Lead ML Engineer, New York, NY-550 W 34th St, New York, United States

Practice - AIA - Artificial Intelligence and Analytics

About AI & Analytics: Artificial intelligence (AI) and the data it collects and analyzes will soon sit at the core of all intelligent, human-centric businesses. By decoding customer needs, preferences, and behaviors, our clients can understand exactly what services, products, and experiences their consumers need. Within AI & Analytics, we work to design the future—a future in which trial-and-error business decisions have been replaced by informed choices and data-supported strategies.

By applying AI and data science, we help leading companies to prototype, refine, validate, and scale their AI and analytics products and delivery models. Cognizant’s AIA practice takes insights that are buried in data and provides businesses a clear way to transform how they source, interpret and consume their information. Our clients need flexible data structures and a streamlined data architecture that quickly turns data resources into informative, meaningful intelligence.

*Please note, this role is not able to offer visa transfer or sponsorship now or in the future*

Job Summary

We are seeking a Lead ML Engineer to drive the design, development, and deployment of advanced machine learning and AI solutions leveraging Azure OpenAI, Azure Machine Learning, Snowflake, and Python. This role will serve as the technical leader for enterprise data science initiatives, owning model architecture, ML solution design, and AI platform integration. The ideal candidate will combine deep expertise in machine learning, cloud-native AI services, and software engineering with the ability to mentor teams and translate business challenges into scalable AI solutions. This position requires a strong balance of hands-on engineering, technical leadership, and stakeholder engagement.

In this role, you will:

· Lead the end-to-end design, architecture, and implementation of machine learning and AI solutions using Azure OpenAI Services, Azure Machine Learning, and Python.

· Design and develop predictive, generative AI, and recommendation models to improve operational efficiency, customer experience, and business outcomes.

· Build and optimize machine learning pipelines including feature engineering, model training, validation, deployment, monitoring, and retraining.

· Integrate Azure OpenAI capabilities such as natural language processing, conversational AI, and generative AI into enterprise applications and workflows.

· Analyze large-scale structured and unstructured datasets to identify opportunities for business optimization, personalization, forecasting, and automation.

· Collaborate with product owners, data engineers, architects, and business stakeholders to define AI use cases and implementation roadmaps.

· Lead technical reviews, mentor data scientists and machine learning engineers, and establish engineering best practices for model development and deployment.

· Design scalable and secure MLOps workflows leveraging GitHub, Docker, Azure Machine Learning, and cloud-native deployment patterns.

· Define model evaluation frameworks, responsible AI controls, governance standards, and risk mitigation processes.

· Evaluate emerging AI technologies, frameworks, and Azure capabilities to drive innovation and continuous improvement.

· Communicate technical findings and business impact to executive and non-technical stakeholders through compelling storytelling and data-driven insights.

· Ensure AI solutions comply with enterprise security, regulatory, privacy, and governance requirements.

What you need to have to be considered

· 8+ years of experience in Machine Learning, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, or Advanced Analytics roles, with experience leading enterprise AI initiatives.

· Strong expertise in Python and machine learning libraries including Pandas, Scikit-learn, XGBoost, LightGBM, and PyTorch.

· Hands-on experience developing and deploying machine learning models in Azure Machine Learning environments.

· Experience designing and implementing Generative AI and Azure OpenAI solutions for enterprise use cases.

· Strong proficiency in SQL and experience working with Snowflake for analytics and machine learning workloads.

· Experience with model development lifecycle management, MLOps practices, model monitoring, and deployment automation.

· Proficiency with GitHub, Docker, CI/CD pipelines, and modern software engineering practices.

· Strong understanding of machine learning algorithms, feature engineering, model evaluation, recommendation systems, and predictive analytics.

· Experience working with large-scale structured and unstructured datasets in cloud-based environments.

· Excellent stakeholder management, communication, mentoring, and leadership skills.

· Experience in customer services, retail, utilities, or highly regulated industries is preferred.

· Familiarity with responsible AI, model governance, explainability, and enterprise AI risk management frameworks is highly desirable.

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Applications will be accepted until 12 Aug 2026.

Salary and Other Compensation:

The annual salary for this position is between $[137,500 - 161,500] depending on experience and other qualifications of the successful candidate.

This position is also eligible for Cognizant’s discretionary annual incentive program, 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

Sobre a Cognizant
Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) é uma construtora de IA e fornecedora de serviços de tecnologia, criando a ponte entre o investimento em IA e o valor para as empresas por meio do desenvolvimento de soluções de IA completas para nossos clientes. Nossa profunda experiência em setores, processos e engenharia nos permite incorporar o contexto único de cada organização em sistemas tecnológicos que potencializam a capacidade humana, geram resultados tangíveis e mantêm empresas globais à frente em um mundo em rápida transformação. Saiba mais em cognizant.ai ou @cognizant.

A Cognizant é uma empregadora que investe em equidade. Sua candidatura não será pautada em raça, cor, gênero, sexualidade, credo, origem, deficiência, gravidez ou qualquer outra característica protegida pelas leis brasileiras.

Informações adicionais de emprego
Os candidatos podem ser obrigados a comparecer a entrevistas presenciais ou por videoconferência. Além disso, os candidatos podem ser obrigados a apresentar seu documento de identificação emitido pelo estado ou governo atual durante cada entrevista.

Embora nosso sistema permita a candidatura em todos os idiomas, o(s) idioma(s) e o(s) nível(is) de proficiência exigidos para o trabalho variam. No entanto, é necessário um nível básico de inglês para fins de comunicação em toda a empresa.

Se você tem uma deficiência que requer adaptações razoáveis para procurar uma vaga de emprego ou enviar uma candidatura, envie um e-mail para [email protected] com sua solicitação e informações de contato.