Data Delivery Lead

Cognizant; Sydney; On-site; AUD 100,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognizant is seeking a Data Delivery Lead to drive end-to-end data and analytics initiatives within a regulated banking/financial services context. You’ll govern budgets, risks, and quality while coordinating cross-functional teams across data engineering, architecture, testing, and operations.

The role emphasizes stakeholder engagement, vendor governance, and executive reporting with hybrid delivery approaches.

Qualifications

• Experience leading enterprise data delivery programs in banking/financial services.
• Strong project management across scope, schedule, budget, resources, risks, issues, and quality.
• Solid understanding of data engineering, data warehousing, ETL/ELT, data governance, lineage, metadata, and reporting platforms.
• Hands-on with SQL, Python, PySpark, Azure Synapse Analytics, and CI/CD pipelines for automated build, tests, deployment.
• Awareness of AI/ML delivery lifecycle and model integration.

Responsibilities

• Own delivery from initiation through planning, design, build, testing, implementation, transition, and closure.
• Define delivery roadmaps, milestones, estimates, budgets, governance forums, and success measures.
• Lead data engineers, analysts, architects, testers, business teams, and partners; clarify accountability and remove impediments.
• Manage scope, schedule, cost, quality, risks, issues, dependencies, and change requests; escalate when needed.
• Coordinate testing, release, cutover, handover, post-implementation review, and benefits realization.
• Drive continuous improvement, delivery predictability, and strong stakeholder relationships.

Skills

Data delivery management

Project management

Data engineering

Data warehousing

SQL

Python

PySpark

Azure Synapse Analytics

CI/CD

AI/ML delivery lifecycle

Tools

Jira

Confluence

Azure Synapse Analytics

Job description

What makes Cognizant a unique place to work? The combination of rapid growth and unique place international and innovative environment! This is creating many opportunities for people like YOU - people with an entrepreneurial spirit who want to make a difference in this world.

At Cognizant, together with your colleagues from all around the world, you will collaborate on creating solutions for the world’s leading companies and help them become more flexible, more innovative, and successful. Moreover, this is your chance to be part of the success story.

Position Summary:

• The Data Delivery Lead will lead the end-to-end delivery of complex data and analytics initiatives . The role combines strong data delivery expertise with project governance, stakeholder management, financial control, risk management, and team leadership to ensure solutions are delivered securely, on time, within budget, and in line with business and regulatory expectations.
• The position will coordinate cross-functional teams across business, data engineering, architecture, testing, operations, and vendor partners, translating strategic objectives into practical delivery plans and measurable outcomes.

Mandatory Skills:

• Proven experience leading enterprise data delivery programs and projects in banking or financial services.
• Strong project management expertise across scope, schedule, budget, resources, dependencies, risks, issues, and quality.
• Solid understanding of data engineering, data warehousing, ETL/ELT, data integration, data quality, governance, lineage, metadata, and reporting platforms.
• Hands-on technical understanding of SQL, Python, PySpark, Azure Synapse Analytics, and CI/CD pipelines for automated build, testing, and deployment.
• Awareness of AI/ML delivery lifecycle, model integration, responsible AI, and analytics use-case implementation.
• Experience delivering through Agile, Scrum, Kanban, and hybrid delivery models using tools such as Jira and Confluence.
• Excellent stakeholder, vendor, governance, negotiation, communication, and executive reporting skills.
• Ability to lead multidisciplinary and geographically distributed teams in a regulated environment.
• Strong knowledge of banking data, privacy, security, compliance, operational risk, and change-control requirements.

Roles And Responsibilities:

• Own delivery from initiation through planning, design, build, testing, implementation, transition, and closure.
• Define delivery roadmaps, milestones, estimates, budgets, resource plans, governance forums, and success measures aligned with business priorities.
• Lead data engineers, analysts, architects, testers, business teams, and partners; clarify accountability and remove delivery impediments.
• Manage scope, schedule, cost, quality, risks, issues, assumptions, dependencies, and change requests, and escalating decisions when required.
• Partner with business and technology stakeholders to refine requirements, priorities, acceptance criteria, and implementation plans.
• Ensure compliance with architecture, data governance, data quality, security, privacy, regulatory, and production-readiness standards.
• Track delivery performance and provide clear status reporting, financial forecasts, RAID updates, and executive-level communications.
• Coordinate testing, release, cutover, operational handover, post-implementation review, and benefits realization.
• Drive continuous improvement, delivery predictability, team capability, and effective stakeholder relationships.

Salary Range:

>$100,000

Date of Posting: 20-Oct-26

Cognizant is committed to providing Equal Employment Opportunities.

Successful candidates will be required to undergo a background check.