Lead MLOps Engineer (Vertex AI & GCP)

Cognizant; Georgia; On-site; USD 130,000 - 155,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

Life Insurance

Paid holidays

401(k)

Disability Insurance

Parental Leave

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Job summary

Cognizant in Georgia seeks a Senior MLOps Engineer to design and manage the cloud infrastructure, deployment pipelines, and monitoring for ML models in production on Google Cloud. You will lead migrations to Vertex AI, build CI/CD pipelines with Vertex AI Pipelines, Kubeflow, Cloud Build, and implement governance and rollback strategies.

This hybrid role requires regular onsite presence in Atlanta, collaborating with Data Science and Data Engineering teams to deliver enterprise-grade MLOps

Qualifications

• 7+ years in data, software, or ML engineering.
• 3+ years building MLOps solutions and deploying models.
• Strong expertise with GCP services (Vertex AI, BigQuery, Cloud Storage, Pub/Sub).
• Proficient in Python and SQL; hands-on Docker, Kubernetes, and GKE.
• Experience with CI/CD and IaC (Terraform, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, Cloud Build).
• Ability to lead initiatives and communicate with stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Lead migration and deployment of ML models into Google Cloud Vertex AI ecosystem.
• Design and maintain scalable CI/CD/CT pipelines using Vertex AI Pipelines, Kubeflow, and Cloud Build.
• Develop model deployment frameworks for real-time and batch inference workloads.
• Establish monitoring and lifecycle governance including drift detection and model registry management.
• Collaborate with data science and data engineering teams to deliver enterprise MLOps solutions.

Skills

Team leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication

Tools

Vertex AI

BigQuery

Cloud Storage

Pub/Sub

Terraform

GitHub Actions

GitLab CI

Jenkins

Cloud Build

Python

SQL

Docker

Kubernetes

GKE

Job description

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

About the role

As a Senior MLOps Engineer, you will make an impact by designing, implementing, and managing the cloud infrastructure, deployment pipelines, and monitoring frameworks that enable machine learning models to run reliably and efficiently in production environments. You will be a valued member of the AI & Data Engineering team and work collaboratively with Data Scientists, Data Engineers, business stakeholders, and global delivery teams to establish and scale MLOps capabilities on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

In this role, you will:

• Lead the migration, containerization, and deployment of existing machine learning models into the Google Cloud Vertex AI ecosystem.
• Design, implement, and maintain scalable CI/CD/CT pipelines using Vertex AI Pipelines, Kubeflow, Cloud Build, and related cloud-native technologies.
• Develop and manage model deployment frameworks supporting both real-time and batch inference workloads while ensuring reliability, scalability, and performance.
• Establish monitoring, governance, and lifecycle management processes, including model drift detection, version control, model registry management, and rollback strategies.
• Partner with business stakeholders, Data Science teams, and Data Engineering teams to define requirements, align priorities, and deliver enterprise-grade MLOps solutions.

Work model

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 regular onsite presence in Atlanta, Georgia. 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

• 7+ years of experience in Data Engineering, Software Engineering, Machine Learning Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 3+ years of hands-on experience building and managing MLOps solutions and deploying machine learning models into production environments.
• Strong expertise with Google Cloud Platform services, including Vertex AI, BigQuery, Cloud Storage, Pub/Sub, and related cloud-native technologies.
• Advanced programming experience with Python and SQL, along with hands-on expertise in Docker, Kubernetes, and Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE).
• Proven experience implementing CI/CD pipelines and Infrastructure as Code using tools such as Terraform, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, or Cloud Build.
• Demonstrated ability to lead technical initiatives, collaborate across distributed teams, and communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

These will help you stand out

• Google Cloud Professional Machine Learning Engineer or Professional Cloud Architect certification.
• Experience with machine learning frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, or Scikit-Learn.
• Experience implementing model monitoring, governance, and compliance frameworks in enterprise environments.
• Familiarity with Agile and Scrum methodologies.
• Experience mentoring engineers and leading offshore or distributed delivery teams.

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.

Applications will be accepted until September 29th, 2026.

Salary and Other Compensation

The annual salary for this position is between $130,000 - $155,000 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

• 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.