. You will engage C-suite stakeholders on strategy, value realization, and risk, and bring depth in architecture decisions (LLMs, RAG, context engineering, agentic patterns, security, and integration) to guide teams toward reliable, production-grade outcomes.
You will be a key member of the Enterprise AI Consulting team, collaborating closely with Managing Partners, enterprise architects, engineering teams, and clients to deliver impactful, scalable solutions.
In this role, you will:
Own senior client relationships and executive forums; shape GenAI strategy, roadmaps, and investment cases tied to measurable outcomes.
Define end-to-end reference architectures for enterprise AI (LLM platform choices, RAG & context architecture, agent frameworks, integration, security, governance) and ensure they are adopted consistently across programs.
Lead portfolio shaping: identify repeatable offerings, accelerators, and GTM narratives; sponsor thought leadership and IP creation.
Set the operating model for delivery: governance, quality gates, Responsible AI controls, and production readiness standards (LLMOps/GenAIOps).
Serve as the escalation point for complex architecture or delivery risks; guide teams through trade-offs in latency, cost, safety, and enterprise constraints.
Build and lead senior, multi-disciplinary teams across strategy, architecture, data, engineering, and change management.
Stay hands-on enough to challenge designs and review critical artifacts (architecture, evaluation strategy, context/RAG approach), while delegating implementation depth to delivery leaders.
Consistently demonstrate the Cognizant Way to Lead, which means operating with Personal Leadership (building trust, collaboration, and inclusion), Organizational Leadership (driving vision and purpose, demonstrating a strategicand enterprise mindset, and creating and communicating a bold direction that inspires purpose), and Business Leadership (exemplifying client focus, managing ambiguity with accountability and results, and operating with financial acumen).
What you need to have to be considered
15+ years in technology consulting, enterprise architecture, and large-scale program leadership with significant client-facing accountability.
Track record leading enterprise transformations (ERP/SCM/CRM, modernization, cloud) and translating them into an AI-enabled operating model.
Executive stakeholder management experience (CIO/CTO/CDO/COO) including steering committees, value tracking, and risk/compliance discussions.
Ability to build and scale teams and offerings: hiring, coaching, partner ecosystems, GTM, and reusable assets.
Strong working knowledge of LLMs, RAG, context engineering, agentic design patterns, and evaluation approaches sufficient to guide architecture and review delivery quality.
Experience selecting and governing enterprise AI platforms (model providers, vector stores, orchestration, guardrails), balancing cost, latency, safety, and compliance.
Deep familiarity with Responsible AI, security (prompt injection, data leakage), governance, and enterprise risk frameworks for AI systems.
Comfort guiding teams on architecture for secure deployment (networking, identity, data residency, observability, LLMOps) across cloud and hybrid environments.
Strong prompt and context engineering: system prompts, structured outputs, tool-use prompting, and context assembly patterns.
Experience building agentic systems with orchestration frameworks (or custom implementations) and designing safe tool integrations.
Embodiment of the Cognizant Way to Lead: Leading Self, Leading Others, & Leading the Business.
Embodiment of Cognizant’s Values: Work as One, Dare to Innovate, Raise the Bar, Do the Right Thing, & Own It.
These will help you succeed
MBA, M.Tech, or equivalent advanced degree; certifications in cloud (AWS/Azure/GCP) or AI platforms.
Domain depth in one or more industries: financial services, manufacturing, retail, healthcare, or public sector.
Experience with frameworks such as TOGAF, SAFe, or industry-specific architecture bodies.
Published thought leadership, conference presentations, or active participation in AI/tech communities.
Work model – We believe hybrid work is the way forward as we strive to provide flexibility wherever possible. Based on this role’s business requirements, this is a hybrid position requiring 3 days a week in a client or Cognizant office. Regardless of your working arrangement, we are here to support a healthy work-life balance though our various wellbeing programs.
The working arrangements for this role are accurate as of the date of posting. This may change based on the project you’re engaged in, as well as business and client requirements. Rest assured; we will always be clear about role expectations
We're excited to meet people who share our mission and can make an impact in a variety of ways. Don't hesitate to apply, even if you only meet the minimum requirements listed. Think about your transferable experiences and unique skills that make you stand out as someone who can bring new and exciting things to this role.
Salary and Other Compensation:
Applications will be accepted until June 27, 2026.
The annual salary for this position is between $176,400- $280,000 depending on the experience and other qualifications of the successful candidate.
This position is also eligible for Cognizant’s discretionary annual incentive program and stock awards, 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
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.
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.
