Physical AI - Client Partner

Cognizant; New York (NY); On-site; USD 200,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical/Dental/Vision/Life Insurance

Paid holidays plus PTO

401(k) plan and contributions

Long-term/Short-term Disability

Paid Parental Leave

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Job summary

Cognizant is seeking a Physical AI Client Partner in the United States to own and grow strategic client relationships for Physical AI offerings across robotics, connected devices, and embodied platforms.

You will be the senior commercial owner, responsible for revenue, margin, and profitability, while shaping client adoption of emerging tech and ensuring engagements are delivered profitably and sustainably.

Qualifications

• 15+ years in client management, account leadership, or strategic sales.
• Demonstrated P&L ownership for revenue, margin and profitability.
• Proven ability to grow strategic accounts through relationship building and consultative selling.
• Experience positioning emerging or technically complex offerings to executive buyers.
• Strong commercial acumen: pricing, deal structuring, forecasting, and margin management.
• Excellent executive presence and ability to simplify complex technology for clients.

Responsibilities

• Own one or more strategic client accounts as the senior revenue and relationship owner.
• Position Cognizant Intelligent Spine (CIS) Physical AI offerings to executives, translating AI/robotics capabilities into business value.
• Identify and close new opportunities within accounts for multi-year relationships.
• Build trusted-advisor relationships across client leadership.
• Carry full P&L responsibility for account portfolio, manage revenue, margin and profitability.
• Forecast, price and structure commercial engagements for healthy economics.
• Monitor financials and protect/grow margin while delivering client value.
• Orchestrate delivery with delivery, engineering and product teams to meet timelines and budgets.
• Govern account health, address escalations, and feed market feedback into roadmap.

Skills

Relationship building

Strategic selling

Executive presence

Forecasting

Pricing & deal structuring

Cross-functional leadership

P&L ownership

Opportunity development

Client portfolio growth

Industry knowledge (AI/IoT/robotics)

Job description

Physical AI Client Partner

About the role

We're looking for a Client Partner to own and grow strategic client relationships for our Physical AI offerings—AI systems that perceive, reason, and act in the physical world across robotics, connected devices, and autonomous and embodied platforms. This is a dual-mandate role: you'll be the senior commercial owner of your client portfolio, responsible for both selling our offerings and managing the full profit-and-loss for those accounts. You'll act as a trusted advisor to client executives, shaping their adoption of an emerging technology while ensuring every engagement is delivered profitably and sustainably.

Success in this role means being equally comfortable in the CxO positioning a new category, in the deal room negotiating commercials, and in the operating review managing margin and delivery health.

What you'll do

Sell and grow the relationship

• Own one or more strategic client accounts as the senior point of accountability for revenue, relationship, and outcomes.

• Position Cognizant Intelligent Spine (CIS) Physical AI offerings to client executives—translating complex AI, robotics, and connected-systems capabilities into clear business value and ROI.

• Identify, shape, and close new opportunities within your accounts, expanding from initial engagements into broader, multi-year relationships.

• Build deep, trusted-advisor relationships across the client's technical and business leadership.

Own the P&L

• Carry full P&L responsibility for your account portfolio—revenue, margin, and profitability.

• Manage forecasting, pricing, and commercial structuring to ensure healthy, sustainable economics.

• Monitor account financials and take action to protect and grow margin while delivering client value.

• Balance growth investments against profitability targets.

Orchestrate delivery and value

• Partner with delivery, engineering, and product teams to ensure engagements are delivered on time, on budget, and to the standard that grows the relationship.

• Govern account health—satisfaction, delivery quality, and risk—and step in to resolve escalations.

• Bring market and client feedback back into the offering roadmap.

What we're looking for

• 15+ years in client management, account leadership, or strategic sales, ideally within technology, engineering, or consulting services.

• Demonstrated P&L ownership—accountable for account or portfolio revenue, margin, and profitability.

• Proven ability to grow strategic accounts through a mix of relationship building and consultative selling.

• Experience positioning emerging or technically complex offerings (AI, IoT, robotics, automation, or digital engineering) to executive buyers.

• Strong commercial acumen: pricing, deal structuring, forecasting, and margin management.

• Excellent executive presence and the ability to make complex technology compelling and clear.

• Ability to orchestrate cross-functional teams (sales, delivery, product) toward client outcomes.

• Background blending technical credibility (engineering, robotics, or product) with commercial leadership.
• Experience selling hardware-plus-software or AI-on-device solutions.
• Familiarity with target verticals such as manufacturing, automotive, logistics, medical devices, energy, defense.
• Track record of building a new client relationship or offering from early stage to scaled revenue

Salary and other Compensation

The annual salary for this position is between $200,000 - $250,000 depending on the experience and other qualifications of the successful candidate. This position is also eligible for Cognizant’s discretionary annual incentive program and stock awards, 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, based on applicable law.

Work Authorization

Must be legally authorized to work in the United States without the need for employer sponsorship, now or any time in the future.