Client Partner - Physical AI

Cognizant; City of Westminster; Hybrid; GBP 100,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognizant seeks a Client Partner - Physical AI to own and grow strategic client relationships across AI-enabled physical systems, driving revenue and profitability with senior client executives.

You will lead P&L for your accounts, shape opportunities, and collaborate with delivery and product teams to deliver value and ROI while embodying Cognizant's leadership principles.

Qualifications

• Significant direct experience of client management or strategic sales in technology/AI/robotics or consulting services.
• Proven ability to grow strategic accounts through trusted-advisor relationships.
• Experience with P&L ownership or revenue, margin and profitability accountability.

Responsibilities

• Own one or more strategic client accounts as the senior revenue, relationship and outcomes lead.
• Identify, shape, and close new opportunities within accounts for multi-year growth.
• Manage forecasting, pricing, and commercial structuring to sustain economics.
• Collaborate with delivery, engineering and product teams to ensure on-time, on-budget engagements.

Skills

Client management

Account leadership

Strategic sales

Job description

About the role

As a Client Partner - Physical AI, you will make an impact by owning and growing strategic client relationships for our Physical AI offerings—AI systems that perceive, reason, and act in the physical world across robotics, connected devices, and autonomous and embodied platforms—serving as the senior commercial owner who both sells our offerings and manages the full profit-and-loss for those accounts. You will be a valued member of the MLEU team and work collaboratively with delivery, engineering, and product teams.

In this role, you will

• Own one or more strategic client accounts as the senior point of accountability for revenue, relationship, and outcomes, positioning Cognizant Intelligent Spine (CIS) Physical AI offerings to client executives and translating complex AI, robotics, and connected-systems capabilities into clear business value and ROI.
• Identify, shape, and close new opportunities within your accounts, expanding from initial engagements into broader, multi-year relationships built on deep, trusted-advisor relationships across the client’s technical and business leadership.
• Carry full P&L responsibility for your account portfolio—revenue, margin, and profitability—managing forecasting, pricing, and commercial structuring to ensure healthy, sustainable economics.
• Monitor account financials and take action to protect and grow margin while balancing growth investments against profitability targets.
• Partner with delivery, engineering, and product teams to ensure engagements are delivered on time, on budget, and to standard, governing account health, resolving escalations, and bringing market and client feedback back into the offering roadmap.
• Consistently demonstrate the Cognizant Way to Lead through strategic agility, client value creation, AI-led innovation, disciplined execution, collaborative ecosystem building and amplifying human potential through a culture of growth, inclusion and effective human-AI collaboration.

Leading at Cognizant

This is a Leadership role at Cognizant. We believe how you lead is as important as what you deliver. Cognizant leaders at every level:

• Drive our business strategy and inspire teams around our future.
• Live the leadership behaviors, leading themselves, others and the business.
• Uphold our values, role modeling them in every action and decision.
• Nurture our people and culture, creating a workplace where all can thrive.

This includes leading with strategic ability, architecting client value, driving AI-led innovation, executing with discipline, building a collaborative ecosystem, and amplifying human potential.

At Cognizant, leadership transcends titles and is embodied in actions and behaviors. We empower our leaders at every level to drive business strategy, inspire teams, uphold our values, and foster an inclusive culture.

Work model

At Cognizant, 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 or Cognizant office in London. 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

• Significant direct experience of client management, account leadership, or strategic sales, with a background in technology, engineering, AI/robotics, or consulting services across verticals such as manufacturing, automotive, logistics, medical devices, energy, and defense.
• Familiarity with AI, robotics, connected/IoT devices, and autonomous or embodied systems, with the ability to position emerging or technically complex offerings (AI, IoT, robotics, automation, digital engineering) to executive buyers.
• Demonstrated P&L ownership, with accountability for account or portfolio revenue, margin, and profitability.
• Proven ability to grow strategic accounts through relationship building and consultative selling.
• Excellent executive presence and the ability to make complex technology compelling and clear.
• Demonstrated ability to lead with strategic vision, client‑centric thinking, innovation, disciplined execution, collaboration and a commitment to developing people in line with the Cognizant Way to Lead.
• Proven track record of building trust, demonstrating ownership, exercising sound judgment and fostering an inclusive culture that supports growth and associate success.

These will help you stand out

• A background blending technical credibility (engineering, robotics, or product) with commercial leadership.
• Experience selling hardware-plus-software or AI-on-device solutions.
• Familiarity with target verticals such as manufacturing, automotive, logistics, medical devices, energy, and defense.
• A track record of building a new client relationship or offering from early stage to scaled revenue.
• Experience thriving in complex, fast-evolving environments by translating strategy into action, fostering cross-functional collaboration and championing continuous learning and curiosity.