Cognizant Worldwide

Scenario:

Cognizant Worldwide’s UK arm secured a major digital transformation programme with a leading UK financial services organisation. To meet aggressive development and release milestones, they needed to rapidly scale a UK based team of Cloud Engineers and Test Automation Specialists on a purely contract basis. Given the niche skillsets—particularly in AWS migrations, Azure deployments, Terraform automation, and Selenium based testing—Cognizant engaged Ntrinsic Global to source, screen, and onboard all contractors within stringent UK focused SLAs.

The Action:

1.    Discovery & Planning

• Hosted an on site kickoff in London with Cognizant’s UK programme leads and Talent Acquisition team to nail down technical requirements (e.g., AWS CloudFormation, Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines, TestNG).
• Agreed on an accelerated two phase plan, targeting UK only candidates:
  • Phase 1: Deliver up to 5 UK based Cloud Engineer contractors in 10 business days.
  • Phase 2: Deliver up to 5 UK based Test Automation Specialists in 15 business days.

2.    Talent Sourcing & Screening

• Activated our proprietary UK Cloud & QA networks, reaching out exclusively to UK resident contractors with prior UK financial services experience.
• Performed technical phone screens and live assessments via remote lab environments to validate Terraform modules, Docker/Kubernetes deployments, and Selenium framework proficiency.
• Submitted a shortlist of 6 UK based Cloud candidates within 7 days and 6 UK based Test candidates within 12 days.

3.    Interview & Onboarding

• Scheduled virtual panels with Cognizant’s UK Solution Architects and QA Managers.
• Managed offer negotiations, right to work checks, and contractor paperwork in accordance with UK employment regulations.
• oOnboarded 4 UK based Cloud Engineers in an average of 9 days and 4 UK based Test Automation Specialists in 13 days.

The Outcome:

• 100% of UK based contract roles filled within the agreed SLAs—Cloud Engineers in 9 days on average; Test Specialists in 13 days.
• Accelerated the first sprint release two weeks ahead of the original programme plan.
• Boosted automated regression coverage by 60%, cutting manual testing cycles by more than half.
• Cognizant’s UK team has extended all eight contractors for subsequent UK centric programme phases.

Other UK Based Roles Filled Since:

• 2 × AWS DevOps Engineers (Contract)
• 1 × Azure Site Reliability Engineer (Contract)
• 1 × Performance Test Lead (Contract)

Additional Services Delivered:

• UK market mapping for Cloud & QA talent
• Rate card benchmarking against London and regional UK levels
• Statement of Work (SoW) consulting for UK programme extensions

Client Testimonial:

"Ntrinsic Global delivered on their promise to source high calibre UK based Cloud and Testing contractors under extreme time pressure. Their UK market expertise and operational rigour have made them our preferred partner for contract tech staffing across all UK programmes.”