The Principal Software Engineer with minimum 15+ years of software engineering experience and strategic technical leader responsible for defining architecture, driving execution, and delivering scalable, high‑impact software solutions. This role combines deep hands‑on engineering expertise with leadership, product thinking, and cross‑functional collaboration.
The ideal candidate is a visionary technologist who can architect cloud‑native platforms, mentor teams, and partner with business and product stakeholders to deliver innovative and scalable solutions, including modern AI-driven implementations.
What you will do
- Define and evolve architecture for distributed, cloud-native, and high-availability systems
- Establish long-term technology roadmaps aligned to business objectives
- Drive adoption of modern architectural patterns (microservices, event-driven, API-first)
- Lead and mentor engineering teams, promoting ownership and engineering excellence
- Define standards for code quality, design patterns, and review practices
- Foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation
- Oversee cloud platform architecture (Azure/AWS/GCP)
- Drive DevOps adoption including CI/CD, containerization (Docker/Kubernetes), and observability
- Ensure operational excellence, reliability, and system resilience
- Lead adoption of AI/ML solutions (including GenAI and small/large-scale implementations)
- Evaluate emerging technologies and drive strategic innovation
- Establish foundational platforms for AI-enabled applications
What we expect
- Minimum 15+ years of software engineering experience, including 4+ years in architecture or leadership roles
- Strong expertise in:
- Distributed systems and microservices
- Cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, or GCP)
- API-driven architectures
- Programming proficiency in Java, C#, Python, Go, or similar
- Experience delivering large-scale, multi-team technology programs
- Strong knowledge of DevOps, CI/CD, Docker, Kubernetes, and observability
- Excellent communication, decision-making, and stakeholder management skills
Preferred Skills (Nice to Have)
- Experience building and scaling SaaS platforms
- Background in:
- Data engineering
- Machine learning platforms
- Event-driven architectures
- Experience in enterprise-scale or high-growth environments
- Strong understanding of security, compliance, and governance frameworks
At Cognizant, we're eager to meet people who believe in our mission and can make an impact in various ways. We encourage you to apply if you have most of the skills above and feel like you are strongly suited for this role.
Consider what transferable experience and skills make you a unique applicant and help us see how you’d be beneficial to this role.
Cognizant will only consider applicants for this position who are legally authorized to work in Canada without requiring employer sponsorship, now or at any time in the future.
Salary and Other Compensation:
We regularly assess market data to ensure we offer a competitive compensation package for our associates. The base salary for this position ranges between $106,200 – $168,000 per year. Where the successful candidate may fall within the range depends on relevant education, work and/or management experience and other business-related and job-necessary qualifications. This position is also eligible for Cognizant’s discretionary annual performance-based bonus, as well as benefits that support your physical, mental and financial wellbeing.
Working arrangements
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 office in Toronto, ON. 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.
Over Cognizant
Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is een bouwer van AI-oplossingen en een leverancier van technologiediensten. Wij slaan de brug tussen AI-investeringen en ondernemingswaarde door het bouwen van full-stack AI-oplossingen voor onze klanten. Onze diepgaande kennis van sectoren, processen en engineering stelt ons in staat om de unieke context van een organisatie te verankeren in technologische systemen. Deze systemen versterken het menselijk potentieel, realiseren tastbare resultaten en geven wereldwijde ondernemingen een voorsprong in een snel veranderende wereld. Ontdek hoe op cognizant.ai of @cognizant.
Aanvullende arbeidsinformatie
De informatie over de beloning is correct op de datum van deze vacature. Cognizant behoudt zich het recht voor om deze informatie op elk moment te wijzigen, met inachtneming van de toepasselijke wetgeving.
Van sollicitanten kan worden verwacht dat zij gesprekken bijwonen, persoonlijk of via een videogesprek. Daarnaast kan van kandidaten worden gevraagd om tijdens elk gesprek een geldig, door de overheid uitgegeven identiteitsbewijs (zoals een identiteitskaart of paspoort) te tonen.
Cognizant is een werkgever die gelijke kansen biedt. Je sollicitatie en kandidatuur worden niet beoordeeld op basis van ras, huidskleur, geslacht, religie, levensovertuiging, seksuele geaardheid, genderidentiteit, nationale afkomst, handicap, genetische informatie, zwangerschap, veteranenstatus of enige andere eigenschap die wordt beschermd door federale, regionale of lokale wetgeving.
