Lab Manager – Manufacturing Innovation Center (MIC)

About the role

The Lab Manager is responsible for the day-to-day operation, readiness, and client experience of Cognizant’s Manufacturing Innovation Center (MIC) at MxD. This role ensures the MIC consistently operates as a polished, reliable, and impactful “living lab”—supporting client visits, partner engagements, technology demonstrations, and presales activities.

Key Responsibilities

• Plan, coordinate, and execute client and partner visits to the MIC, including agendas, logistics, and on-site execution.
• Deliver guided demonstrations of MIC demo systems and capabilities to executives, plant leaders, engineers, and partners.
• Conduct pre-visit surveys to tailor demos and discussion topics; lead post-visit surveys and follow-ups to capture feedback and next steps.
• Ensure consistent, professional, and repeatable client experience quality across all engagements.
• Own and maintain a catalog of demo artifacts, systems, and storyboards, ensuring content remains current, relevant, and aligned to Cognizant priorities.
• Work with technical leads to refresh demos, retire obsolete content, and onboard new capabilities.
• Coordinate with offshore teams on demo roadmap planning, content updates, and supporting assets.
• Ensure demos are documented, versioned, and repeatable across visits.
• Own operational readiness of demo systems, networks, hardware, and software.
• Oversee system health, stability, and troubleshooting for demo environments.
• Coordinate upgrades, patches, backups, and resets to ensure demos remain reliable and “always on.”
• Act as first point of escalation for demo environment issues affecting client or partner visits.
• Represent Cognizant in MxD USA working groups and committees, including engagement with the technology committee.
• Coordinate Cognizant’s presence, capabilities, and positioning within the broader MxD ecosystem.
• Track and communicate MxD initiatives, events, and opportunities relevant to MIC focus areas.
• Support presales activities associated with MIC visits, including demo alignment to opportunity context.
• Aid account teams with demo selection, positioning, follow-up materials, and next-step planning.
• Help translate visit outcomes into assessments, PoCs, pilots, or follow-on engagements.
• Manage visit schedules, dependencies, and readiness using light-weight project management practices.
• Coordinate across onshore and offshore teams to ensure delivery alignment.
• Track actions, risks, and improvements across ongoing MIC activities.
• Support Partner with marketing teams to support social media content, event promotions, and announcements related to MIC activities.
• Capture content from visits, events, and new demo launches to support thought leadership and visibility.
• Contribute operational input to brochures, demo guides, and MIC collateral.

Required Qualifications

• Strong experience in lab operations, innovation center management, or technical program management.
• Hands-on comfort delivering technology demonstrations and engaging with clients and partners.
• Working knowledge of IT/OT, digital manufacturing, or industrial technologies.
• Strong organizational, coordination, and communication skills.
• Ability to manage multiple engagements and priorities simultaneously.

Preferred Experience

• Prior experience supporting manufacturing, industrial, or smart factory environments.
• Familiarity with demo labs, living labs, or co-innovation centers.
• Experience working with offshore delivery teams.
• Exposure to presales or client-facing solution environments.

Why This Role Matters

The Lab Manager ensures the Manufacturing Innovation Center consistently delivers credible, high-quality experiences that convert innovation into client confidence and commercial outcomes. This role is critical to maintaining MxD as a trusted proving ground for Cognizant’s manufacturing, AI, and digital capabilities.

Compensation

- $74,000 to $104,000 +/- and this position is also eligible for Cognizant’s discretionary annual incentive program and COLA, based on performance and subject to the terms of Cognizant’s applicable plans.

Benefits

• Cognizant offers the following benefits for this position, subject to applicable eligibility requirements:
• 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