Frontier Capability Unit – Transformation Leader

Cognizant; Chennai Metropolitan Area; On-site; INR 4,000,000 - 6,500,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognizant is seeking a Frontier Transformation Lead to guide the transformation of a global engineering workforce toward AI-native ways of working and accelerate frontier capabilities across client engagements.

You will collaborate with senior leaders to translate AI offerings into new ways of working, strengthen workforce capability, and enable outcome-based delivery across a highly matrixed organization.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in IT services (20+ years).
• Proven ability to lead workforce/capability transformations at an enterprise scale.
• Strong delivery and transformation leadership across global client accounts.
• Demonstrated senior stakeholder management across business, delivery, HR and technology.

Responsibilities

• Lead transformation of software engineering talent toward AI-native roles and ways of working.
• Drive adoption of AI offerings, assets, toolkits, and accelerators into live client engagements.
• Build and scale frontier delivery teams and capability communities.
• Own workforce planning, staffing, fulfilment, utilization, bench, and talent mobility.
• Influence senior stakeholders to accelerate workforce transformation and AI adoption.

Skills

IT services experience

Transformation leadership

Enterprise-scale programs

Stakeholder management

AI capability familiarity

Job description

Frontier Transformation Lead

About the role

As a Frontier Transformation Lead, you will make an impact by leading the transformation of a global engineering workforce toward AI-native ways of working and accelerating the adoption of frontier capabilities across client engagements. You will work collaboratively with senior business, delivery, solutioning, operations, talent, and capability leaders to translate AI offerings and accelerators into new ways of working, strengthen workforce capability, and enable outcome-based delivery.

In this role, you will:

• Lead the transformation of software engineering talent toward AI-native roles and ways of working, including career pathing, reskilling, certifications, and capability development.
• Drive the adoption and diffusion of AI offerings, assets, toolkits, and accelerators into live client engagements, working closely with sales, solutioning, and account management teams.
• Build and scale frontier delivery teams and capability communities, enabling effective deployment of talent across new and existing client opportunities.
• Own workforce planning, staffing, fulfilment, utilization, and talent mobility, partnering across a highly matrixed global organization to align capability supply with business demand.
• Lead and influence senior stakeholders to accelerate workforce transformation, AI adoption, and the transition toward scalable, outcome-based delivery models.

Work model: Work from Office

At Cognizant, we strive to provide flexibility wherever possible, and we are here to support a healthy work-life balance through our various wellbeing programs. Based on this role’s business requirements, this is an onsite position requiring 4 days a week in a client or Cognizant office in [Chennai/Hyderabad/Bangalore/Mumbai].

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

• 20+ years of experience in IT services, including 12+ years leading talent, capability, workforce, or delivery organizations across large and complex global environments.
• Demonstrated experience leading enterprise-scale workforce transformation, including career pathing, reskilling, certification, and transition toward AI or emerging-technology capabilities.
• Strong delivery and transformation leadership, with the credibility to drive changes in ways of working across live client accounts in partnership with sales, solutioning, and delivery organizations.
• Proven experience managing workforce planning, staffing, fulfilment, utilization, bench, and talent mobility at significant scale.
• Strong understanding of Generative AI, Agentic AI, AI-native engineering roles, and emerging AI-enabled delivery models.

These will help you stand out

• Experience owning a large-scale workforce strategy or capability community of 2000-3000 professionals.
• Demonstrated ability to lead large, distributed talent populations through senior leadership layers and drive measurable capability transformation.
• Experience taking new intellectual property, accelerators, or technology capabilities into live client environments and embedding them into delivery.
• Strong executive stakeholder management experience across business, sales, delivery, operations, HR, and technology organizations.
• Experience building enterprise reskilling, certification, talent mobility, or AI capability programs that connect workforce transformation with business demand.

We're excited to meet people who share our mission and can make an impact in a variety of ways. 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.