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Service Delivery Lead

Cognizant

Des Moines, IAFull-time$140–167K/yrSeen todaySeen in employer's feed today

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At a glance

Compensation
$140–167K/yr
Location
Des Moines, IA
Schedule
Full-time
Work Authorization
Not specified

Olive lists jobs from US employers, including remote roles you can work from the United States.

Job overview

Cognizant seeks a Service Delivery Lead for a full-time opportunity in Des Moines, Iowa. The role oversees end-to-end service delivery, operational governance, transformation initiatives, financial management, and Hardware and Software Asset Management. The lead manages infrastructure services and global delivery teams, drives operational excellence, and serves as an advisor to senior client stakeholders.

Skills & qualifications

RequiredNice to have

Skills

Service DeliveryTeam LeadershipDelivery Organization BuildingSuccession PlanningTrainingTalent ManagementData Center OperationsWindows and LinuxVirtualizationStorage and BackupEnterprise NetworkingCloud PlatformsITSM PlatformsServiceNowMonitoring and ObservabilityCMDB and Asset ManagementSecurity and ComplianceSoftware LicensingVendor Management

Qualifications

ITIL V4 Managing Professional or ExpertPMP or PgMPCISSPMicrosoft Azure Certifications

Full job description

Cognizant is seeking a Service Delivery Lead with multi tower experience for a full time opportunity in Des Moines, IA

This role will be responsible for end-to-end service delivery, operational governance, transformation initiatives, financial management, and oversight of both Hardware Asset Management (HAM) and Software Asset Management (SAM) functions.

The ideal candidate will have extensive experience managing complex enterprise infrastructure environments, leading global delivery teams, driving operational excellence, and acting as a trusted advisor to senior client stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

Program Leadership & Governance

  • Lead large-scale Infrastructure Managed Services programs supporting global enterprise environments.

  • Own service delivery, customer satisfaction, operational KPIs, SLAs, XLAs, and contractual commitments.

  • Establish executive governance cadence, steering committees, service reviews, and operational reporting.

  • Act as the primary escalation point for critical incidents, service risks, and customer concerns.

  • Develop and execute continuous service improvement and transformation roadmaps.

Infrastructure Operations Management

  • Oversee delivery across multiple infrastructure towers including:

  • End User Services

  • Service Desk

  • Network Operations

  • Data Center Operations

  • Server & Storage Administration

  • Cloud Operations (Azure, AWS, GCP)

  • Database Services

  • Identity & Access Management

  • Security Operations

  • Workplace Technology Services

  • Ensure operational stability, availability, performance, and compliance across infrastructure services.

Hardware Asset Management (HAM)

  • Govern the complete lifecycle of IT hardware assets.

  • Develop asset standards, policies, and lifecycle management processes.

  • Manage procurement, deployment, inventory tracking, refresh planning, warranty management, and asset disposal.

  • Ensure CMDB and asset repositories remain accurate and audit ready.

  • Drive cost optimization through asset utilization and lifecycle management strategies.

Software Asset Management (SAM)

  • Lead enterprise-wide software asset management and license compliance programs.

  • Manage software inventory, licensing models, renewals, audits, and vendor relationships.

  • Establish software governance and usage optimization initiatives.

  • Mitigate licensing and compliance risks.

  • Drive software rationalization and cost reduction programs.

Financial & Commercial Management

  • Manage P&L, budgets, forecasting, resource planning, and financial governance.

  • Identify opportunities for cost reduction, automation, and operational efficiencies.

  • Participate in contract negotiations, renewals, scope expansion, and service improvements.

  • Track delivery performance against contractual obligations.

Transformation & Automation

  • Drive infrastructure modernization initiatives.

  • Lead adoption of:

  • AIOps

  • ITSM/ITOM platforms

  • ServiceNow

  • Infrastructure Automation

  • Cloud Transformation

  • Observability Platforms

  • Develop operational efficiencies through automation and self-healing capabilities.

People Leadership

  • Lead, multi-disciplinary teams.

  • Build high-performing delivery organizations.

  • Mentor delivery managers, tower leads, and operations teams.

  • Establish succession planning, training, and talent.

Qualifications:

Experience managing multi-disciplinary teams.

Experience with building high-performance delivery organizations.

Experience managing Service Delivery Teams, Tower Lead and Operations teams.

Experience with succession planning, training and talent.

Technical Knowledge

  • Data Center Operations

  • Windows & Linux Platforms

  • Virtualization (VMware/Hyper-V)

  • Storage & Backup Technologies

  • Enterprise Networking

  • Cloud Platforms (Azure, AWS, GCP)

  • ITSM Platforms (ServiceNow preferred)

  • Monitoring & Observability Tools

  • CMDB & Asset Management Platforms

  • Security & Compliance Frameworks

  • Software Licensing & Vendor Management

Preferred Certifications

  • ITIL v4 Managing Professional or Expert

  • PMP / PgMP

  • CISSP (Preferred)

  • Microsoft Azure Certifications

The salary range for this role is between $140,000 to $167,000 depending on skills and qualifications of the candidate. Applications will be accepted till 11/11/2026.

Cognizant is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.

How this job compares

Set against the 302 open Service Delivery jobs on Olive Jobs, counted October 29, 2026.

Pay
  • This posting$140–167K/yr
  • US median$133–223K/yr231 salary ranges

This range's midpoint, $154K, is 13% below the US median midpoint ($177K) — in the middle half of Service Delivery salary ranges across the US.

Openings
Olive Jobs lists 302 open Service Delivery jobs across the US. 8% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
Hiring the most across the US
Experience
Service Delivery postings that state a minimum ask for 8 years of experience at the median; the middle half ask for 5 to 10 years (266 postings).
Education
136 of the 302 open Service Delivery jobs (45%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.

Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on October 29, 2026. Pay medians are the middle values of the low ends and of the high ends of postings that list both ends of a range in the same cadence (a yearly salary or an hourly rate); a range's midpoint is halfway between its ends. Pay and experience figures resting on fewer than 20 postings are left out.

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