Associate Director, Program Management

Associate Director, Program Management

We are seeking an Associate Director, Program Management to join our CX/CRM Team supporting our Retail/CPG industry team! In this role, you will be part of Delivery team and serve as a strategic advisor and subject matter expert (SME) within the Retail and CPG space supporting Salesforce engagements in technical and management capacity. Focused on growing our client base, this role supports the entire customer lifecycle from pre-sales solutioning through post-go-live adoption and expansion. You will bring deep industry knowledge, process expertise and thought leadership to advise customers, ensure successful implementation of Salesforce solutions, and drive long-term value. You will also collaborate cross-functionally with other Retail and CPG SMEs and CXCRM competency teams to align Salesforce capabilities with retail and CPG specific challenges, delivering measurable impact at every step of the client lifecycle.

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. This role requires up to 50% travel. If you are within a 50-mile radius of a Cognizant office, we prefer you work from a Cognizant office 3 times a week, unless you are traveling to a client site.

In this role, you will:

• Drive Growth and Build Compelling Solutions: Act as a trusted Salesforce and industry SME during the sales cycle, participating in discovery meetings with prospective and existing clients to uncover business challenges, technical requirements, and success criteria, aligning proposed solutions to their objectives.
• Serve as a trusted Salesforce and Retail/CPG Technical Solution SME: Act as a trusted advisor by leveraging Salesforce insights to anticipate client needs, align with evolving market trends, and drive strategic retail/CPG solutions. Guide customers in rationalizing and deploying new technologies that drive increased business value. Establishes close alliance and partnerships with Salesforce and other platform account executives and partner alliance team to drive partnership led growth strategies.
• Be a Strategic Project/Program Leader: Partner with internal stakeholders to ensure a seamless client experience across all delivery stages. Own and oversee the client portfolio with real-time visibility into project health, financial performance, and resource management. Build and maintain strong collaborative relationships between practice and market teams to develop in-depth understanding of client business challenges and opportunities. Conduct research into clients' use of Salesforce and drives strategic vision, roadmap, and to-be architecture for Salesforce solutions.
• Collaborate Across Cognizant: Drive cross-functional collaboration by orchestrating the right mix of skills and resources to meet client needs, while partnering closely with internal account teams to manage and grow existing relationships. Closely collaborate with practice teams including pre-sales, business development, sales and delivery to deliver on cross-functional strengths and capabilities.
• Be a Strong People Leader: Inspire and grow a high-performing team of project and program managers through effective leadership, mentorship, and strategic staffing; champion a delivery culture rooted in ownership, accountability, and continuous growth.

What you need to be considered:

• 15+ years of relevant consulting experience in large professional services/IT consulting firms, including business development, management of client relationships and delivery oversight with at least 10 years of experience in Salesforce solution architecture and design.
• Ability to lead multi-cloud opportunities in the areas of CX/CRM leveraging Salesforce tech stack including but not limited to Sales, Service, Integration, Commerce, Field Service and other similar domains
• Proven understanding of retail and CPG- specific trends and operational models.
• Significant experience leading executive stakeholder relationships.
• Experience working on pursuit teams and participating in the proposal development process.
• Executive presence with excellent verbal, written, and presentation skills.
• Strong financial and business acumen with ability to link delivery performance to company outcomes.
• Inspiring people leader and cross-functional collaborator.
• Strategic thinker with high accountability and bias for action.
• Maintains 50% billable utilization for key client engagements

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

What we offer

• The chance to work with impact. Here, you're empowered to bring your biggest thinking to help our company and clients improve everyday life.
• Ownership over your career. Stay at the top of your game through our award-winning learning and development ecosystem. And when your ambitions change or we offer new opportunities, we help you pivot by providing reskilling, on-the-job learning and guidance to find new roles that might be a better fit.
• The opportunity to thrive on a high caliber team with heart. We celebrate each other's experiences and perspectives and promote a sense of belonging through our affinity groups and diversity and inclusion initiatives.
• A comprehensive total rewards package, including a competitive salary and pension plan with matching contributions.
• Flexible health and financial benefits to support you and your eligible dependents from day one.
• True work-life balance. Be at your best through paid time off, flexible work arrangements, volunteering opportunities, social events, and so much more.

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.

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, provincial or local laws.

If you have a disability that requires reasonable accommodation to search for a job opening or submit an application, please email CareersNA2@cognizant.com with your request and contact information.

Language requirements vary depending on roles, but we ask that all candidates have basic English proficiency for company-wide communications purposes. For roles based in Quebec, professional English proficiency is required, as you'll deliver services to and collaborate with stakeholders outside the province who may not speak French.