Transformation Lead

Job Title: Transformation Lead

Job Location- Onsite- Charlotte, NC, USA

The Transformation Lead (Associate Director level) is accountable for overseeing end‑to‑end infrastructure delivery across complex enterprise environments. This role requires strong customer governance leadership, deep understanding of datacenter technologies, and the ability to drive automation, AI industrialization , transformation initiatives along with operational excellence, major incident handling, The leader will partner closely with customer stakeholders to ensure delivery outcomes align with business goals while promoting next‑generation and Agentic AI ‑ enabled infrastructure capabilities.

In this role, you will

Transformation Leadership

· Lead, and scale agentic automation across Infrastructure and Cloud Operations to transition from human‑driven runbooks to primarily autonomous agent‑driven operations

· Reducing MTTR via agent‑assisted triage, diagnosis, and execution.

· Achieving auto‑remediation for L1/L2 recurring events using policy‑governed agents grounded in telemetry and real runbooks.

· Educate and guide customers on GenAI use cases within the infrastructure layer.

· Support ideation and implementation of AI‑driven operations, predictive insights, and self‑healing capabilities.

· Design an agent/tool/planner architecture for Infra & cloud runbooks across Windows, Linux, storage , and DB platforms; establish context supply chains (SOP/KB/CMDB, telemetry) with retrieval, grounding, and guardrails; ensure safe tool execution (Terraform/Ansible/Cloud CLIs) with rollback.

Automation & Transformation

· Identify and implement automation, tooling enhancements, and modernization initiatives to improve efficiency and reduce manual work.

Infrastructure Delivery Leadership

· Own complete infrastructure delivery across on‑prem, cloud, and hybrid ecosystems.

· Ensure adherence to SLAs, KPIs, security, and compliance standards.

· Provide guidance to improve stability, performance, and scalability.

Customer Governance & Executive Engagement

· Lead governance forums, reviews, and strategy discussions with senior customer stakeholders.

· Drive alignment between customer objectives and delivery execution; maintain strong customer relationships.

Datacenter & Technology Expertise

· Apply broad knowledge of servers, networks, storage, virtualization, backup/DR, and monitoring.

Major Incident Management

· Lead high‑severity incident bridges; ensure timely restoration and clear communication.

· Oversee RCA and drive preventive and continuous improvement initiatives.

Solutioning, SOWs & Large Program Proposals

· Develop SOWs, proposals, cost models, and delivery approaches for major infrastructure programs.

· Collaborate with architecture and presales teams for scalable and customer‑aligned solutions.

What you’ll need to succeed (required skills)

· Proven experience managing large scale infrastructure delivery programs.

· Understanding of Agentic AI concepts and their applicability to infrastructure operations.

· Strong customer governance and stakeholder engagement capabilities.

· Deep technical understanding of datacenters and enterprise infrastructure services.

· Experience driving major incident management with strong communication and leadership.

· Ability to write SOWs, proposals, and program level documentation.

· Experience with observability, automation tools, scripting, and transformation initiatives.

· Excellent communication, negotiation, and interpersonal skills.

Qualifications & Certifications

· Education: BS/MS in CS/EE/IT (or equivalent experience).

· 7–10+ years in Infra/SRE/Platform Ops (Windows/Linux/Networks/DB/EUC); 2–3+ years operating agentic/LLM systems in production.

· Exposure to AI‑Ops platforms, observability tools, and automation frameworks.

· Preferred: AWS Professional Cloud Architect/Engineer; Generative AI Leader

· Certifications such as ITIL, PMP, VMware, AWS Architect, or equivalent.

· Experience working in managed services or large enterprise environments.

Benefits: Cognizant offers the following benefits for this position, subject to applicable eligibility requirements:

· 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

At Cognizant, we're eager to meet people who believe in our mission and can make an impact in various ways. We strongly encourage you to apply even if you only meet the required skills listed. Consider what transferrable experience and skills make you a unique applicant and help us see how you'd be beneficial to this role.

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

Work model

At Cognizant, we strive to provide flexibility wherever possible, and we are here to support a healthy work-life balance though our various wellbeing programs. Based on this role’s business requirements, this is an onsite position requiring 5 days a week at the client site in Charlotte, NC, USA.

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.

We're excited to meet people who share our mission and can make an impact in a variety of ways. Don't hesitate to apply, even if you only meet the minimum requirements listed. 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.

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.

“Cognizant is an equal opportunity employer. Your application and candidacy will not be considered based on race, color, sex, religion, creed, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.”