GCP Engagement Lead

About AI & Analytics

Artificial intelligence (AI) and the data it collects and analyzes will soon sit at the core of all intelligent, human-centric businesses. By decoding customer needs, preferences, and behaviors, our clients can understand exactly what services, products, and experiences their consumers need. Within AI & Analytics, we work to design the future—a future in which trial-and-error business decisions have been replaced by informed choices and data-supported strategies.

By applying AI and data science, we help leading companies to prototype, refine, validate, and scale their AI and analytics products and delivery models. Cognizant’s AIA practice takes insights that are buried in data and provides businesses a clear way to transform how they source, interpret and consume their information. Our clients need flexible data structures and a streamlined data architecture that quickly turns data resources into informative, meaningful intelligence.

Please note, this role is not able to offer visa transfer or sponsorship now or in the future.

We are seeking a Senior Manager-level Lead Data Engineer with strong expertise in Google Cloud Platform (GCP) data services and Business Intelligence. This role focuses on designing and delivering scalable, high-performance data pipelines that power enterprise analytics and reporting. You will bridge modern cloud data engineering with BI consumption, ensuring seamless data flow from ingestion to insight. The position requires strong technical leadership, architecture expertise, and the ability to drive data-driven transformation across the organization.

• Architect and deliver end-to-end data solutions on GCP using Big Query, Dataflow, Pub/Sub, Cloud Composer (Airflow), and Dataproc.
• Design scalable data ingestion, transformation, and serving layers aligned with modern data mesh or lakehouse architectures.
• Define and enforce best practices including CI/CD for data pipelines, infrastructure-as-code (Terraform), and data quality monitoring.
• Partner with BI architects and analysts to optimize Big Query data models for reporting and self-service analytics.
• Enable seamless integration between GCP data services and BI tools such as Looker, Tableau, and Power BI.
• Drive cost optimization strategies including slot management, partitioning, and clustering in Big Query.
• Lead and mentor data engineering teams, contributing to hiring, capability development, and technical standards.
• Collaborate with product and business stakeholders to translate analytical requirements into scalable data solutions.

• 8+ years of data engineering experience, including 4+ years on Google Cloud Platform.
• Strong expertise in Big Query, including performance tuning, partitioning, clustering, and cost governance.
• Hands‑on experience with GCP services such as Dataflow (Apache Beam), Pub/Sub, Cloud Composer, Dataproc, and Cloud Storage.
• Proficiency in Python and SQL; experience with dbt for transformation workflows is a plus.
• Familiarity with BI tools and designing data models for reporting consumption (Looker, Tableau, Power BI).
• Experience with data governance and lineage tools (e.g., Dataplex, Collibra) and access control on GCP; GCP Professional Data Engineer certification preferred.

Applications will be accepted until 10 Jun 2026.

The hourly salary for this position is between $[,500] depending on 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.

• 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