Consulting Principal, Healthcare Tech Lead Architect

About Cognizant Consulting Cognizant Consulting is more than Cognizant’s consulting practice—we’re a global community of experts dedicated to helping clients reimagine their business through strategy, technology, and industry expertise. By combining deep domain knowledge with modern engineering and AI capabilities, we partner with leading organizations to solve complex problems and deliver measurable outcomes. And now, we’re looking for our next leader to help shape high‑impact healthcare transformations. Could it be you? About the role As a Consulting Principal – Data & AI Engineering, you will make an impact by leading the design, delivery, and evolution of large‑scale, event‑driven data and AI platforms for healthcare clients, with a strong focus on claims processing, real‑time decisioning, and fraud detection. You will serve as a trusted technical and consulting leader, working directly with senior client stakeholders, shaping solution architecture, guiding engineering teams, and ensuring delivery excellence. This role requires deep hands‑on technical leadership, with the expectation to remain actively involved in design and critical coding efforts while leading complex, multi‑workstream engagements. You will be a valued member of Cognizant’s Healthcare Data & AI Consulting leadership team, collaborating closely with clients, partners, and internal stakeholders. In this role, you will:

• Lead client‑facing architecture and solution design for high‑throughput, event‑driven data and AI platforms supporting healthcare claims use cases
• Own the end‑to‑end technical strategy for near real‑time and micro‑batch claims scoring, pre‑adjudication orchestration, and fraud detection pipelines
• Architect and guide delivery of large‑scale data platforms capable of processing 1M+ claims per day, leveraging streaming and micro‑batch patterns
• Provide technical leadership for Databricks‑ and Snowflake‑based ecosystems, including feature engineering, data modeling, performance optimization, and governance
• Oversee and contribute to production deployment of machine‑learning models, using Databricks Model Serving and Snowflake‑based deployment approaches
• Integrate advanced data and AI solutions with healthcare claims systems such as Facets, QNXT, and HealthRules
• Act as a hands‑on technical leader and mentor, guiding senior engineers while remaining actively involved in design and critical coding paths
• Partner with consulting, product, and delivery leaders to shape client roadmaps, identify opportunities, and ensure high‑quality outcomes

Work model We strive to provide flexibility wherever possible. Based on this role’s business requirements, this is a remote position open to qualified applicants in the United States with some travel involved to the client locations. Regardless of your working arrangement, we are here to support a healthy work‑life balance through our wellbeing programs. The working arrangements for this role are accurate as of the date of posting and may change based on project and client requirements. We will always be clear about role expectations. What you must have to be considered

• 10+ years of experience in data engineering, AI/ML platforms, or advanced analytics, with 5–7+ years of hands‑on coding experience
• Proven experience serving as a technical leader or architect on multiple large‑scale, client‑facing engagements
• Deep expertise in Python, with advanced hands‑on experience in PySpark (beyond pandas‑level usage)
• 3+ years of experience with Databricks, including Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, MLflow, and Databricks Workflows
• 3+ years of experience designing and optimizing solutions on Snowflake, including advanced SQL, data modeling, Snowpark, and performance tuning
• Demonstrated experience building high‑throughput ETL and event‑driven architectures (Kafka, EventBridge, or equivalent)
• Hands‑on experience deploying production machine‑learning models on both Databricks and Snowflake
• Strong understanding of healthcare claims data and workflows, including CPT, ICD‑10, and claims adjudication concepts (Facets/QNXT preferred)

These will help you succeed

• Experience integrating data and AI platforms with claims administration systems such as Facets, QNXT, or HealthRules
• Databricks Certified Solutions Architect or relevant AWS certifications
• Experience with fraud detection, payment integrity, or real‑time risk scoring in healthcare
• Strong consulting presence, including executive‑level communication, problem framing, and solution storytelling
• Ability to balance strategic leadership with hands‑on technical execution

We’re excited to meet leaders who share our mission and can make an impact in a variety of ways. Don’t hesitate to apply, even if you meet only the minimum requirements. Your experience, perspective, and leadership may be exactly what this role needs. Compensation $160,000-$194,000 This position is eligible for Cognizant’s discretionary annual incentive program, based on performance and subject to the terms of Cognizant’s applicable plans

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision and life insurance
• 401(k) plan and contributions
• Employee stock purchase plan
• Employee assistance program
• 10 paid holidays plus PTO
• Paid parental leave and fertility assistance
• Learning and development certifications and programs

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