The Director of AI Platform & MLOps is a critical, hands-on technology leader responsible for the architecture, execution, and day-to-day management of the infrastructure powering our AI Training Data Services. You will lead a world-class team of engineers to build, scale, and operate a robust, secure, and highly automated platform. This role requires a deep technical background in cloud infrastructure, MLOps, and large-scale systems, combined with proven experience in leading high-performing engineering teams.

Responsibilities

Technical Execution & Architecture:

· Translate the long-term vision into an executable technical roadmap, making key architectural decisions for the platform.

· Lead the hands-on design and implementation of our MLOps/LLMOPs framework, including CI/CD for models, data/model versioning, automated workflows, and monitoring.

· Engineer and manage a scalable, multi-cloud infrastructure (AWS/GCP/Azure) using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principles (Terraform, CloudFormation).

· Oversee the technical integration, scaling, and reliability of data annotation platforms and the GIG worker technology layer.

· Drive SRE best practices to ensure high availability, performance, and security of the entire platform.

Team & Operational Leadership:

· Recruit, lead, mentor, and directly manage a team of Cloud, DevOps, MLOps, and Site Reliability Engineers.

· Foster a culture of technical excellence, automation, and accountability within the engineering team.

· Manage the day-to-day project timelines, resource allocation, and operational activities to ensure successful platform delivery.

· Implement and optimize the cloud budget (FinOps) for your domain, ensuring cost-effective scaling.

Stakeholder & Client Engagement:

· Act as the primary technical expert in project-level discussions with clients, providing detailed solutioning and estimation for new deals.

· Collaborate closely with product management and service delivery teams to ensure the platform meets their requirements.

Skills & Qualification

· Experience: 12+ years in platform engineering or DevOps, with at least 4 years in a leadership role directly managing engineering teams.

· Cloud Architecture Mastery: Deep, hands-on experience designing and managing complex infrastructure on AWS, GCP, or Azure. Expertise with Kubernetes (EKS, GKE, AKS), serverless, and core cloud services.

· Expertise in MLOps/LLMOPs: Demonstrable, in-depth implementation experience with the full MLOps lifecycle (e.g., Kubeflow, MLflow, Seldon, DVC, Airflow) and infrastructure for LLMs (Vector DBs, fine-tuning environments).

· Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Strong, hands-on proficiency with Terraform or CloudFormation is a must.

· Technical Leadership: Proven ability to lead, mentor, and scale a technical team, driving projects from conception to production.

· Problem Solving: Exceptional ability to debug and solve complex technical issues in a distributed systems environment.

The Cognizant community:
We are a high caliber team who appreciate and support one another. Our people uphold an energetic, collaborative and inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive.

• Cognizant is a global community with more than 300,000 associates around the world.
• We don’t just dream of a better way – we make it happen.
• We take care of our people, clients, company, communities and climate by doing what’s right.
• We foster an innovative environment where you can build the career path that’s right for you.

About us:
Cognizant is one of the world's leading professional services companies, transforming clients' business, operating, and technology models for the digital era. Our unique industry-based, consultative approach helps clients envision, build, and run more innovative and efficient businesses. Headquartered in the U.S., Cognizant (a member of the NASDAQ-100 and one of Forbes World’s Best Employers 2025) is consistently listed among the most admired companies in the world. Learn how Cognizant helps clients lead with digital at www.cognizant.com

Cognizant is an equal opportunity employer. Your application and candidacy will not be considered based on race, color, sex, religion, creed, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

Disclaimer: 
Compensation 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.

Applicants may be required to attend interviews in person or by video conference. In addition, candidates may be required to present their current state or government issued ID during each interview.