Engagement Delivery Lead

Cognizant; Telangana; On-site; INR 1,800,000 - 3,200,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognizant in Hyderabad is seeking a Lead – Strategic Programs & Governance with a strong digital marketing foundation to shape strategy, lifecycle governance and program outcomes for a pharma/healthcare client. You will own onboarding decisions, manage cross-functional stakeholders, and turn executive goals into clear roadmaps, incorporating AI and analytics into GTM initiatives.

The role emphasizes governance, risk mitigation, and measurable delivery across marketing channels, campaigns, and

Qualifications

• Strong analytical and structured problem-solving ability across engagements.
• Ability to apply marketing solutions with measurable outcomes.
• Background in Digital Marketing with exposure to strategy and campaign execution.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication across client and internal teams.

Responsibilities

• Own strategic decisions related to onboarding new services and governance of the engagement.
• Apply risk mitigation and RCA for escalations with stakeholders.
• Collaborate with Cognizant and client teams to plan, develop, and deploy integrations.
• Lead governance reviews and ensure marketing KPIs drive decisions.

Skills

Analytical thinking

Structured problem solving

Digital marketing

Stakeholder management

Communication skills

Matrix leadership

AI in marketing

Life science marketing

Education

PMP or equivalent program management credential

MarTech certification (Adobe/Salesforce)

Job description

JD for Lead – Strategic Programs & Governance position - Hyderabad.

Candidate with a strong Digital Marketing foundation, spanning strategy, campaign planning, and channel execution, are strongly preferred for this role.

Strategy, Marketing Lifecycle & Ideation

• Bring end-to-end marketing lifecycle knowledge from strategy and ideation through to implementation, with a strong upstream orientation (concept development, strategic framing, GTM planning) rather than only execution.
• Hands-on experience across digital marketing channels (paid social, programmatic, marketing automation, content/campaign management) is essential, along with the ability to translate channel-level insight into upstream strategy.
• Working knowledge of marketing/martech and how they fit into an integrated GTM stack.
• Evaluate and recommend different ways of working, frameworks, and tools relevant to marketing, GTM strategy, and delivery models, adapting these to the client's context.
• Turn high-level executive goals into clear, actionable roadmaps, working closely with client and internal stakeholders to align and establish these roadmaps.
• Understanding of how AI/personalization/marketing analytics tools (e.g., audience segmentation, attribution modeling, campaign optimization engines) are applied in a digital marketing context, and ability to identify where these can be introduced into the client's GTM approach.
• Identify, implement, and drive adoption of Artificial Intelligence opportunities across relevant areas of the engagement.

Governance & Strategic Decision-Making

• Own strategic decisions related to onboarding new services and ongoing governance of the engagement.
• Apply strong knowledge of FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) processes to proactively identify and mitigate risk.
• Maintain good working knowledge of industry quality process guidelines and ensure these are reflected in project delivery.
• Take ownership of escalations, driving clear root cause analysis (RCA) and remediation plans in partnership with stakeholders.
• Familiarity with digital marketing performance metrics and reporting (funnel metrics, campaign ROI, engagement/conversion benchmarks) to ensure governance decisions are grounded in marketing-specific KPIs, not just delivery metrics.
• Escalate delays proactively and secure the right support to expedite resolution.

Stakeholder & Cross-Functional Management

• Maintain strong working relationships across Cognizant internal teams/departments to quickly identify the right POC when needed.
• Partner with product, technology, finance, and operations teams to unblock delivery hurdles — often without formal authority over those teams.
• Work closely with Cognizant architects and client (Novartis) leads to plan, develop, and deploy integrations.
• Collaborate with Cognizant competency teams and HR to onboard external resources quickly.
• Work closely with Cognizant/client stakeholders to ensure successful submission of POCs.

Leadership, Reviews & Reporting

• Demonstrate proven leadership through timely, appropriate updates to all stakeholders.
• Own and drive monthly and quarterly review meetings, plus weekly reviews on a need basis.
• Facilitate end-to-end workshops for onboarding new capabilities.
• Support resource planning for the team.

Operating Model & Onboarding

• Where needed, define the operating model for onboarding new services, in agreement with the client.

Skills & Attributes

• Strong analytical and structured problem-solving ability; can convert ambiguous problem statements into workable solutions quickly.
• Ability to creatively apply solutions to real-world client issues with measurable, high-quality outcomes.
• Background in Digital Marketing (agency, in-house brand team, or marketing consulting) strongly preferred, with exposure to both the strategic/planning side and the campaign execution side of the discipline.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills across client and internal ecosystems.
• Comfortable operating in a matrixed environment with influence-based (not authority-based) delivery.
• Exposure to AI-driven opportunities within marketing/delivery contexts is a plus.
• Life Science, Healthcare or Pharma marketing exposure is desired.

Certifications Required

Preferred certifications include PMP or equivalent program management credential and a recognized MarTech or marketing technology certification such as Adobe or Salesforce.