Cognizant is running two seemingly contradictory hiring motions at once in 2026: a restructuring that press reports say could affect anywhere from roughly 4,000 to as many as 12,000–15,000 roles globally, with India bearing the largest share — while simultaneously planning to hire around 24,000 to 25,000 freshers in India this year, about 20% more than it hired in 2025.

What "Project Leap" Actually Is

Cognizant announced the restructuring alongside its Q1 2026 results, describing it as a shift toward an AI-first operating model. The company set aside an estimated $230–320 million for the program, with the bulk — roughly $200–270 million — earmarked for employee severance and related costs. Cognizant itself has not publicly confirmed a specific total headcount number affected; the widely cited 12,000–15,000 figure comes from press reporting, not a company disclosure, and should be read as an estimate rather than a confirmed fact. India, where Cognizant employs more than 250,000 people, is reported to be the most exposed market.

Why Cut Experienced Staff While Hiring Freshers?

This isn't as contradictory as it looks. It's a pyramid shift that several large IT services firms are making in parallel: AI tools are increasingly handling the routine coding, testing, and documentation work that used to justify large mid-level benches, while senior architects and AI-literate junior engineers who can work alongside those tools become relatively more valuable. Freshers are also cheaper to train into AI-native workflows from day one than it is to retrain large existing teams — which is part of why fresher intake is rising even as net headcount growth elsewhere stalls.

What This Means If You're a Mid-Career IT Professional

• Generalist execution roles are the most exposed. If your role is primarily translating requirements into standard code with limited architecture or client-facing responsibility, that's the layer AI tools compress first.
• AI fluency is no longer optional at the mid-level. Being able to direct, review, and validate AI-assisted output is becoming a baseline expectation, not a specialization.
• Internal mobility matters more than tenure. Employees who move toward AI governance, platform, or client-delivery leadership roles inside these restructurings tend to be retained; those who stay in narrow execution lanes are more exposed in the next round.

For job seekers evaluating offers from large IT services firms right now, it's worth asking directly in interviews how the team is adapting its delivery model to AI tooling — the answer tells you a lot about how insulated (or not) a given role is likely to be over the next two years. You can read more on Cognizant's restructuring timeline via Business Today's coverage.