Consulting Principal, Enterprise AI

Cognizant; Irving (TX); Hybrid; USD 230,000 - 290,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognizant Consulting is seeking a Consulting Principal, Enterprise AI to guide enterprise-wide AI architecture strategy and deliver scalable, governed AI solutions across SaaS, fintech, payments, and Hi-Tech clients.

You will collaborate with executives, solution architects, engineering leaders, product teams, and client leadership to drive AI transformation at enterprise scale, defining reference architectures and accelerating outcomes with governance and security in mind.

Qualifications

• 12–15+ years of Enterprise Architecture experience delivering large-scale technology transformations.
• Proven experience architecting enterprise-grade AI, GenAI, ML, and agentic AI solutions.
• Deep expertise with TOGAF ADM and Enterprise Architecture governance frameworks.
• Significant client-facing consulting experience, including executive engagement, solutioning, and pre-sales.
• Strong experience designing cloud-native architectures across AWS, Azure, and/or GCP.
• Expertise in microservices, Kubernetes, Docker, event-driven architecture, Kafka, REST APIs, and integration.
• Experience designing GenAI solutions including RAG architectures, vector databases, LLM onboarding, and orchestration frameworks.
• Strong understanding of AI governance, privacy, and regulatory compliance controls.
• Ability to develop proofs of concept and working prototypes to validate AI solutions.
• Experience establishing architecture standards, reusable frameworks, governance processes, and reference architectures.

Responsibilities

• Define enterprise AI architecture vision, governance standards, and target-state roadmaps that enable AI-augmented operations, intelligent automation, and enhanced customer and employee experiences.
• Architect scalable, resilient, explainable, and secure GenAI, machine learning, RAG, and agentic AI solutions while establishing reusable reference architectures and accelerators across client portfolios.
• Design cloud-native architectures and integration patterns across AWS, Azure, and GCP, ensuring AI capabilities are integrated with SaaS platforms and enterprise apps.
• Establish architecture governance, responsible AI standards, model evaluation frameworks, compliance controls, and Architecture Review Board processes.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to client executives while supporting solutioning, pre-sales activities, discovery workshops, proof-of-concepts, and large-scale transformation initiatives.

Skills

Enterprise Architecture

GenAI / AI

TOGAF ADM

Client-facing consulting

Cloud-native design

Microservices

Kubernetes

Docker

Event-driven

Kafka

REST APIs

Integration patterns

RAG architectures

Vector databases

LLM onboarding

AI governance

Prototypes / PoCs

Architecture standards

Governance processes

Reference architectures

Job description

About Cognizant Consulting

Cognizant Consulting is more than Cognizant’s consulting practice—we’re a global community of 5,000+ experts dedicated to helping clients reimagine their business. Blending our deep industry and technology advisory capability, we create innovative business solutions for Fortune 500 clients. And now, we’re looking for our next colleague who’ll join us in shaping the future of business. Could it be you?

About the role

As a Consulting Principal, Enterprise AI you will make an impact by defining enterprise-wide AI architecture strategy and establishing scalable, secure, and governed AI solutions across a portfolio of SaaS, fintech, payments, and Hi-Tech clients. You will be a valued member of the Enterprise Architecture team and work collaboratively with executive stakeholders, solution architects, engineering leaders, product teams, delivery organizations, and client leadership to drive AI transformation at enterprise scale.

In this role, you will:

• Define enterprise AI architecture vision, governance standards, and target-state roadmaps that enable AI-augmented operations, intelligent automation, and enhanced customer and employee experiences

• Architect scalable, resilient, explainable, and secure GenAI, machine learning, RAG, and agentic AI solutions while establishing reusable reference architectures and accelerators across client portfolios

• Design cloud-native architectures and integration patterns across AWS, Azure, and GCP, ensuring AI capabilities are seamlessly integrated with SaaS platforms, payment ecosystems, finance systems, ServiceNow, Salesforce, DocuSign, and other enterprise applications

• Establish architecture governance, responsible AI standards, model evaluation frameworks, compliance controls, and Architecture Review Board processes to ensure production-ready solutions

• Serve as a trusted advisor to client executives while supporting solutioning, pre-sales activities, discovery workshops, proof-of-concepts, and large-scale transformation initiatives

Work model – Hybrid

We believe hybrid work is the way forward as 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. 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 must have to be considered

• 12–15+ years of Enterprise Architecture experience supporting large-scale enterprise technology transformation programs

• Proven experience architecting enterprise-grade AI, GenAI, machine learning, and agentic AI solutions

• Deep expertise with TOGAF Architecture Development Method (ADM) and Enterprise Architecture governance frameworks

• Significant client-facing consulting experience, including executive stakeholder engagement, solutioning, pre-sales, and strategic advisory responsibilities

• Strong experience designing cloud-native architectures across AWS, Azure, and/or Google Cloud Platform

• Expertise in microservices, Kubernetes, Docker, event-driven architecture, Kafka, REST APIs, and enterprise integration patterns

• Experience designing GenAI solutions including RAG architectures, vector databases, LLM onboarding, AI orchestration frameworks, and autonomous agent solutions

• Strong understanding of AI governance, responsible AI practices, model evaluation frameworks, privacy requirements, and regulatory compliance controls

• Demonstrated ability to independently develop proofs of concept and working prototypes to validate AI solutions and architecture decisions

• Experience establishing architecture standards, reusable frameworks, governance processes, and enterprise reference architectures

These will help you succeed

• Domain expertise in SaaS platforms, fintech and payments, finance automation, semiconductor manufacturing, or Hi-Tech enterprise environments

• Experience supporting fraud detection, risk decisioning, payment processing, ledger platforms, identity management, compliance, and financial automation initiatives

• Experience integrating AI solutions with Salesforce, ServiceNow, DocuSign, ERP platforms, finance systems, and payment ecosystems

• Hands-on experience with LangChain, LlamaIndex, MLflow, Hugging Face, PyTorch, TensorFlow, and vector database technologies

• Experience designing enterprise data platforms, lakehouse architectures, Kafka-based streaming solutions, and large-scale analytics ecosystems

• Experience operating within highly regulated environments requiring PCI-DSS, SOX, privacy, fraud prevention, resilience, and audit controls

• Experience leading Architecture Review Boards, Design Review Boards, and enterprise governance councils

• Experience developing proposals, estimates, statements of work, and executive-level solution presentations

• TOGAF certification and cloud architecture certifications across AWS, Azure, or GCP

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.