Service Delivery & Operations

- Own SLA, KPI, and XLA performance across the contracted towers NOC, SOC, CloudOps, EUC, Service Desk, Data Centre, Network, Backup and Storage.
- Run the operating rhythm: daily ops calls, weekly service reviews, Monthly Operating Review (MOR), and Quarterly Business Review (QBR) — with outcome-based rather than activity-based reporting.
- Own Major Incident Management and escalation governance; chair critical incident bridges, approve RCAs, and drive problem management to closure.
- Ensure ITIL process adherence across incident, problem, change, request, configuration, and asset management; own CMDB health and data quality.
- Drive continual service improvement: automation, shift-left, self-heal, and toil reduction with quantified savings targets.
- Manage transitions, onboarding of current scope, and steady-state stabilisation including KT tracking and exit criteria sign-off.
- Own service risk: capacity, obsolescence, single points of failure, patch and vulnerability compliance, DR readiness and test cycles.

Commercial & Financial Management

Financial ownership is a core requirement of this role, not an adjunct. The SDM must be able to explain and defend every line of the engagement P&L.;

- Own the account / engagement P&L;: revenue recognition, cost of delivery, and gross margin performance against plan.
- Build and manage the annual operating plan and quarterly forecast; explain month-on-month variance in revenue, cost, and GM with root cause and corrective action.
- Manage the resource cost model: pyramid mix (onshore/offshore/nearshore, junior/senior ratio), rate cards, rate-grid compliance, and approval routing for deviations.
- Control leakage: unbilled effort, over-servicing, uncontracted scope creep, out-of-scope work, and shadow resourcing.
- Manage contractual commercial levers: FTE-based vs outcome-based vs transaction-based pricing, productivity commitments, annual productivity give-back, SLA credits and penalties.
- Own invoicing accuracy, timesheet compliance, PO coverage, DSO and receivables follow-through,



and accruals at month and quarter close.
- Build and defend business cases for automation, tooling, and staffing changes — including cost, benefit, payback, and NPV where relevant.
- Track and report client savings delivered and delivery efficiency realised as contractual and relationship currency.
- Support pre-sales, change requests, renewals, and expansion: effort estimation, pricing inputs, solution defence, and negotiation support.
- Manage third-party and OEM spend, licence true-ups, and vendor commercial accountability.

Talent Acquisition, Staffing & People Management

The SDM is accountable for fulfilment, not merely a requester of it.

- Own the demand plan: forecast roles by skill, band, and location against contract and pipeline; maintain a rolling 90-day demand view.
- Write and validate job descriptions with genuine technical depth; define must-have vs preferred skills and realistic screening criteria.
- Drive the hiring funnel end to end with Talent Acquisition: requisition raising, pipeline review, interview panel formation, candidate evaluation, selection, offer, and joining.
- Own fulfilment ageing: escalate stalled requisitions, challenge pipeline quality, and secure rate-grid or band-deviation approvals where market reality demands it.
- Balance build vs buy vs borrow: internal fulfilment, IJP, contingent/CWR, and vendor supply — with cost and risk trade-offs made explicit.
- Manage critical-skill continuity: named-person dependency, backup and shadow resourcing, KT completion, and knowledge documentation before exits.
- Own attrition: track and forecast it, run retention conversations for critical talent, conduct exit analysis, and act on themes.




- Lead the people agenda: goal setting, performance management, appraisal calibration, promotion cases, skill and certification roadmaps, engagement and recognition.
- Build the leadership bench: identify and develop tower leads and successors.

Customer & Stakeholder Management

- Serve as the primary operational point of contact for the client's IT operations, infrastructure, and service management leadership.
- Build and sustain trusted-advisor relationships with client managers, directors, and where appropriate the CIO/CISO organisation.
- Own CSAT / NPS for the engagement: run the survey cycle, analyse detractor feedback, and execute a visible improvement plan.
- Manage client escalations with speed and transparency — acknowledge, contain, communicate, resolve, and follow through with preventive action.
- Communicate credibly at executive level: concise written updates, executive summaries, and presentation-quality reporting.
- Navigate client governance and compliance gates: security certification, change advisory boards, audit and regulatory reviews, and vendor risk assessments.
- Identify and shape growth: spot transformation and automation opportunities in the client estate and convert them into funded initiatives.
- Manage the client-side politics of difficult conversations — staffing constraints, rate increases, scope boundaries, and SLA misses — without damaging the relationship.
- Maintain alignment between client expectation, contractual entitlement, and delivered service.

Governance, Risk & Compliance

- Ensure adherence to information security, data privacy, and client-specific compliance obligations.
- Maintain the engagement risk register with owners, mitigation, and review cadence; escalate through defined governance paths.
- Ensure audit readiness — internal, client, and external — including evidence and documentation quality.
- Comply with organisational policies on operational conduct, responsible AI usage, anti-corruption, and global trade.

📌 Service Delivery Manager (Chennai)
🏢 Cognizant
📍 Chennai