Manager - Projects at Cognizant in Indianapolis, Indiana

Job Description:

Principal Product Test Consultant

Qualification:

Bachelors in science , engineering or equivalent

Main Skills:

10+ years of core Omniplus COTS Product(from FIS-Sungard) Functional experience

 Hands-on knowledge on the various business components and data structure in Omniplus Record Keeping platform

 Good working experience on all the Financial and Non-Financial transactions  including the ability to understand Omniplus  Transactions Cards Layout

 Good to have Omniscripting experience in Data Mining and Transaction Automation

 Working experience in Mainframes and / or Unix File Handling  Batch Job / Proc Setup  Utilities  is an added advantage

 Strong Domain knowledge on US Defined Contributions line of business

 API(Application Programming Interface) testing and Omni Connect or Omni Link experience is an added advantage

 Good understanding and working experience on End to End Retirement systems surrounding Omniplus Record Keeping   platform

Responsibility:

Project Proposal and Formalization:

• Pure product RFPs owned by Lead Product Consultant (Deals > 4 MM USD): Analyse the RFP.

• Understand the key driving aspects from Product Testing perspective (Configuration, Modifications to the base, Integration,etc).

• Create the plan, roles, accountabilities to put together the solution.

• Review questionnaires as submitted by team members.

• Review the same and arrive at the final set of clarifications to be raised.

• Identify channels to address the same.

• If required, reach out in person to clients to understand their expectations.

• Identify competition.

• Assess the parameters (cost, TAT etc) used by the client to evaluate the submissions.

• Identify the solution addressing the client needs for that product while bringing into focus Cognizant's competency in the given product including solution accelerators concerning the product.

• Coordinate with each stakeholder to package the pieces into one single solution.

• Highlight best practices, solution accelerators to showcase valueadd that Cognizant can bring in.

• If required, partner with Product Vendor(s) or subcontract with a company to put together the solution.

• Prepare materials to be prepared to showcase Cognizant capability.

• Prepare estimations, profitability model etc.

• Present the solution and other parameters to the senior leadership.

• Analyze various aspects to identify the final costing and the solution to ensue a winwin solution for the client and Cognizant.

• If requested by the client, conduct workshops with the customer to present product testing capabilities, case studies involving similar testing on the same or similar products and key challenges based on Cognizant's experience in such products etcContribute with product relevant section for nonpure product RFPs and Mixed RFP: Support/ / Lead the RFP team with the product based inputs.

• Only for large complex project, review the SOW/ MSA to ensure proper form.

Knowledge Transition:

• Only for large complex project or client driven need: Participate in Knowledge Transition for the product in scope.

• Understand modifications to the base product based on knowledge of the product from other project experiences.

• Gather details on the requirements.

• Share the same with the team to ensure understanding.

• Support team in a gap analysis between prevalent version of the product (in which the team has experience) and the version being used by the customer or with specific modifications to the base product.

• Guide the team member to create the high level master test strategy which covers multiple releases for the program to cover the high level view of the approach.

• If required update the product specific scenario library.

Project Closure:

• Only for large complex projects: Leveraging the experience and expertise in the given product, Participate in project closure activities, Interact with customers to identify workarounds, recommend workarounds if facing any issue in terms of timelines etc.

• Identify steps to be taken to ensure project goes to production while highlighting any potential risks (the customer should be aware of) based on the product experience.

• Support the customer in making a better informed decision by providing the inputs on the quality of various aspects of Product installation or Product update (Configuration, modifications to the base, modifications to the periphery, integration points with upstream/downstream interfaces, extracts generation, etc).

Project Management:

• At the program / account level, understand the ramp up or ramp down plans from a resourcing perspective and segment those from product perspective.

• Identify skill / talent gaps in terms of functional exposure of the product.

• Identify the mitigation strategies to bridge the same (eg Bring in resource with experience in same or similar product, leverage product crosstraining programs and product internal certifications to assess resource readiness to start contributing meaningfully).

• Participate in meetings with the project leads to ensure projects are on track and product testing best practices and product competency are fully leveraged.

• Reach out to test managers from engagement testing team to review the project status at the account level.

• Participate in the PM Review.

• Identify major risks.

• Identify any concerns from the customer side.

• Provide recommendations to allay concerns or improve awareness to set right expectations (from user perspective) from the given product based on the experience with other engagements involving the product.

• Establish defect trends based on the multiple experiences on a given product.

• Create mechanism to potentially identify the.

• defects in the early stages of the project.

• Review strategies and guide team on prioritization based on area of impact, configuration, modifications to core, etc.

Training & Knowledge Management:

• Build artefacts (eg generic test strategy) for products.

• Identify best practices across products and ensure uniformity across products.

• Guide the team to leverage existing material to deliver on the various phases for the project.

• Ensure delivery of internal workshops for the internal team on the product.

• Participate in the same to drive clarity and continuous learning.

• Coordinate with the Product vendors to arrange for trainings for the team.

• Create the agenda for the event (eg scope, participants, demos, stalls etc) along with the Product COEs.

• Guide the Senior Product Specialist for knowledge building activities within the event to ensure complete coverage.

• Identify associates to be crosstrained.

• Guide the Product SMEs on the training material and review the same to ensure that the content is relevant and comprehensive.

• Lead the conceptualization of Cognizantspecific certification programs on Products.

Product Consulting:

• Provide insights on the product in terms of usage, rollout challenges, impact on business etc when requested by the customer.

• Provide recommendations in terms of approach to be followed for large / complex projects.

• Showcase capabilities in testing services across products.

• Conduct assessments / workshop if requested to draft the testing approach.

• Identify the need for building customerfacing strategic assets such as Product Workshop Framework and drive the creation of the same.

• Facilitate such workshops with customers directly.

People Management:

• Align career path of Product Testing Associates with Cognizant's strategy to focus on developing product competencies.

• Conduct goal setting, performance appraisals and mentoring/ coaching for own team members (Product Consultant, Specialists, Analysts etc).

• Identify training needs of the team members.

• Identify, groom, reward and develop high performers and future leaders (into product consulting associates).

• Seek inputs of senior product specialist and above on product testing proposals.

Stakeholder management and Defect Prevention:

• Conduct Quarterly meetings with the PPS team, Share updates on the products, assets, valueadd (Product related review).

• Provide signoff on go/nogo along with joint stakeholders & customer, if required.

Must Have Skills

• ReadyAPI

• OmniPlus

Technical Skills

* Proficiency Legends