Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Cognizant is seeking a Principal AI Engineer to design, build, and scale secure, trustworthy, enterprise-grade agentic AI solutions. The role leads architecture and implementation of multi-agent systems, model orchestration frameworks, LLM-powered applications, and AI governance capabilities while collaborating with cross-functional engineering and business teams.
Responsibilities
- Architect and deliver scalable agentic and multi-agent AI systems, including orchestration, planning, memory, tool integration, and enterprise platform connectivity
- Design, develop, and deploy production-grade AI applications, owning technical decisions from proof of concept through operational deployment
- Build and optimize model orchestration frameworks that intelligently balance cost, latency, performance, and scalability across multiple model providers and AI services
- Develop robust LLM-powered solutions using prompt engineering, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), context management, structured outputs, and advanced evaluation frameworks
- Establish AI governance, safety, and responsible AI controls, including guardrails, validation frameworks, traceability, monitoring, auditability, and compliance mechanisms
Skills
- * Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience
- * 8+ years of experience in software engineering, machine learning, or AI engineering, including recent hands-on delivery of production AI or LLM-based solutions
- * Expert-level Python development experience with modern frameworks such as FastAPI, Pydantic, and asynchronous programming patterns
- * Deep hands-on experience with agentic AI frameworks such as LangGraph, LangChain, Google ADK, or similar orchestration platforms
- * Strong expertise in LLM integration, prompt engineering, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), context management, and evaluation methodologies
- * Experience designing model selection and orchestration strategies that optimize cost, latency, and response quality across AI workloads
- * Practical experience in machine learning, model evaluation, fine-tuning, feature engineering, and statistical analysis
- * Proven experience delivering solutions on cloud platforms using modern MLOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, containers, monitoring, and observability tools
- * Demonstrated ability to lead complex technical initiatives, mentor engineers, and produce clear architecture and design documentation
- Cognizant will only consider applicants for this position who are legally authorized to work in the United States without company sponsorship
- * Experience implementing AI governance, responsible AI, and safety frameworks, including adversarial testing, guardrails, drift detection, auditability, and compliance controls
- * Hands-on experience with Google Cloud technologies such as Vertex AI, Cloud Run, and BigQuery
- * Experience with model routing, LLM gateway, or AI orchestration platforms such as LiteLLM, TrueFoundry, or Bifrost
- * Familiarity with low-latency model serving, inference optimization, and local-model deployment strategies
- * Knowledge of AI FinOps practices, including predictive budgeting, usage optimization, and cost governance for LLM platforms
- * Contributions to AI evaluation, observability, monitoring, or governance tooling
- * Experience operating in highly regulated, security-sensitive, or compliance-driven enterprise environments
- * Publications, conference presentations, technical blogs, whitepapers, or contributions to the broader AI community
Benefits
- Remote position open to qualified applicants within the United States
- Wellbeing programs
- Career development opportunities
- Collaborative culture
- This position is also eligible for Cognizant’s discretionary annual incentive program, based on performance and subject to the terms of Cognizant’s applicable plans.
- 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
Company Overview