AI-Enabled Data Architecture Consultant

Cognizant; Bannockburn (IL); On-site; USD 130,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical/Dental/Vision/Life Insurance

Paid holidays + PTO

401(k) plan and contributions

Long-term/Short-term Disability

Paid Parental Leave

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Job summary

Cognizant is seeking an AI-Enabled Data Architecture Consultant to design and implement modern data and AI platforms that accelerate digital transformation and enterprise AI delivery. You will collaborate with stakeholders, data engineers, cloud teams, and AI practitioners to deliver scalable solutions.

Responsibilities include building lakehouse architectures, RAG solutions, AI agents, and scalable data pipelines, while leading modernization across ERP and legacy systems.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in Data Engineering and AI solution delivery.
• Hands-on experience with Claude, LLM integrations, prompt engineering, RAG.
• Expertise with vector databases: Pinecone, Weaviate, pgvector.
• Experience with Spark, Kafka or Flink, Airflow, dbt, and Delta Lake or Iceberg.
• Cloud infra tools: Terraform, Kubernetes, Docker, IaC.
• Data integration patterns: CDC, Debezium, GoldenGate, Fivetran.
• Data governance: Unity Catalog, Collibra, DataHub, OpenMetadata.
• FinOps, cost modeling, tagging for AI workloads.
• Stakeholder management and AI/data modernization roadmapping.
• Bachelor’s degree in CS/IS/Engineering or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement AI-enabled data platforms and lakehouse architectures.
• Develop and operationalize RAG solutions and enterprise AI apps.
• Build AI agents and automation using Claude and orchestration.
• Architect scalable batch and streaming data pipelines for AI/BI workloads.
• Lead data modernization by integrating legacy systems into cloud architectures.

Skills

Data Engineering

Data Architecture

Cloud Data Platforms

AI/Generative AI

Claude

LLM Integrations

RAG

Vector Databases

LangChain

Spark

Kafka

Flink

Airflow

dbt

Delta Lake

Iceberg

Terraform

Kubernetes

Docker

IaC

CDC

Debezium

GoldenGate

Fivetran

Unity Catalog

Collibra

DataHub

OpenMetadata

FinOps

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Terraform

Kubernetes

Docker

Airflow

Job description

About the role:

As an AI-Enabled Data Architecture Consultant, you will make an impact by designing and implementing modern data and AI platforms that help organizations accelerate digital transformation, unlock business insights, and operationalize enterprise AI solutions. You will be a valued member of the Data & AI Consulting team and work collaboratively with business stakeholders, enterprise architects, data engineers, cloud platform teams, and AI practitioners to deliver scalable and innovative solutions.

In this role, you will:

• Design and implement AI-enabled data platforms, lakehouse architectures, and cloud-native data ecosystems.
• Develop and operationalize Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) solutions and enterprise AI applications.
• Build AI agents and intelligent automation solutions utilizing Claude and modern orchestration frameworks.
• Architect scalable batch and streaming data pipelines to support AI, machine learning, analytics, and business intelligence workloads.
• Lead data modernization initiatives by integrating legacy systems, ERP platforms, and operational applications into modern cloud architectures.

Work model:

At Cognizant, we strive to provide flexibility wherever possible, and we are here to support a healthy work-life balance through our various well-being programs. Based on this role’s business requirements, this is an onsite position requiring 5 days per week in a client or Cognizant office in Cleveland, Ohio.

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:

• 8+ years of experience in Data Engineering, Data Architecture, Cloud Data Platforms, and AI/Generative AI solution delivery.
• Hands‑on experience developing enterprise AI solutions using Claude, LLM integrations, prompt engineering, Agentic AI, and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG).
• Strong expertise with vector databases such as Pinecone, Weaviate, or pgvector, and orchestration frameworks including LangChain.
• Proven experience designing and implementing modern data architectures utilizing Spark, Kafka or Flink, Airflow, dbt, and Delta Lake or Apache Iceberg.
• Experience with cloud infrastructure and platform engineering tools including Terraform, Kubernetes, Docker, and Infrastructure as Code (IaC).
• Strong knowledge of enterprise data integration patterns including CDC, Debezium, GoldenGate, Fivetran, and ERP or mainframe integrations.
• Experience establishing data governance frameworks, metadata management, data cataloging, lineage, and access controls using platforms such as Unity Catalog, Collibra, DataHub, or OpenMetadata.
• Demonstrated experience optimizing cloud environments through FinOps best practices, cost allocation strategies, tagging frameworks, and AI workload cost modeling.
• Strong stakeholder management, consulting, and communication skills with the ability to define AI and data modernization roadmaps.
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.

These will help you stand out:

• Experience with Azure Databricks and Azure OpenAI services.
• Experience working with Anthropic Claude in enterprise environments.
• Knowledge of multi‑agent AI architectures and autonomous AI systems.
• Experience designing and implementing knowledge graph solutions.
• Expertise supporting healthcare data platforms and healthcare industry use cases.
• Experience leading large-scale enterprise data modernization and cloud transformation programs.
• Relevant cloud, AI, data engineering, or architecture certifications.

*Please note, this role is not able to offer visa transfer or sponsorship now or in the future*

Salary and Other Compensation

Applications will be accepted until September 13, 2026

The annual salary for this position is between $ 130,000 - $ 150,000 depending on experience and other qualifications of the successful candidate.

This position is also eligible for Cognizant’s discretionary annual incentive program, based on performance and subject to the terms of Cognizant’s applicable plans.

Benefits: Cognizant offers the following benefits for this position, subject to applicable eligibility requirements:

• Medical/Dental/Vision/Life Insurance
• Paid holidays plus Paid Time Off
• 401(k) plan and contributions
• Long-term/Short-term Disability
• Paid Parental Leave
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Disclaimer: The salary, other compensation, and benefits information is accurate as of the date of this posting. Cognizant reserves the right to modify this information at any time, subject to applicable law.