AI Strategist - Senior Director

About The AI Market Unit

The AI Market Unit unifies Cognizant’s AI expertise and best practices to turn our strongest capabilities into repeatable, packaged offerings for clients – positioning us to compete more effectively, win larger AI opportunities, and deliver stronger outcomes across the APJ region.

It Is Not a Delivery Factory Or a Generic Centre Of Excellence. It Is a Lean, Elite, Purpose-built Squad Whose Charter Is To Enable Cognizant To Become The Most Credible AI Strategist In The APJ Market And To Win a Higher Share Of AI-first Deals. The Market Unit Focuses On

Engaging business leaders across our clients’ organisations, not only IT
Shaping demand through packaged AI solutions and outcome-based commercial models
Targeting opportunities across the three Vectors – driving productivity, modernising core systems, and agentifying workflows
Strengthening Cognizant’s AI brand through showcases, client narratives, and thought leadership
Bringing regional depth across ANZ, Japan, ASEAN+, and India, respecting each market’s distinct AI dynamics, and driving AI fluency uplift across APJ

Role Summary

The AI Builder /Strategist is a senior client-facing advisor responsible for helping clients identify, prioritise, justify, and scale AI-led transformation initiatives. The role acts as the bridge between business strategy and AI execution, engaging C-suite executives to develop AI vision, operating models, investment roadmaps, business cases, and transformation programs.

The role combines management consulting, AI strategy, industry expertise, and commercial acumen to help clients move from AI experimentation to enterprise-wide value realisation. The consultant works closely with clients, industry leaders, AI ecosystem partners, hyperscalers, solution architects, data scientists, AI engineers, and consulting teams to shape strategic AI opportunities and accelerate adoption.

Key Responsibilities

Executive & CXO Engagement
Engage CXOs to identify AI-driven business opportunities
Facilitate AI strategy workshops and executive briefings
Translate AI capabilities into measurable business outcomes
AI Strategy & Roadmap Development
Assess AI maturity, readiness, and organisational capabilities
Develop enterprise AI roadmaps aligned to business objectives
Define AI operating models, governance frameworks, and adoption strategies
Prioritise AI initiatives based on business value, feasibility, and risk
Business Case & Value Realisation
Develop AI investment cases, ROI models, and value-realisation frameworks
Quantify benefits including productivity, cost reduction, revenue growth, and customer experience improvements
Identify high-value use cases across business functions and industries
Solution Shaping & Deal Orchestration
Craft and orchestrate end-to-end AI solutions for clients across service lines and industries, mapped to Cognizant’s AI Builder strategy
Create appropriate AI commercial and pricing models for PoCs and RFPs
Solution Delivery
Lead small teams to deliver PoCs and consulting assignments
Produce client-ready materials – business cases, value propositions, and demo narratives
Sales, Growth & Thought Leadership
Define the AI go-to-market plan for the assigned industry – opportunity areas and solution plays
Research industry trends, pain points, and adoption drivers; craft industry AI use-case narratives
Contribute to market thought leadership and AI consulting offerings
Drive AI-enabled revenue growth and strategic client relationships

Key Performance Indicators

Bookings TCV / Influenced Bookings TCV
Billability: 30%

Experience & Skills

The capability profile below is common to both levels. Levelling is differentiated solely by depth and breadth of experience, as set out in the levelling matrix that follows.

Proven AI strategy expertise, including Generative AI, Agentic AI, AI operating models, governance, Responsible AI, enterprise adoption, and AI-led transformation programs
Extensive CXO engagement experience, with the ability to facilitate executive workshops, influence senior stakeholders, and present complex AI concepts in business terms
Strong business case and value-realisation skills, including development of ROI models, investment cases, cost-benefit analyses, and executive funding proposals
Experience developing AI roadmaps and transformation strategies – from opportunity identification and use-case prioritisation through to enterprise-scale implementation
Strong understanding of modern AI technologies, including LLMs, GenAI, AI Agents, RAG, AI platforms (Azure AI/OpenAI, AWS Bedrock, Google Vertex AI), and enterprise data ecosystems
Dominant industry expertise in one or more sectors such as Insurance, Mining, Telecommunications, Financial Services, Retail, Transport, Hospitality, Public Sector, or Healthcare