Change and Release Manager

Change Manager / Release Manager | Data Platform Modernisation

About Cognizant

Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH) is one of the world's leading AI-builders and technology services companies, helping businesses across industries reimagine their operations and accelerate their digital futures. With more than 300,000 associates operating across 50+ countries, we combine deep domain expertise with cutting-edge technology to deliver real, lasting impact. We are a place where bold thinking meets purposeful execution - and where your career can grow alongside the work you do. To learn more about who we are and where we're headed, visit cognizant.ai.

About the Role

This is a pivotal dual-mandate role sitting at the intersection of people change and technical release governance. As a Change Manager / Release Manager, you will take ownership of end-to-end change enablement and release execution for a large-scale data platform modernisation programme - one that is transforming how the enterprise manages, processes and delivers data at scale. The programme centres on migrating the enterprise data warehouse from Teradata to Snowflake and transitioning ETL workloads from Informatica PowerCenter to Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) and DBT. Your mission is to ensure that every release reaches production in a controlled, well-communicated and minimally disruptive way, while simultaneously ensuring that every stakeholder - from data producers to reporting teams to operations - is ready, equipped and confident to thrive in the new world. You will operate as a trusted cross-functional leader, collaborating with business, engineering, architecture, testing, security, infrastructure, operations and vendor teams to drive stakeholder readiness, deployment quality, cutover execution, adoption and long-term operational stability.

What You'll Do

On the change management side, you will develop and execute the programme change strategy, roadmap and integrated change plan - aligned to migration waves, testing cycles, releases, hypercare and decommissioning. You will conduct stakeholder, impact and readiness assessments across data producers, consumers, application owners, reporting teams and control functions, translating complex technical changes into clear operational impacts. From there, you will design and deliver targeted communication, training and adoption plans, coordinate UAT readiness and business-user enablement, manage BAU handovers, and track change risks and adoption gaps - escalating concerns before they become blockers. You will maintain the full suite of change artefacts throughout the programme lifecycle: stakeholder maps, impact assessments, communication calendars, training plans, readiness dashboards and a lessons-learned register.

On the release management side, you will define and govern the end-to-end release lifecycle per migration wave - from planning and build coordination through testing, deployment and post-release hypercare. You will own the cutover playbook, orchestrate dry runs and go-live execution, and facilitate CAB governance, ensuring every deployment is backed by validated checklists, rollback procedures and contingency plans. You will manage the post-release stabilisation period, monitor production health, coordinate hypercare support and maintain the programme release schedule, risk register, dependency log and governance reporting.

What We're Looking For

You bring significant experience - typically seven or more years - in change management and release management within large-scale enterprise data or platform transformation programmes. You are equally comfortable navigating the human side of change and the technical mechanics of release governance, and you understand intuitively how the two disciplines reinforce each other. You have worked in environments where the stakes are high, the stakeholder landscape is complex, and the pace is demanding - and you have consistently delivered structure, clarity and momentum in those conditions.

You are well-versed in structured change management methodologies such as Prosci ADKAR or Kotter's model, and you have applied ITIL-aligned release and change management processes in real-world enterprise settings. You thrive in Agile and SAFe delivery environments and are comfortable operating across both waterfall and iterative programme structures. Your communication and stakeholder engagement skills are exceptional - you know how to read a room, adapt your message and bring people on a journey, whether you are presenting to a programme steering committee or running an enablement session with end users. You bring strong facilitation, documentation and reporting skills, and you take genuine pride in the quality and clarity of the artefacts you produce. Experience in data platform migrations - particularly involving Snowflake, Teradata, Informatica or DBT - will give you a meaningful head start in this role, as will familiarity with enterprise data warehousing concepts, ETL pipelines and data governance principles.

Technical Skills

Data Platforms: Snowflake, Teradata, understanding of cloud-native data warehouse architecture and migration patterns

ETL & Data Integration: Informatica PowerCenter, Informatica IDMC (Intelligent Data Management Cloud), DBT, experience with pipeline governance and transition planning

Change Management Frameworks: Prosci ADKAR, Kotter's 8-Step Model, practical application in enterprise transformation programmes

Release & ITSM Tooling: ServiceNow (Change Management module), JIRA, Confluence, release tracking, CAB management and documentation

Delivery Frameworks: Agile, SAFe, Waterfall - comfortable operating in hybrid programme environments

Collaboration & Reporting: Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, Power BI or equivalent, stakeholder dashboards, readiness reporting and communication management

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. Cognizant is committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment experience. If you require an accommodation during the application or interview process, please let us know.