Cognizant has announced the creation of two new job categories — Frontier Certified Engineer and Frontier Business Operator — as part of its strategy to help organisations translate AI investments into business outcomes.
The company said the roles are being developed at scale and will be supported by SkillSpring, its proprietary training platform that prepares workers for AI-focused jobs.
The initiative is an extension of Cognizant’s AI Builder strategy, which seeks to address what the company estimates is a $4.5 trillion gap between AI’s potential and the results enterprises are currently achieving.
According to Cognizant, Frontier Certified Engineers will work with clients to redesign business processes for AI-enabled operations. The role will focus on identifying areas where AI can reshape workflows, reduce operational friction, and improve efficiency.
Frontier Business Operators, meanwhile, will be responsible for managing a workforce that combines human employees, AI agents, and automation systems. Their role will focus on overseeing operational performance and deploying AI tools alongside human decision-making to achieve business objectives.
“The question every enterprise is asking is why AI results aren’t showing up yet. The answer is talent and process,” said Thirumala Arohi, Senior Vice President and Head of Learning and Development at Cognizant.
Arohi said AI has exposed 93% of jobs to automation, but much of the associated labour value remains unrealised because organisations lack the workforce structures needed to deploy the technology effectively.
“The reason is not the technology; it is the workforce architecture,” Arohi said. “Frontier Certified Engineers who design for agentic outcomes and the Frontier Business Operators who own them are a new kind of professional, trained from day one to turn AI capability into business reality.”
The new roles will be trained through SkillSpring, which provides structured learning programs covering AI fluency, process design, data interpretation, and operational management. Cognizant said the platform is intended to shorten training timelines and provide clients with access to workers prepared for AI-driven environments.
Cognizant said the initiative reflects its broader focus on building the human and operational systems required for enterprises to deploy AI at scale as organisations seek to generate measurable returns from their AI investments.
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