Chief of Staff, AVP

The Role

Cognizant seeks a Chief of Staff to partner with Kathy Diaz, Chief People Officer (CPO) to support HR and Company-wide initiatives. The Chief of Staff will play a key role on the CPO’s HR Leadership Team (HRLT), charged with balancing a mix of operational, planning, and strategic responsibilities in support of the business.

In this role, you will be responsible for developing the talent strategy on behalf of the CPO. The talent strategy addresses the ways we anticipate and mobilize the talent required to meet client demand whilst at the same time ensuring associates build meaningful careers and skilling them for the future. This includes partnering with HR Leadership Team members and Business Leaders to support work associated with defined HR strategies, including but not limited to collaboration in building clear, executable plans with cleanly articulated objectives and KPIs in line with the talent strategy, as well as designing and implementing a governance and reporting structure to support communication and delivery.

In this role, you will navigate complex and sensitive situations. The ability to prioritize and drive multiple responsibilities simultaneously, while balancing progress on long-term projects with the urgency of immediate operational demands is needed for success. The HR Strategy & Operations Lead will act as a liaison between the CPO and other constituencies, managing the flow of communications both internally and externally.

Success in this role will also include partnering with the CPO and other HRLT as required to author/co-author in creating proposal for the Board of Directors and Executive Committee (as warranted). They will also partner with leaders across the business to coach on executive storytelling and presentation skills.

The ideal candidate possesses strong financial acumen and project management skills. Must have demonstrated-proven operational capability and time management skills, as you will collaborate with and achieve actionable results through others, building strong and sustainable business relationships while interacting with all levels of the organization.

Responsibilities
Partner with the CPO to support defining HR strategy & objectives

· Break down the strategy into individual programs and workstreams.

· Help HR Leadership Team members to establish project teams and plans in line with objectives and assisting with day to day challenges and issues.

· Serve as a strategic thought partner for the CPO.

· Prepare Executive Committee and Board level discussion papers.

· Manage the annual forecasting and budgeting process.

· Help teams prepare to present well thought out discussions/ documents to the CPO.

· Manage information flow, review, and decision-making processes and governance.

· Travel when required

· Be in person in the Hudson Yards office on a regular basis (3 days/week)

· Consistently demonstrate the Cognizant Way to Lead, which means operating with Personal Leadership (building trust, collaboration, and inclusion), Organizational Leadership (driving vision and purpose, demonstrating a strategic and enterprise mindset, and creating and communicating a bold direction that inspires purpose), and Business Leadership (exemplifying client focus, managing ambiguity with accountability and results, and operating with financial acumen)

Qualifications

What you must have to be considered

· 10+ years professional consulting experience

· Experience with enabling function organizations in large private or publicly owned institutions

· Prior experience in a senior-level project management role

· Experience managing multi-million-dollar budgets

· Proven experience leading and influencing effectively in a matrixed, multi-national organization

· 2+ years of proven experience of leading Client facing consulting engagements

These will help you stand out

· MBA or other advanced degree

· Strategic thinker who can see the big picture and execute tasks large and small with meticulous attention to detail

· Able to simplify and synthesize large volumes of complex information for review and/or decision

· Excellent analytical abilities and problem-solving skills – including strong Excel, PPT, and presentation building skills

· Capacity to drive process-discipline

· Demonstrated organizational, prioritization and project management skills

· Demonstrated ability to plan, organize, coordinate, and direct multiple projects and activities with varying deadlines

· Outstanding interpersonal and communication skills, written and verbal

· Exemplary judgment, tact, discretion, and integrity.