Cognizant - Senior Product Engineer - System Design & Architecture

Job Description :

We are looking for a highly experienced and hands-on Senior Product Engineer to drive the design, development, and delivery of scalable, high-performance software products.

The ideal candidate will have strong software engineering fundamentals, experience building complex products end-to-end, and the ability to translate business and customer requirements into robust technical solutions.

The role requires a strong ownership mindset, with responsibility across architecture, development, code quality, performance, deployment, and continuous product improvement.

The candidate will work closely with product managers, designers, engineering teams, and business stakeholders to deliver reliable and customer-focused solutions.

Key Responsibilities :

- Own the end-to-end engineering lifecycle of critical product features, from requirement analysis and technical design to development, testing, deployment, and production support.

- Design and develop scalable, secure, maintainable, and high-performance software applications.

- Translate product requirements and business objectives into technical solutions and detailed engineering plans.

- Participate in system architecture and technical design discussions, making appropriate technology and design decisions.

- Develop reusable components, services, APIs, and frameworks that can support the evolving product ecosystem.

- Lead the implementation of complex features and technically challenging initiatives.

- Review existing systems and identify opportunities for performance improvements, scalability, reliability, and technical modernization.

- Conduct code reviews and establish high standards for code quality, engineering practices, documentation, and maintainability.

- Collaborate closely with Product Managers, UX/UI teams, QA, DevOps, and other engineering teams to ensure seamless product delivery.

- Troubleshoot complex production issues, perform root-cause analysis, and implement long-term corrective solutions.

- Drive engineering best practices around design, development, testing, CI/CD, monitoring, and release management.

- Mentor and guide junior and mid-level engineers through technical discussions, design reviews, and code reviews.

- Contribute to technical roadmaps and help identify areas for product and platform improvements.

- Evaluate new technologies, frameworks, and engineering approaches that can improve product capabilities and development efficiency.

- Ensure applications meet expected standards for scalability, availability, security, performance, and reliability.

- Work closely with stakeholders to understand customer problems and convert them into effective technical solutions.

- Take ownership of deliverables and proactively identify risks, dependencies, and technical challenges.

Required Technical Skills :

- 7 - 15 years of strong experience in software/product engineering.

- Strong proficiency in at least one modern programming language such as Java, Python, C#, Go, or Node.js.

- Strong understanding of object-oriented programming, data structures, algorithms, design patterns, and software engineering principles.

- Hands-on experience designing and developing RESTful APIs and distributed services.

- Strong understanding of microservices and distributed system architecture.

- Experience with relational and/or NoSQL databases and database design principles.

- Strong knowledge of application performance, scalability, concurrency, and system reliability.

- Experience with Git and modern software development practices.

- Hands-on experience with CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and production deployment practices.

- Understanding of cloud-native application development and modern DevOps practices.

- Strong debugging, problem-solving, and analytical skills.

- Experience working in Agile/Scrum product development environments.

Preferred Skills :

- Experience working on large-scale SaaS, enterprise, or consumer-facing products.

- Exposure to cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or GCP.

- Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, and containerized application environments.

- Experience with event-driven architecture and messaging systems such as Kafka or RabbitMQ.

- Familiarity with observability, logging, monitoring, and performance optimization tools.

- Experience building products from the ground up or participating in significant product modernization initiatives.

- Exposure to AI-assisted software development or integration of AI-powered capabilities into products is an added advantage.

Leadership & Collaboration :

- Demonstrated ability to take ownership of complex technical initiatives and deliver them independently.

- Strong communication skills with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to technical and non-technical stakeholders.

- Ability to mentor engineers and contribute to building a strong engineering culture.

- Strong product mindset with an understanding of customer needs, business impact, and engineering trade-offs.

- Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment with changing priorities and high ownership.