Lead AI Architect

Cognizant; United States; On-site; USD 175,000 - 205,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual incentive

Benefits package

Job summary

Cognizant is seeking a Distinguished AI Architect to lead the design, governance, and delivery of enterprise-scale AI solutions. You will shape AI-native architectures, establish governance, and guide executive stakeholders while hands-on developing in Java or .NET.

The role spans Generative AI, Agentic AI, LLMs, and RAG across complex enterprise environments. You will collaborate with business leaders, data scientists, and engineers to translate strategy into scalable AI platforms, and mentor

Qualifications

• 10-15 years of IT experience with strong architecture, engineering, and enterprise transformation experience.
• 3+ years in AI/Enterprise Architecture or Digital Transformation leadership.
• Proven experience delivering enterprise-scale Generative AI and LLM solutions.
• Hands-on full-stack development with Java or .NET.
• Deep expertise in LLMs, RAG, vector databases and AI agents.

Responsibilities

• Design enterprise-scale AI-native architectures integrating Generative AI and enterprise data platforms.
• Lead AI governance standards, guardrails, risk controls, and responsible AI practices.
• Architect AI-powered decision systems, copilots, and knowledge assistants.
• Collaborate with executives, data scientists, and engineers to deliver scalable AI solutions.
• Present architecture workshops, client consultations, and transformation roadmaps.
• Mentor AI architects, full-stack developers, and ML engineers.

Skills

Enterprise Architecture

AI Governance

Executive communication

Full-stack development

Cloud platforms

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, AI or related

Tools

LangChain

LangGraph

AutoGen

CrewAI

Semantic Kernel

Job description

About AI & Analytics: Artificial intelligence (AI) and the data it collects and analyzes will soon sit at the core of all intelligent, human-centric businesses. By decoding customer needs, preferences, and behaviors, our clients can understand exactly what services, products, and experiences their consumers need. Within AI & Analytics, we work to design the future-a future in which trial-and-error business decisions have been replaced by informed choices and data-supported strategies.

By applying AI and data science, we help leading companies to prototype, refine, validate, and scale their AI and analytics products and delivery models. Cognizant’s AIA practice takes insights that are buried in data and provides businesses a clear way to transform how they source, interpret and consume their information. Our clients need flexible data structures and a streamlined data architecture that quickly turns data resources into informative, meaningful intelligence.

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

Job Summary

We are seeking a Distinguished AI Architect to lead the design, governance, and delivery of enterprise-scale AI solutions that drive strategic business transformation. This role combines deep expertise in Generative AI, Agentic AI, Large Language Models (LLMs), Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and enterprise architecture with strong hands-on full-stack development capabilities in Java or .NET. The ideal candidate will define AI-native architectures, establish governance frameworks, guide executive stakeholders, and architect scalable AI platforms that enable secure, compliant, and responsible AI adoption across complex enterprise environment.

In this role, you will:

• Design enterprise-scale AI-native architectures that integrate Generative AI, Agentic AI, enterprise knowledge systems, and business applications.
• Architect and implement AI solutions leveraging LLMs, RAG frameworks, multi-agent systems, vector databases, and enterprise data platforms.
• Lead the design of human-agent collaboration models, agent orchestration frameworks, and AI-assisted business workflows.
• Define AI governance standards, guardrails, risk controls, auditability frameworks, and responsible AI practices.
• Provide architectural leadership for AI-powered decision systems, copilots, knowledge assistants, and intelligent process automation solutions.
• Collaborate with business leaders, architects, data scientists, and engineering teams to translate strategic objectives into scalable AI solutions.
• Lead architecture workshops, executive reviews, client consultations, and AI transformation planning engagements.
• Establish standards for AI application development, AI-generated code quality, validation, testing, deployment, and operational readiness.
• Mentor AI architects, full-stack developers, ML engineers, and technology leaders while promoting reusable patterns and best practices.
• Drive innovation through evaluation of emerging AI technologies, frameworks, governance approaches, and enterprise AI platforms.
• Define observability, explainability, monitoring, and compliance capabilities for AI-driven systems operating in regulated environments.
• Contribute to organizational AI intellectual property, architecture frameworks, reference designs, and transformation roadmaps.

What you need to have to be considered

• 10-15 years of overall IT experience with strong architecture, engineering, and enterprise transformation experience.
• 3+ years of experience in AI Architecture, Enterprise Architecture, Solution Architecture, or Digital Transformation leadership roles.
• Proven experience designing and delivering enterprise-scale Generative AI, Agentic AI, and Large Language Model solutions.
• Strong hands-on full-stack development experience using Java or .NET technologies.
• Deep expertise in LLMs, RAG architectures, prompt engineering, vector databases, AI agents, and multi-agent systems.
• Experience building and deploying AI applications using frameworks such as LangChain, LangGraph, AutoGen, CrewAI, Semantic Kernel, or equivalent technologies.
• Strong understanding of AI governance, responsible AI, explainability, model transparency, bias mitigation, and risk management frameworks.
• Experience working with cloud platforms such as Azure, AWS, or GCP and modern AI service offerings.
• Familiarity with MLOps, AI Operations, CI/CD, DevSecOps, APIs, microservices, and cloud-native architectures.
• Strong executive communication, stakeholder engagement, consulting, and architecture governance experience.
• Experience supporting regulated industries such as Financial Services, Insurance, Healthcare, or Life Sciences is highly desirable.
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, or a related discipline.

Applications will be accepted until 5 Oct 2026.

Salary and Other Compensation:

The annual salary for this position is between $[174,500 - 204,500] 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: