SAM administrator

Cognizant; Wayzata (MN); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognizant in Wayzata, MN is seeking an experienced SAM Administrator to manage the software license estate for a long-term client engagement. The role owns entitlement tracking, compliance, audit readiness, and cost optimization across major publishers, collaborating with procurement, vendor management, security, infrastructure, and finance teams.

You will maintain entitlement repositories, reconcile data for an effective license position, monitor compliance, support audits, and identify savings

Qualifications

• Maintains software entitlement repository with contracts, purchase records, license metrics, and rights.
• Reconciles discovery data with entitlements to produce a correct ELP for major publishers.
• Monitors license compliance, identifies over/under-licensing risks, drives remediation.
• Prepares for vendor audits and self-audits with data collection and coordination.
• Identifies cost-savings like shelfware, reclaiming licenses, and right-sizing at renewal.
• Tracks renewals, true-ups, expirations; provides renewal forecasts to procurement.
• Manages software requests and reclamation workflows; validates catalog accuracy in SAM tool.
• Produces dashboards, KPIs, and improves SAM processes and documentation.

Responsibilities

• Maintain entitlement repository and license records for accuracy.
• Reconcile data to deliver accurate ELP for key publishers.
• Monitor compliance and coordinate remediation actions with owners.
• Support vendor audits and self-audits with data collection.
• Identify and pursue cost-saving opportunities and optimization.
• Forecast renewals and advise procurement on renewals.
• Manage SAM workflows and ensure catalog integrity in tools.
• Create dashboards and reports to measure SAM performance.

Skills

Software Asset Management & License/

Tools

Flexera

SAM Pro

Job description

SAM administrator

Location : Wayzata, MN

Role Summary

We are seeking an experienced SAM Administrator to manage the software license estate for a long-term client engagement. The role owns license entitlement tracking, compliance, audit readiness, and cost optimization across major publishers, partnering with procurement, vendor management, security, infrastructure, and finance teams.

Roles & Responsibilities

1. Maintain the software entitlement repository, including contracts, purchase records, license metrics, and rights (upgrade, downgrade, virtualization, BYOL).
2. Reconcile software discovery/installation data against entitlements to produce an accurate Effective License Position (ELP) for key publishers (Microsoft, Adobe, Oracle, VMware, IBM, SAP, Salesforce, etc.).
3. Monitor license compliance, identify over/under-licensing risks, and drive remediation with application owners and procurement.
4. Prepare for and support vendor audits and self-audits, including data collection, response coordination, and negotiation support.
5. Identify cost-savings opportunities such as shelfware, unused or underused licenses, reclamation, and right-sizing at renewal.
6. Track contract renewals, true-ups, and expirations; provide renewal forecasts and recommendations to procurement and finance.
7. Manage software request, approval, and reclamation workflows; validate software normalization and publisher/product catalogue accuracy in the SAM tool (SAM Pro and/or Flexera).
8. Produce dashboards, KPIs, and compliance reports; define and improve SAM processes, policies, and documentation.

Skill Matrix

• Software Asset Management & License Compliance (5+)
• SAM Tools: Flexera and/or SAM Pro (3+)
• Publisher Licensing (Microsoft, Oracle, Adobe, Oracle) (3+)
• Software Audit Defense & ELP (3+)