Associate Director, Business Development (Service Line Specialist) – Data, AI & Analytics - Belgium
About the role
As a Service Line Specialist – Data, AI & Analytics, you will make an impact by driving sales, business development and customer relationships for AI, Agentic AI, Analytics and Data solutions within the Life Sciences industry across the Benelux market, with a specific mandate to make Agentic AI adoption a differentiated growth lever. You will own the targets for the Artificial Intelligence & Analytics (AIA) service line across the Benelux Life Sciences market, spanning the pharma, biotech, MedTech and CRO/CDMO segments. You will be a valued member of the Benelux Life Sciences / AIA team and work collaboratively with sales, solutioning, delivery and partner teams, ecosystem partners and client executives.
In this role, you will
- Drive revenue and Agentic AI growth: own the AIA service line sales targets across priority Benelux Life Sciences accounts, identify market gaps and growth opportunities, design penetration plans for new logos, and manage the full sales lifecycle from pipeline creation through conversion and closure, including fulfilment.
- Own and lead deals: direct the deal-pursuit process end to end with a focus on Agentic AI-led deals, multi-agent platform proposals and AI transformation programmes; position Cognizant's accelerators and platforms (agent-engineering frameworks, "Agent Foundry"-style accelerators); and lead complex, multi-stakeholder pursuits and commercial negotiations, engaging clients through workshops, demos and PoCs.
- Manage client relationships and act as a trusted advisor: maintain a regular cadence with key Life Sciences clients, advising CIO / CTO / CDO / CDIO and business leaders by translating Agentic AI capabilities into measurable business outcomes, ROI and operating-model change, and own the stakeholder-management map across key accounts as well as relationships with internal leaders.
- Develop the Benelux GTM strategy, sales plays and offering commercialisation: define the service line vision and roadmap, build and execute the Agentic AI GTM (industry plays, messaging and repeatable solutions), package enterprise-ready offerings (agent-engineering frameworks, multi-agent workflows, orchestration, monitoring), and deliver at- or above-market revenue growth with strong forecasting discipline and pipeline hygiene.
- Own alliances, responsible-AI governance and thought leadership: establish and grow strategic alliances with hyperscalers and Agentic AI / GenAI platform partners (Microsoft, AWS, Google, Anthropic, OpenAI) to create joint pipeline and co-sell motions; ensure pursuits incorporate responsible AI, compliance and governance with sensitivity to the Life Sciences regulatory context (EU AI Act, GxP, data privacy); and position Cognizant's AIA expertise with analysts and through thought leadership.
Work model
At Cognizant, we strive to provide flexibility wherever possible. Based on this role's business requirements, this is a hybrid position requiring 2 days a week in a client or Cognizant office in Benelux. Regardless of your working arrangement, we are here to support a healthy work-life balance through 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.
What you need to have to be considered
- Deep experience in enterprise technology consulting / services sales (or equivalent), with ownership of large / complex pursuits and executive stakeholders
- Demonstrated experience selling AI / GenAI / Agentic AI or adjacent solutions (data platforms, automation, cloud transformation) with credible business-outcome positioning.
- Strong consultative selling and commercial acumen: structuring deals, value cases and multi-year programmes, with working knowledge of agentic concepts (orchestration, tools, memory/state, evaluation, observability and governance).
- Awareness of data, traditional BI and cloud architectures across multiple analytics platforms and domains, plus EU AI Act implications and the ability to position Cognizant's responsible-AI and governance offerings; able to hold a technically credible dialogue with enterprise data and AI architects and to lead cross-functional virtual teams.
- Excellent communication and presentation skills; fluent in English, with proficiency in Dutch and/or French Desirable.
These will help you stand out
- Strong awareness of Agentic AI platforms and orchestration frameworks, data platforms including Databricks, Snowflake, Informatica and Qlik, and understanding of LLM architecture, RAG and enterprise AI deployment patterns; technical expertise to bring Data & AI offerings together and create PoCs where needed.
- Benelux market experience with an established CXO network in Life Sciences, and deep knowledge of IT services / IT outsourcing.
- Strong command of deal structuring, commercial modelling, pricing governance and margin management; able to evaluate pursuit ROI, set pricing guardrails and lead commercial negotiations at C-suite level.
- Exposure to enterprise platforms where agents deliver value (CRM, ServiceNow, SAP, Salesforce ecosystems) and "orchestration layer" narratives; familiarity with agentic sales playbooks and packaged use cases for scale and repeatability.
- Executive presence and outstanding interpersonal and leadership skills: able to articulate vision, align stakeholders to strategic plans, mediate conflict and lead teams across the enterprise, with strong project management, budgeting and talent-management skills.
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.
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.
