Senior Manager - Security Architect

About Cognizant

Cognizant is a global community united by a shared purpose: to make a meaningful impact. We are committed to excellence and driven by outcomes that matter. Collaboration is at the heart of how we work, and our forward-thinking mindset fuels continuous learning, innovation, and growth.

At Cognizant, careers transcend titles. We empower our people to think strategically, inspire others, and lead with purpose, always guided by our core values. Join us in shaping the future of business. Could you be the one to make a difference?

About the Role

As a Senior Manager – Security Architecture, Design & Proof of Value, you will be a senior technical leader within the Cybersecurity Architecture & Risk organization, translating security strategy into practical architecture, solution designs, advisory outcomes, and validated security capabilities. You will partner with enterprise architects, security engineering, infrastructure, cloud, application, data, AI, risk, compliance, and vendor teams to deliver secure-by-design solutions and technology-driven business outcomes.

You will have the autonomy to lead strategic architecture initiatives, perform hands-on security technology validations, and provide executive recommendations supported by evidence, testing, and business value realization.

In this role, you will:

• Lead security architecture and design engagements across cloud, applications, infrastructure, data, identity, network, and emerging technology domains.
• Translate business, technology, and security requirements into secure target architectures, reference architectures, solution designs, and actionable security control requirements.
• Lead and personally contribute to cybersecurity Proof of Concept (POC) and Proof of Value (POV) initiatives, from use case definition through implementation, testing, validation, and executive recommendations.
• Evaluate cybersecurity technologies and vendor solutions, assessing security capabilities, integration feasibility, operational fit, scalability, and business value.
• Provide architecture assurance, conduct threat-informed design reviews, identify security risks and control gaps, and promote secure-by-design engineering practices across the organization.

What you must have to be considered

• 14+ years of experience in information security or cybersecurity, including significant experience in security architecture, solution design, and consulting.
• Demonstrated experience leading enterprise security architecture engagements and influencing senior technical and business stakeholders.
• Strong hands-on experience delivering cybersecurity POCs, POVs, technology evaluations, or solution pilots from problem definition through evidence-based recommendation.
• Deep understanding of security architecture principles, secure-by-design methodologies, threat modeling, and security control frameworks.
• Practical experience across multiple security domains including IAM, cloud security, network security, application/API security, data security, and security operations.
• Experience with at least one major cloud platform such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud.
• Ability to create and interpret architecture diagrams, security patterns, data-flow diagrams, and solution designs.
• Excellent consulting, stakeholder management, problem-solving, and communication skills.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Cybersecurity, or a related discipline.
• Ability to independently assess vendor capabilities and translate complex technical findings into executive-level recommendations.

These will help you succeed

• CISSP, CISM, SABSA, CCSP, GIAC, or comparable cybersecurity and security architecture certifications.
• Cloud security certifications such as Microsoft Azure Security Engineer or equivalent.
• Experience with Zero Trust architectures, IAM, network segmentation, DLP, CNAPP, SIEM, EDR/XDR, and application security technologies.
• Experience assessing AI/GenAI security, AI governance, LLM security, API security, and agentic AI security.
• Familiarity with frameworks and standards such as NIST CSF, NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 42001, OWASP, and MITRE ATT&CK.
• Experience developing reusable security architectures, control frameworks, reference designs, and architecture assurance methodologies.
• Proven ability to mentor security professionals and elevate architecture maturity across teams.

Work Model – Hybrid

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 attendance in a client or Cognizant office as determined by business needs. Regardless of your working arrangement, we are here to support a healthy work-life balance through our various wellbeing programs