Sr. Project Manager (IAM/CIAM)

Cognizant's Digital Engineering practice is seeking a highly qualified Sr. Project Manager with at least 10+years' experience leading complex software programs with a background in developing and building high-performing, scalable, enterprise applications. You will be part of a digital software team that works on high-demand applications. Our engineers have a passion for high-quality, reliable, and maintainable code. You will work side by side with product managers, designers, and clients, making decisions together to quickly deliver valuable working software to clients and their users. Our engineers are agile and retrospective, and not afraid to identify what we're doing wrong, so we can fix it, and what we're doing right, so we can improve on it. Above all, we judge success by the success of our team and the happiness of our customers.

Location: Arizona City - AZ USA (Onsite- 5 days/week)

Please note- You must be legally authorized to work for any employer in USA without the need for employer sponsorship, now or at any time in the future.

Roles/Responsibilities:
• Own and maintain the end-to-end project implementation plan, including scope, milestones, schedules, dependencies, resource allocations, risk mitigation plans, and delivery timelines.
• Lead the delivery of the IAM/customer authentication platform replacement initiative, ensuring alignment with business objectives, security requirements, and customer experience goals.
• Coordinate project execution across product management, architecture, development, QA/testing, security, infrastructure, operations, release management, and business stakeholder teams.
• Establish and manage project governance processes, including status reporting, milestone reviews, risk and issue management, decision tracking, and executive communications.
• Facilitate project planning sessions, steering committee meetings, working sessions, readiness reviews, sprint reviews, and leadership updates.
• Monitor and manage dependencies across Ping Identity implementation, React-based sign-on user interface development, Java backend/API services, integrations, testing activities, migration efforts, and production deployments.
• Partner closely with Product Owners, Scrum Masters, Architects, and Delivery Leads to ensure Agile sprint execution remains aligned with overall program objectives and timelines.
• Identify, assess, and proactively mitigate project risks, issues, blockers, and resource constraints to ensure successful project delivery.
• Develop and execute stakeholder communication plans, ensuring impacted business groups, operational teams, support organizations, and leadership teams remain informed throughout the project lifecycle.
• Coordinate migration planning and execution activities associated with transitioning from the existing IAM platform to the new authentication solution, including cutover planning, rollback strategies, and contingency management.
• Track and ensure completion of environment readiness, integration readiness, testing readiness, release readiness, operational readiness, and production support readiness activities.
• Oversee testing milestones, defect management processes, and release planning activities to ensure quality standards and delivery commitments are met.
• Collaborate with security, compliance, and architecture teams to ensure all project deliverables adhere to enterprise standards, governance requirements, and security controls.
• Manage launch execution activities, including deployment coordination, command center support, issue triage management, stakeholder communications, and post-launch stabilization.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives through lessons learned sessions, retrospective reviews, and implementation of best practices across project delivery processes.
• Prepare and present project status reports, dashboards, executive summaries, and key metrics to senior leadership and governance boards.
• Support knowledge transfer activities, operational handoffs, and documentation efforts to ensure long-term sustainability of the delivered solution.

Required Qualifications:
• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Information Technology, Engineering, Business, or a related discipline.
• Active PMP Certification required.
• Minimum 10+ years of project management experience leading large-scale application development, digital transformation, or enterprise technology initiatives.
• Strong experience delivering projects using Agile, Scrum, Kanban, or hybrid delivery methodologies.
• Proven experience managing Identity and Access Management (IAM) or Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) programs, authentication platforms, or security-related technology initiatives.
• Experience leading complex technology transformation projects involving platform modernization, migration, or replacement of legacy systems.
• Strong understanding of customer authentication technologies, including:

Ø Single Sign-On (SSO)

Ø Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

Ø OAuth 2.0

Ø OpenID Connect (OIDC)

Ø SAML

Ø Identity Federation
• Experience coordinating cross-functional teams across product management, architecture, development, testing, security, infrastructure, operations, and business organizations.
• Experience managing projects involving technologies and platforms such as:

Ø Ping Identity

Ø React-based Web Applications

Ø Java-based Services and APIs

Ø CI/CD Pipelines

Ø Cloud Platforms

Ø Enterprise Application Integrations
• Strong expertise in project planning, dependency management, risk management, stakeholder communication, governance, budgeting, and executive reporting.
• Experience coordinating release management, migration planning, production readiness, cutover activities, and post-production support.
• Strong leadership, facilitation, negotiation, and conflict-resolution skills.
• Self-motivated with strong ownership, organizational, problem-solving, and decision-making capabilities.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to communicate effectively with technical teams, business stakeholders, and executive leadership.

Salary and Other Compensation:

The annual salary for this position is between $ 81,337- $ 141,500 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: 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

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.