Incident Response Senior Manager

Cognizant is a global community united by a shared purpose: to make a meaningful impact. We are committed to excellence and driven by outcomes that matter. Collaboration is at the heart of how we work, and our forward-thinking mindset fuels continuous learning, innovation, and growth. At Cognizant, careers transcend titles. We empower our people to think strategically, inspire others, and lead with purpose, always guided by our core values.

About the role

As an Incident Response Senior Manager, you will drive impactful contributions and focus on outcomes. You will be a key member of the Cyber Security team, collaborating with internal security operations teams, client stakeholders, legal and compliance partners, cloud security teams, and executive leadership. You will have the autonomy to lead, innovate, and improve incident response workflows while upholding our commitment to quality and continuous learning.

Responsibilities

• Assume the Incident Commander role without prompting, immediately triaging incident severity, assembling response teams, and initiating appropriate workflows and standard operating procedures.
• Make autonomous real-time containment, escalation, and communication decisions during high-severity incidents, including situations with incomplete information.
• Own end-to-end response activities for cybersecurity incidents, coordinating across SOC, forensics, DLP, cloud security, legal, compliance, and client account teams.
• Orchestrate multi-domain security functions including SIEM, investigations, forensics, cloud controls, security architecture, policy, and data protection to ensure aligned and timely response activities.
• Lead all incident communications including war room updates, executive briefings, stakeholder communications, and client-facing notifications with clarity and confidence.

Requirements

• 7+ years of experience in incident management, cybersecurity operations, or a related discipline.
• At least 3 years of experience in a leadership or incident response lead capacity.
• Proven ability to independently assume incident command responsibilities during critical and high-severity incidents.
• Strong experience coordinating cross-functional response teams across multiple cybersecurity disciplines.
• Expertise in Cyber Security operations, incident response methodologies, escalation management, and crisis communication.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to communicate effectively with technical and executive audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to exercise sound judgment and make decisions under pressure.

Skills

• Experience working with SIEM platforms, digital forensics investigations, DLP technologies, cloud security controls, and security monitoring environments.
• Knowledge of regulatory, legal, and compliance considerations related to cybersecurity incidents.
• Industry security certifications and advanced incident response training.
• Experience managing client-facing incidents across multiple industries and enterprise environments.
• Strong stakeholder management and executive presentation skills.

Work Model

This is a remote position open to qualified applicants in the United States. The working arrangements for this role are accurate as of the date of posting and may change based on project, business, and client requirements.

Pay

The annual salary for this position is between $135,000 - $145,000, depending on experience and other qualifications of the successful candidate. This position is also eligible for Cognizant’s discretionary annual incentive program, based on performance and subject to the terms of Cognizant’s applicable plans.

Benefits

• Medical/Dental/Vision/Life Insurance
• Paid holidays plus Paid Time Off
• 401(k) plan and contributions
• Long-term/Short-term Disability
• Paid Parental Leave
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan