Pre-Sales (Data, Analytics & AI)

Cognizant; Bengaluru; Hybrid; INR 900,000 - 1,500,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognizant is hiring for a Pre-Sales role in Data, Analytics & AI. You will lead end-to-end proposals, govern pursuits, and craft compelling AI data narratives for clients and leadership. Collaborate with sales, solution, and delivery teams while engaging partners like AWS, Azure, and Databricks. Hybrid work model with office presence in India.

You will mentor junior pre-sales professionals, build reusable assets, and ensure timely bid responses across strategic opportunities.

Qualifications

• Experience in Pre-Sales, Business Development, Bid Management, or Proposal Management with a proven track record leading large and complex RFP responses.

Responsibilities

• Own opportunity qualification, account intelligence, and client research, and lead end-to-end development of proposals, presentations, response documents, and sales collateral for strategic pursuits.
• Drive pursuit governance, reviews, and submission timelines, ensuring compliance with bid processes and tracking progress, risks, dependencies, and action items with proactive escalation to leadership.
• Partner with sales, solution, delivery, and practice leadership to shape and defend AI and Data narratives for client and leadership audiences.
• Build and curate reusable assets, case studies, and proposal repositories across the practice, while mentoring junior pre-sales talent and bringing structure to the pursuit lifecycle.
• Maintain cadence with partner alliance points of contact (AWS, Azure, Databricks) to align proposals with joint solutions and co-sell motions, and support partner-aligned RFPs correctly tagged for partner funding and co-sell credit.

Skills

Pre-Sales experience

Proposal development

Bid management

Executive communication

Stakeholder management

Tools

CRM systems

Pursuit tracking tools

Office suite

Job description

About the role

Pre-Sales (Data, Analytics & AI), you will make an impact by leading and scaling our proposal, pursuit, and partner engagement function for Data, Analytics, and AI across strategic and complex client opportunities. You will be a valued member of the AI & Analytics (AIA) practice team and work collaboratively with sales, solution, delivery, and practice leadership.

In this role, you will

• Own opportunity qualification, account intelligence, and client research, and lead the end-to-end development of proposals, presentations, response documents, and sales collateral for strategic and complex pursuits.
• Drive pursuit governance, reviews, and submission timelines, ensuring compliance with bid processes and tracking progress, risks, dependencies, and action items with proactive escalation to leadership.
• Partner with sales, solution, delivery, and practice leadership to shape and defend compelling AI and Data narratives for client and leadership audiences.
• Build and curate reusable assets, case studies, and proposal repositories across the practice, while mentoring junior pre-sales talent and bringing structure and rigour to the pursuit lifecycle.
• Maintain cadence with partner alliance points of contact (such as AWS, Azure, and Databricks) to align proposals with joint solutions and co-sell motions, and support partner-aligned RFPs correctly tagged for partner funding and co-sell credit.

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 India. 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

• Experience in Pre-Sales, Business Development, Bid Management, or Proposal Management, with a proven track record leading large and complex RFP responses.
• Experience managing stakeholders up to senior leadership and client CXO levels, and owning solutioning narratives for Data, Analytics, AI, and Generative AI opportunities.
• Strong analytical, storytelling, and executive communication skills, with comfort presenting to leadership.
• Exposure to partner ecosystems (such as AWS, Azure, Databricks, Snowflake, and GCP) and funding or co-sell motions, plus the ability to manage and develop a small team of pre-sales professionals.
• Proficiency in PowerPoint, Excel, and collaboration tools, with exposure to CRM or pursuit-tracking platforms, and the ability to thrive and lead in a fast-paced, global environment.

These will help you stand out

• Hands-on experience designing or deploying GenAI and Agentic AI solutions to improve pursuit management, proposal development, research, knowledge management, and sales productivity.

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