Associate Partner - Consulting, LifeSciences

Leading at Cognizant

This is a Leadership role at Cognizant. We believe how you lead is as important as what you deliver. Cognizant leaders at every level: Drive our business strategy and inspire teams around our future. Live the leadership behaviors , leading themselves, others and the business. Uphold our Values , role modeling them in every action and decision. Nurture our people and culture , creating a workplace where all can thrive. This includes leading with strategic ability, architecting client value, driving AI-led innovation, executing with discipline, building a collaborative ecosystem, and amplifying human potential.

At Cognizant, leadership transcends titles and is embodied in actions and behaviors. We empower our leaders at every level to drive business strategy, inspire teams, uphold our values, and foster an inclusive culture.

About Cognizant Consulting

Cognizant Consulting is where curious minds come together to solve complex challenges and create meaningful impact. Blending industry insight, technology expertise, and the power of AI, we partner with leading organizations to transform the way they work, serve customers, and grow.

About the role

As a Associate Partner - Consulting, you will make an impact by keeping the executive sponsor’s office decision-ready for a multi-region, multi-year CRM transformation. You will be a valued member of an integrated global PMO pod and work collaboratively with the global PMO lead, regional PMO leads, executive sponsors, business and IT leaders, and platform and delivery partners.

In this role, you will

• Own the executive governance calendar, meeting architecture, agendas, pre-reads and follow-up across global, US and out-of-US program cadences.

• Create decision-ready steering committee packs, executive briefings, decision papers and concise leadership communications that translate complex program information into clear choices and actions.

• Maintain the executive action and decision log, drive follow-through with accountable owners, and escalate overdue or blocked items through agreed governance routes.

• Synthesize integrated status, critical-path milestones, risks, issues, dependencies, capacity implications and required sponsor interventions into a coherent executive narrative.

• Coordinate sponsor-office interactions with Client, Veeva, Cognizant and other workstream leaders, ensuring meetings are prepared, outcomes are recorded and commitments are closed..

• Support stakeholder mapping, leadership alignment, communications planning and governance effectiveness from mobilization through go-live.

• Consistently demonstrate the Cognizant Way to Lead through strategic agility, client value creation, AI-led innovation, disciplined execution, collaborative ecosystem building and amplifying human potential through a culture of growth, inclusion and effective human-AI collaboration.

Work model

At Cognizant, we strive to provide flexibility wherever possible. Based on this role’s business requirements, this is a client-facing position supporting stakeholders across US, European and Asia-Pacific time zones. The final work location and remote or hybrid arrangement will be confirmed based on business and client requirements.

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.

What you must have to be considered

• Significant experience supporting a chief of staff, executive office, transformation office or enterprise PMO for a complex, multi-year technology or business transformation.

• Proven ability to prepare C-suite and executive sponsor materials, including steering packs, decision papers, briefings, dashboards and leadership communications.

• Strong program-management discipline, including governance cadence, RAID, action, dependency and decision tracking, and rigorous follow-through.

• Demonstrated ability to synthesize complex inputs from business, IT, regional and vendor stakeholders into concise, decision-ready narratives.

• Experience coordinating senior stakeholders across multiple geographies, functions and organizations in a regulated or enterprise environment.

• Excellent written and verbal communication, executive presence, judgment, discretion and ability to manage confidential program information.

• Demonstrated ability to build trust, exercise ownership and foster an inclusive, collaborative culture aligned with the Cognizant Way to Lead

These will help you succeed

• Experience in the life sciences, pharmaceutical or medtech industry, including commercial, medical or field-facing initiatives.

• Familiarity with CRM platforms such as Veeva and Salesforce and PMO tooling such as Smartsheet, ServiceNow, Azure DevOps, Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Teams.

• Experience supporting global CRM, commercial technology or operating-model programs across US, European and Asia-Pacific regions.

• Ability to use data, automation and AI-enabled productivity tools responsibly to improve reporting, insight synthesis and executive decision support.

• Exposure to agile and hybrid delivery practices across multi-vendor, cross-functional teams.

• Experience thriving in fast-evolving environments by translating global strategy into regional execution and championing continuous learning.

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.

Salary and Other Compensation

Applications will be accepted until November 20, 2026.

• The annual salary for this position is between $220,000 - $250,000 depending on the experience and other qualifications of the successful candidate.

• This position is also eligible for Cognizant's discretionary annual incentive program and stock awards, based on performance and subject to the terms of Cognizant's applicable plans.

Benefits

• 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

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.