AI Consultant Jobs in California

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 Principal Enterprise Architect — AI Specialty (Platforms & Services / Hi-Tech), you will make an impact by acting as the senior AI architecture authority for a portfolio of Platforms & Services and Hi-Tech accounts, defining how agentic and machine-learning capabilities are grounded in each client's data, governed responsibly, and standardized into reusable reference patterns so that AI becomes a dependable layer of the client's platform rather than a collection of disconnected pilots. You will be a valued member of the Enterprise Architecture team and work collaboratively with client executives, delivery, engineering, data, and product teams, and clients.

In this role, you will

• Set the enterprise-wide AI architecture vision and target-state roadmaps for each account, aligning every solution to the broader enterprise-architecture framework and advising leadership on emerging technologies and their business impact
• Architect complex, multi-layered AI systems — scalable, resilient, secure, and explainable — and design reference architectures for GenAI and autonomous/agentic frameworks grounded in enterprise context and orchestrated safely across SaaS and internal systems via APIs
• Standardize reusable building blocks (LLM onboarding, RAG pipelines, vector stores, agent/application patterns) and build hands-on proofs of concept and prototypes to validate feasibility, de-risk decisions, and win client confidence
• Establish and run architecture governance, standards, and responsible-AI practices — embedding data privacy and domain-specific compliance (e.g., PCI-DSS, SOX, IP sensitivity) and defining model-evaluation and benchmarking gates for production
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to solution architects and engineering teams, lead conversations with client executives up to C-level as a trusted advisor, and support pre-sales, solutioning, and discovery/design workshops

Work model

At Cognizant, we strive to provide flexibility wherever possible. Based on this role's business requirements, this is a hybrid position requiring 3 days a week in a client or Cognizant office in San Jose, California. Regardless of your working arrangement, we are here to support a healthy work-life balance through our various wellbeing programs.

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

• 12–15+ years in IT/enterprise architecture, including multiple years delivering architecture for large, complex programs at enterprise scale, with deep TOGAF practice and architecture review-board governance
• Proven track record architecting enterprise-grade AI solutions on cloud-native architectures (AWS, Azure, and/or GCP), with architectural experience across enterprise GenAI platforms, ML model deployment, RAG pipelines, and autonomous/agentic AI frameworks
• Substantial experience serving Platforms & Services and/or Hi-Tech clients (SaaS, fintech/payments, or semiconductor/capital-equipment) with deep domain depth in at least one and the range to ramp quickly on the others
• Hands-on enough to personally stand up quick proofs of concept and prototypes (Python, notebooks, agent/LLM SDKs, cloud services), with a track record of taking AI from PoC through to production at scale
• Client-facing / consulting experience including pre-sales, solutioning, and executive engagement, plus responsible-AI, data privacy, model governance, and domain-specific compliance expertise

These will help you succeed

• Real-time / low-latency decisioning and large-scale distributed systems (billions of transactions) for payments or risk platforms
• Data architecture — lakehouse strategies, information/data modeling, streaming (Kafka/Spark), and governance across domains
• Hands-on with AI frameworks and tooling — LangChain/LlamaIndex, vector databases, MLflow, PyTorch/TensorFlow, Hugging Face
• For Hi-Tech: familiarity with semiconductor design/manufacturing, EDA/CAD workflows, or yield/manufacturing analytics
• TOGAF certification strongly preferred and relevant cloud architecture certifications a plus; Bachelor's or higher in Computer Science, Engineering, Applied Science, or Mathematics, or equivalent practical experience

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 4, 2026.

• The annual salary for this position is between $165,000 - $194,000 depending on the experience and other qualifications of the successful candidate.
• 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.

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