Strategic HR Deals Lead - Remote

Cognizant; Indianapolis (IN); Remote; USD 150,000 - 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 an Associate Director, HR Deal Lead to drive the people workstream across strategic bids and employee transitions, guiding solution design, due diligence, contracting, and onboarding. You will collaborate with Sales, Solutioning, Finance, Legal, Delivery, and regional HR teams to ensure successful, compliant, and timely deal execution.

The role requires travel across the Americas and internationally, with a remote work option in the United States.

Qualifications

• Experience leading an HR deal workstream, including end-to-end people activities supporting outsourcing engagements.
• Experience in transformation, employee relations, or workforce transition, with demonstrated success independently leading complex workstreams.
• Strong practical knowledge of employment law.
• Experience in client-facing delivery, commercial risk assessment, contractual review, and cross-functional stakeholder management within a matrix organization.
• Commercial acumen and a solution-focused approach.
• Credibility with senior stakeholders, along with strong judgment and risk awareness.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills and confidence in negotiation.
• Strong program management skills and the ability to work effectively amid ambiguity, competing priorities, and deadlines.
• A collaborative and resilient working style, with the ability to work effectively across cultures.

Responsibilities

• Lead HR input into people solution design for outsourcing pursuits, partnering with Sales, Solutioning, Commercial, Finance, Legal, Delivery, and regional HR teams.
• Assess regional sensitivities and regulatory employee-transfer implications. Define appropriate transfer, rebadge, rehire, restructuring, and integration approaches.
• Lead people due diligence and translate employee data into clear risks, assumptions, dependencies, liabilities, and mitigation actions. Develop HR cost inputs covering compensation and benefits, pensions, payroll, redundancy or severance, consultation, and transition activity to support deal pricing and approvals.
• Review people-related provisions in master services agreements, statements of work, transfer schedules, and related contractual documents while working closely with Legal and Commercial teams. Present the people solution to senior internal and client stakeholders, including C-suite stakeholders, provide practical guidance, and influence decisions where workforce risk may affect deal viability or delivery.
• Establish strong customer engagement and lead client-facing activities, including oral presentations, due diligence, solution design, town halls, Day One activities, offer letters, client status reporting, and meetings. Plan and deliver end-to-end employee transitions, including employee communications, onboarding, payroll and benefits readiness, stabilization, and HR handover. Contribute to team capability through reusable tools, playbooks, training, coaching, and knowledge sharing.

Skills

HR deal lead

Transformation experience

Employment law

Client-facing delivery

Contract review

Program management

Stakeholder management

Job description

Cognizant is seeking an Associate Director, HR Deal Lead to drive the people workstream across strategic bids and employee transitions, guiding solution design, due diligence, contracting, and onboarding. You will collaborate with Sales, Solutioning, Finance, Legal, Delivery, and regional HR teams to ensure successful, compliant, and timely deal execution.

The role requires travel across the Americas and internationally, with a remote work option in the United States.