Life Sciences Consulting- Manufacturing & Supply Chain

Candidates must have:

Role- Sr. Manager

• Experience in consulting engagement within Lifesciences focusing on Manufacturing of APIs, Small Molecules & Biologics.

• Experience as a Business Analyst, OR in Agile Project Roles, OR Project Management, OR Management Consulting.

• Experience in leading client discussions/projects.

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

• Experience in supporting business activities like Thought leadership, POVs, RFPs & RFIs.

Core Responsibilities:

Domain Consulting:

· Lead client engagements on manufacturing excellence and digital enablement strategies (for MES, EBR, and ELN etc.)

· Define and support multi-year transformation roadmaps covering MES/EBR/ELN/QMS/PLM and shop-floor digital (IoT, eRecords).

· Design process maps and recommend improvements aligned with GMP and regulatory standards.

· Run high-impact workshops; align cross-functional stakeholders (Manufacturing, Quality, IT, Engineering, Supply Chain).

Business Development & Account Growth:

· Lead proposals (RFIs/RFPs), solutioning for LS Projects

· Contribute to Go to Market strategy, service offering development.

· Author thought leadership (whitepapers, POVs) and represent Cognizant at industry forums.

Business Analyst:

· Analyze business needs through interviews, surveys, and workshops to gather and document requirements.

· Bridge communication between business units and technical teams by translating needs into technical requirements.

· Identify solutions by analyzing processes, data, and trends to recommend improvements for efficiency and profitability.

· Document requirements in clear functional specifications, reports, and presentations.

· Use appropriate tools to record, track and manage requirements like Azure Devops, Jira, etc.

Management Consulting (Business Analysis):

· Review and analyze relevant documentation to ensure understanding of an organization’s function and capabilities.

· Conduct relevant research to increase understanding in support of developing comprehensive solutions.

· Advise clients on digital maturity and transformation strategy, including competitor benchmarking.

· Logically structure recommendations and supporting data to formulate a solid, logical, and understandable business case.

· Utilize appropriate business modeling techniques to represent and graphically depict various activities, processes, and data. These could include: – Business process modeling – Process flow modeling – Data flow modeling – Stakeholder analysis.

Project Management:

· Manage delivery of digital transformation projects, ensuring alignment with client goals.

· Define scope, objectives, and success metrics in collaboration with stakeholders.

· Create and manage project plans, timelines, and resources across workstreams.

· Manage risks and dependencies, applying mitigation strategies.

· Coordinate cross-functional teams (business, IT, vendors) for integrated delivery.

· Track and report progress through dashboards and executive updates.

· Support business case development and monitor value realization.

People Leadership & Talent Management:

· Recruit, onboard, and develop consultants; set goals, provide feedback, and manage performance.

· Create a culture of safety, inclusion, and continuous improvement; succession planning and capability building.

· Coach teams on consulting methods, Agile practices, and manufacturing domain depth.

Skillset summary:

• LS Manufacturing domain Knowledge: Deep understanding of Pharma/Biopharma operations; tech transfer; scale-up; validation; batch release, Production Scheduling, Raw material planning etc. (Hands-on will be beneficial), GMP compliance, and digital enablement strategies (MES, EBR, ELN, PLM etc.,).

• Agile ways of working: Conversant with Agile methodologies of project / product development along with the related phases and ceremonies. Prior experience as a scrum master, product owner, RTE, product manager. Having relevant certifications will be an advantage (CSPO, CSM, SAFe etc.)

• Project and Program Management: Perform the PMO functions to improve success of the project / program. Prior experience as a business project manager, business program manager Having relevant certifications will be an advantage (PMP etc.)

• Business Development and Strategy: Hands-on experience in Go-To-Market strategy formulation, business planning and business strategy. Support Cognizant leadership in the development of RFI's, RFP's and Service offerings Customer Relationship Management and build and maintain strong relationships at different levels of the client organizations.

(Candidates with one of BA / Agile / PM experience should be willing to learn other skillsets as mentioned below to be a part of the larger Lifesciences consulting team. Experience in Pharma or Biopharma Manufacturing is mandatory)

Consulting skillset:

• Should be able to lead large teams.
• Preferrable to have hands-on experience in strategy consulting, Organization Change Management (OCM), Digital Transformation, Market Assessment, Benchmarking, competitive analysis.

• Should be able to suggest new thoughts and ideas and implement them.

• Business development experience (contributed to or led responses to solicited RFPs and proactive proposals).

• Should have an excellent grasp of Lifesciences market, Lifesciences industry’s competitive landscape, key Lifesciences IT players and market control points.

• Should have successfully delivered technology and advisory consulting assignments.

• Excellent verbal, and written communication, problem solving approach, out of the box thinking, stakeholder management. Experience with MS Visio and PowerPoint will be an advantage.

• Contributed to the development, research and design of consulting and domain mindshare such as articles, white papers, collateral development, infographics, leadership forums, collaboration sessions, Yammer, etc.

As an ideal candidate you combine strong manufacturing domain expertise with strategic consulting and delivery leadership. You are comfortable engaging at the executive level, shaping transformation agendas, and translating strategy into outcomes on the shop floor. You build high-trust teams, elevate client conversations, and are recognized for pragmatic, compliant solutions that scale. Such a candidate will have a customer-first view and will know various tools such as Personas, Journey Maps, etc. The candidate should have experience in pharmaceutical value chain, especially Pharma/Biopharma Manufacturing domain. The candidate should be well-versed with the latest industry trends. They will also be conversant with Agile methodologies of project/product development along with the phases and ceremonies related to them. Experience in IT Consulting with be a definite plus. The candidates should also have experience of leading team of consultants in projects, business development and research activities.

Sample Engagements Delivered (Examples)

· Strategic consulting and advisory work global PLM, MES/EBR rollout across multiple sites with harmonized master data and electronic batch records.

· Digital validation approach and data integrity program aligned to ALCOA+ and GAMP 5.

· Tech-transfer readiness and process capability improvement for biologics scale-up.

· Quality Management System modernization and LIMS/ELN integration.

· Manufacturing analytics for yield/throughput optimization and deviation reduction.