Cognizant

Lead Data Scientist

Cognizant$150K — $160K *
Enterprise Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5-7 years of hands-on experience with Agentic AI systems that connect multiple tools for complex tasks.
  • Expertise in modern NLP techniques including transformers and conversational modeling.
  • Proven ability to implement open source LLMs with tuning and augmentation techniques.
  • Deep understanding of generative AI concepts like content quality evaluation and prompt engineering.
  • Strong programming skills in Python and experience with machine learning libraries for large models.
  • Solid data engineering fundamentals and MLOps practices for model reliability and monitoring.
  • Experience working in hybrid global teams with effective collaboration and project management skills.

Responsibilities

  • Design end-to-end AI solutions for autonomous workflows that improve business outcomes.
  • Develop NLP models to extract insights from multilingual data for better decision-making.
  • Architect scalable open source LLM solutions optimized for performance and cost.
  • Guide development of generative AI applications while adhering to ethical standards.
  • Establish frameworks for rapid prototyping of AI capabilities.
  • Collaborate with diverse teams to translate business needs into actionable AI roadmaps.
  • Review and maintain the reliability of data pipelines and AI infrastructure.

Benefits

  • Medical, Dental & Vision Insurance
  • 401(k) with Company Match
  • Employee Stock Purchase Program
  • Paid Time Off & Holidays
  • Paid Parental Leave
  • Short-Term & Long-Term Disability Coverage
  • Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
  • Mental Health & Wellbeing Programs
  • Health Advocacy & Virtual Care Services
Full Job Description
Lead Data Scientist role in a global enterprise focusing on advanced Agentic AI NLP open source LLMs and Generative AI. The role designs and delivers scalable AI solutions for hybrid work environments enabling responsible innovation that improves business outcomes and creates meaningful impact on customers and communities.

Responsibilities
  • Drive end to end design of Agentic AI solutions that orchestrate autonomous workflows and deliver measurable business outcomes for global stakeholders in a hybrid work environment.
  • Develop robust NLP models that extract insights from large scale multilingual text data to improve decision making and enhance customer experience across multiple channels.
  • Architect and implement open source LLM based solutions that are optimized for latency scalability and cost efficiency while maintaining strong performance on enterprise use cases.
  • Guide design of generative AI applications that create high quality content recommendations and summaries while adhering to responsible AI and data privacy standards.
  • Establish reusable frameworks prompts and evaluation methods that enable teams to rapidly prototype and productize Agentic AI and generative AI capabilities.
  • Coordinate with product managers architects and engineering teams to translate complex business needs into technical AI roadmaps and backlog items with clear acceptance criteria.
  • Review data pipelines feature stores and model serving infrastructure to ensure that AI solutions remain reliable observable and maintainable in production environments.
  • Perform rigorous experimentation benchmarking and error analysis on LLMs and NLP models to continuously improve accuracy robustness and fairness across user segments.
  • Document solution designs experiment findings model cards and operational runbooks in a clear and comprehensive manner to support maintainability and audit readiness.
  • Collaborate with risk legal and compliance partners to embed governance model monitoring and ethical AI practices throughout the solution lifecycle.
  • Mentor senior data scientists and machine learning engineers through code reviews design discussions and knowledge sharing on Agentic AI NLP and LLM best practices.
  • Engage with business stakeholders to explain complex AI behaviors manage expectations and ensure that deployed solutions create transparent value for the organization and society.
  • Evaluate emerging open source LLMs frameworks and tooling to recommend pragmatic adoption paths that align with enterprise security cost and performance requirements.


Qualifications
  • Exhibit extensive hands on experience in designing and deploying Agentic AI systems that coordinate multiple tools or services to complete complex business tasks.
  • Demonstrate strong expertise in modern NLP techniques including transformers semantic search text classification summarization and conversational modeling.
  • Show proven track record in implementing and fine tuning open source LLMs using approaches such as instruction tuning parameter efficient methods and retrieval augmentation.
  • Apply deep understanding of generative AI concepts such as prompt engineering alignment content filtering and evaluation of generated text for quality and safety.
  • Utilize solid programming skills in languages like Python along with experience in machine learning libraries and deep learning frameworks appropriate for large models.
  • Employ sound knowledge of data engineering fundamentals including data quality feature engineering and MLOps practices for reliable model deployment and monitoring.
  • Display experience working in hybrid global teams using modern collaboration tools with the ability to manage priorities across multiple parallel AI initiatives.
  • Combine strong analytical thinking and problem solving abilities with clear communication skills that make complex AI concepts accessible to diverse stakeholders.
  • Apply understanding of responsible AI principles including bias detection explainability privacy preservation and human oversight in all AI design decisions.
  • Maintain awareness of current research and industry trends in Agentic AI NLP LLMs and generative AI and translate relevant advances into practical enterprise solutions.

Application Accepted: 7/30/2026

The annual salary for this position is between $150,000 - $160,000 depending on experience and other qualifications of the successful candidate.

Benefits: Cognizant offers the following benefits for this position, subject to applicable eligibility requirements:
• Medical, Dental & Vision Insurance
• 401(k) with Company Match
• Employee Stock Purchase Program
• Paid Time Off & Holidays
• Paid Parental Leave
• Short-Term & Long-Term Disability Coverage
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Mental Health & Wellbeing Programs
• Health Advocacy & Virtual Care Services

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 la

Our strength is built on our ability to work together. Our diverse backgrounds offer different perspectives and new ways of thinking. It encourages lively discussions, creativity, productivity, and helps us build better solutions for our clients. We want someone who thrives in this setting and is inspired to craft meaningful solutions through true collaboration.

If you are content with ambiguity, excited by change, and excel through autonomy, we'd love to hear from you!

#LI-AV1#CB#Ind123

About Cognizant

TriZetto is Powering Integrated Healthcare Management. With technology solutions touching more than half the U.S. population today, TriZetto is uniquely positioned to drive the convergence of core benefit administration, care management and constituent engagement. TriZetto provides premier information technology solutions that enable payers and other constituents in the healthcare supply chain to improve the coordination of benefits and care for healthcare consumers.

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Learn more about Cognizant
Size
340,400 employees
Market Cap
$28.7 billion
Industry
Net Income
$1.3 billion
Founded
1994
5 Year Trend
+6.5%
Revenue
$16.6 billion
NASDAQ

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