Sr. Frontier Lead Developer/Architect (Remote)

Cognizant; New York (NY); On-site; USD 90,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

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

Job summary

Cognizant is seeking a mid-senior architect to lead the Frontier pod’s agentic systems design and governance. You will translate complex requirements into scalable AI solutions, oversee orchestration and quality, and mentor engineers.

This role spans technical depth, domain expertise and business outcomes, with a strong software engineering foundation and hands-on experience across modern frameworks. You will collaborate with clients to define architectures, governance, and security patterns,

Qualifications

• 7-15 yrs delivery with deep AI-systems design experience.
• Proven ability to design and govern agentic systems for enterprise-scale deployments.
• Experience translating complex requirements into scalable AI solutions and client engagements.

Responsibilities

• Design and deploy custom agents and agentic workflows; govern permissions, context-sharing and data access.
• Architect agentic deployments on enterprise platforms; design trust-layer and cross-agent governance.
• Define AI orchestration architecture and state, tool-calling and failure-modes patterns for the domain.
• Design agentic quality-assurance frameworks: agentic test orchestration and synthetic-data strategy.
• Engineer enterprise knowledge bases, ontologies and retrieval pipelines for agent grounding at scale.
• Translate domain requirements into AI functional specifications for the pod.
• Apply software engineering principles and integrate AI solutions with enterprise applications using Java, .NET, Spring Boot, Angular, Node.js.

Skills

Agentic system architecture

Enterprise agent platforms

AI orchestration patterns

Agentic test-framework design

Knowledge graph & ontology engineering

RAG-at-scale & grounding strategy

A2A agent protocols

AI security & access controls

Technical advisory & client engagement

Tools

Copilot Studio

Agentforce

Job description

ABOUT THE ROLE

The mid-senior architect of the Frontier pod. Having graduated from hands-on engineering, the Master owns the design and governance of agentic systems within a domain, sets the quality bar for the pod's build, and is the principal technical advisor to both the pod and the client. Translates complex requirements into scalable AI solutions, governs orchestration and quality, and mentors Frontier Engineers. The connective tissue between engineering execution and enterprise architecture. Works across the three Frontier axes (technical depth, domain expertise and business mindset), asking what the function should look like in an AI era before deciding what to build, and ties the pod's design to the customer outcome.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

Design and deploy custom agents and agentic workflows; govern permissions, context-sharing and data access.

Architect agentic deployments on enterprise platforms; design trust-layer and cross-agent governance.

Define AI orchestration architecture and state, tool-calling and failure-mode patterns for the domain.

Design agentic quality-assurance frameworks: agentic test orchestration and synthetic-data strategy.

Engineer enterprise knowledge bases, ontologies and retrieval pipelines for agent grounding at scale.

Translate complex domain requirements into AI functional specifications for the pod.

WHAT YOU BRING

Agentic system architecture, Enterprise agent platforms (Copilot Studio/Agentforce), AI orchestration & state-management patterns, Agentic test-framework design, Knowledge graph & ontology engineering, RAG-at-scale & grounding strategy, MCP/A2A agent protocols, AI security & access controls, Technical advisory & client engagement.

AI-Native Solution Architecture, Agentic Engineering & Orchestration, Context & Retrieval Engineering, AI Quality & Evaluation Design, Technical Leadership & Advisory, Domain Fluency & Contextual Judgment, Business-Outcome Orientation.

ENTRY AND GROWTH

7-15 yrs delivery with deep AI-systems design experience.

Demonstrate independent agentic-system design and domain governance; pass the Frontier CoE assessment at Specialist level.

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

Builds, ships and permanently owns AI-native systems end to end in a small Frontier pod, and is measured on the customer outcome the pod commits to, not on technical throughput alone.

ABOUT THE ROLE

The mid-senior architect of the Frontier pod. Having graduated from hands-on engineering, the Master owns the design and governance of agentic systems within a domain, sets the quality bar for the pod's build, and is the principal technical advisor to both the pod and the client. Translates complex requirements into scalable AI solutions, governs orchestration and quality, and mentors Frontier Engineers. The connective tissue between engineering execution and enterprise architecture. Works across the three Frontier axes (technical depth, domain expertise and business mindset), asking what the function should look like in an AI era before deciding what to build, and ties the pod's design to the customer outcome. Brings a strong software engineering foundation with hands‑on experience in one or more technologies such as Java, .NET, Spring Boot, Angular, Node.js, or similar modern development frameworks.

• Design and deploy custom agents and agentic workflows; govern permissions, context-sharing and data access.
• Architect agentic deployments on enterprise platforms; design trust‑layer and cross‑agent governance.
• Define AI orchestration architecture and state, tool‑calling and failure‑mode patterns for the domain.
• Design agentic quality‑assurance frameworks: agentic test orchestration and synthetic‑data strategy.
• Engineer enterprise knowledge bases, ontologies and retrieval pipelines for agent grounding at scale.
• Translate complex domain requirements into AI functional specifications for the pod.
• Apply software engineering principles and integrate AI solutions with enterprise applications using technologies such as Java, .NET, Spring Boot, Angular, Node.js, APIs and microservices.

ABOUT THE ROLE

The mid-senior architect of the Frontier pod. Having graduated from hands‑on engineering, the Master owns the design and governance of agentic systems within a domain, sets the quality bar for the pod's build, and is the principal technical advisor to both the pod and the client. Translates complex requirements into scalable AI solutions, governs orchestration and quality, and mentors Frontier Engineers. The connective tissue between engineering execution and enterprise architecture. Works across the three Frontier axes (technical depth, domain expertise and business mindset), asking what the function should look like in an AI era before deciding what to build, and ties the pod's design to the customer outcome. Brings a strong software engineering foundation with hands‑on experience in one or more technologies such as Java, .NET, Spring Boot, Angular, Node.js, or similar modern development frameworks.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

Design and deploy custom agents and agentic workflows; govern permissions, context‑sharing and data access.

Architect agentic deployments on enterprise platforms; design trust‑layer and cross‑agent governance.

Define AI orchestration architecture and state, tool‑calling and failure‑mode patterns for the domain.

Design agentic quality‑assurance frameworks: agentic test orchestration and synthetic‑data strategy.

Engineer enterprise knowledge bases, ontologies and retrieval pipelines for agent grounding at scale.

Translate complex domain requirements into AI functional specifications for the pod.

WHAT YOU BRING

Core skills: Agentic system architecture, Enterprise agent platforms (Copilot Studio/Agentforce), AI orchestration & state‑management patterns, Agentic test‑framework design, Knowledge graph & ontology engineering, RAG‑at‑scale & grounding strategy, MCP/A2A agent protocols, AI security & access controls, Technical advisory & client engagement.

Competencies: AI‑Native Solution Architecture, Agentic Engineering & Orchestration, Context & Retrieval Engineering, AI Quality & Evaluation Design, Technical Leadership & Advisory, Domain Fluency & Contextual Judgment, Business‑Outcome Orientation.

ENTRY AND GROWTH

Experience: 7-15 yrs delivery with deep AI‑systems design experience.

Entry: Demonstrate independent agentic‑system design and domain governance; pass the Frontier CoE assessment at Specialist level.

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

Builds, ships and permanently owns AI‑native systems end to end in a small Frontier pod, and is measured on the customer outcome the pod commits to, not on technical throughput alone.

Salary And Other Compensation

The annual salary for this position is between $90,000 - $170,000 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.