Lead Software Engineer

Cognizant; Hyderabad; On-site; INR 4,000,000 - 7,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognizant is seeking engineering leaders with strong software development and architecture experience in Hyderabad. The role targets hands-on engineers who can lead by example, shape technical strategy, and build high‑performing teams.

Profiles with substantial engineering execution will be prioritized over pure program management experience. You will define roadmaps, drive architectural governance, and mentor engineers while delivering scalable, secure, and production‑grade solutions across

Qualifications

• Hands-on software engineering background with leadership experience.
• Ability to design scalable, secure architectures.
• Experience defining engineering roadmaps and execution.
• Proven people leadership and talent development.

Responsibilities

• Lead by example in engineering teams and hiring.
• Define architecture across microservices and cloud-native apps.
• Align tech strategy with business outcomes.
• Foster federated engineering teams and governance.

Skills

Engineering leadership

People leadership

Software architecture

Stakeholder management

CI/CD

DevSecOps

Observability

AI-assisted development

Hands-on engineering

Tools

Spring Boot

Node.js

GraphQL

RESTful APIs

Microservices

Kubernetes/OpenShift

AWS

Azure

GCP

CI/CD pipelines

Observability tools

Job description

This position is intended for engineering leaders with strong software development and architecture experience. Candidates whose primary background is program or project management, without significant hands‑on engineering experience, are not the target profile.

The candidate should demonstrate the following capabilities:

Leadership & Engineering Expectations

• Strong Engineering Mindset - Hands‑on software engineering experience with the ability to lead by example and make sound technical decisions.
• Solution Architecture & Design - Ability to design scalable, resilient, secure, and high‑performing engineering solutions, supported by a strong understanding of software architecture, design patterns, and distributed systems.
• Technical Strategy & Execution - Ability to define the engineering roadmap, translate strategy into execution, and consistently deliver business outcomes.
• People Leadership - Proven experience in hiring, coaching, mentoring, performance management, succession planning, and building high‑performing engineering teams.
• Stakeholder Management - Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence cross‑functional stakeholders, build strong partnerships, and effectively manage executive expectations.
• Engineering Excellence - Strong focus on code quality, CI/CD, testing strategy, DevSecOps, operational excellence, technical debt reduction, and continuous improvement.
• Operational & Production Excellence - Experience driving reliability, observability, performance optimization, incident management, root cause analysis, and production stability.
• Engineering Productivity & AI - Experience leveraging AI‑assisted development, automation, and modern engineering practices to improve developer productivity, quality, and delivery efficiency.

Technical Expectations

The candidate should have strong experience in:

• Spring Boot and Node.js ; RESTful APIs and GraphQL; Microservices and distributed systems architecture
• API strategy, governance, lifecycle management, and security; Modern design patterns and engineering best practices
• Cloud‑native application development (AWS, Azure, or GCP)
• Kubernetes/OpenShift and containerized platforms
• CI/CD pipelines and DevSecOps practices
• Observability and monitoring platforms

Additionally, the candidate should demonstrate the ability to:

• Build enterprise engineering platforms, reusable frameworks, and foundational capabilities.
• Establish engineering standards and governance.
• Enable federated engineering teams through reusable solutions while driving enterprise‑wide adoption and consistency.

Location: Hyderabad