Job Information
Cognizant Senior Project Manager in CHENNAI, India
Job Description – Senior Manager | Strategy, Account Intelligence & M&A
(IoT & ER&D)
Location: Chennai / Bengaluru / Hyderabad / Pune
Role Overview
The Senior Manager – Strategy, Account Intelligence & M&A is a leadership role within the
IoT & ER&D Strategy team, accountable for driving measurable growth outcomes. The role
entails end‑to‑end ownership across strategy formulation and execution, strategic account
intelligence, wallet‑share expansion, large deal insights, market and competitive
intelligence, and full‑cycle M&A execution.
Key Responsibilities
Qualifications & Experience
8–10 years of experience in management consulting, corporate strategy, growth strategy,
or M&A roles.
MBA from a leading business school.
Strong experience in strategic accounts, large deals, and M&A execution.
Proven people leadership and senior stakeholder management experience.
Exposure to IoT, ER&D, Engineering Services, or Manufacturing domains preferred.
Key Skills
Strategic thinking and problem structuring
Account intelligence and growth strategy
Executive communication and storytelling
Market synthesis and Value Proposition Creation
Team leadership and coaching
Strong analytical and presentation skills (Excel, PowerPoint)
- Strategic Account Intelligence & Wallet Share Expansion - Own the account intelligence agenda for strategic and focus accounts within IoT & ER&D. - Develop deep understanding of client business models, priorities, technology roadmaps,
and investment themes. - Identify whitespace opportunities, cross-sell and up-sell plays, and multi-year growth
themes to systematically expand wallet share. - Partner with Account Leaders, Sales, and Delivery teams to convert insights into
actionable pursuit strategies. - Institutionalize account intelligence frameworks, playbooks, and dashboards.
- Large Deal Creation & Deal Shaping - Act as a core contributor in shaping large, strategic, and transformational deals. - Frame client problems, solution hypotheses, differentiated value propositions, and win
themes. - Lead strategic, market, and competitive inputs into deal constructs including scope,
commercials, and value articulation. - Build executive-ready deal narratives and business cases in collaboration with sales and
solutioning teams.
- Practice & Growth Strategy Leadership - Lead practice-level strategy initiatives aligned to IoT & ER&D growth priorities. - Support annual and multi-year strategic planning, market prioritization, and offering
strategy.
- Translate market, technology, and competitive trends into clear strategic
recommendations for leadership.
- Market & Competitive Intelligence Leadership - Own the Market and Competitive Intelligence agenda for IoT & ER&D with executive
visibility. - Conduct detailed assessment of key competitors across financials, M&A, offerings, focus
areas, large deals, talent, and clients. - Develop competitor profiles, POVs, and battlecards to support account strategy and deal
pursuits. - Provide quarterly competitor and earnings intelligence updates to leadership with clear
implications. - Develop executive POVs from emerging business and technology trends, opportunity
assessment, and recommendations.
- Full-Cycle M&A Strategy & Execution - Own end-to-end M&A mandates from leadership, from strategy through deal closure and
integration. - Lead M&A research for target identification and prioritization aligned to strategic growth
themes. - Build business cases across deal stages, including strategic fit, commercial rationale, and
value creation. - Lead commercial due diligence and program management across the deal lifecycle. - Develop integration plans with BU leadership to ensure value realization. - Actively build and manage a robust M&A pipeline.
- Team Leadership, Stakeholder Management & Accountability - Lead, mentor, and manage a team of Managers and Senior Associates. - Act as a trusted advisor to senior business, account, and practice leaders. - Own delivery quality, governance, timelines, and measurable outcomes across initiatives.
Cognizant is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.