COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS CORP

About this proxy statement and the annual meeting

This proxy statement is furnished in connection with the solicitation by the Board of proxies to be voted at our annual meeting to be held on Tuesday, June 2, 2026, at 9:30 am Eastern Time, via live webcast at www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/CTSH2026, and at any continuation, postponement or adjournment thereof. Holders of record of shares of our Class A common stock (“common stock”) as of April 6, 2026, the record date, will be entitled to notice of and to vote at the annual meeting and any continuation, postponement or adjournment thereof. As of the record date, there were 473,867,780 shares of common stock issued and outstanding and entitled to vote at the annual meeting. Each share of common stock is entitled to one vote on any matter presented to shareholders at the meeting.

At the annual meeting, our shareholders will be asked to vote on the management proposals and shareholder proposal set forth onpages 7to10. The Board recommends that you vote your shares as indicated onpages 7to10. If you return a properly completed proxy card, or vote your shares by telephone or over the Internet, your shares of common stock will be voted on your behalf as you direct. If not otherwise specified, the shares of common stock represented by the proxies will be voted in accordance with the Board’s recommendations set forth onpages 7to10. We know of no other business that will be presented at the annual meeting. If any other matter properly comes before the shareholders for a vote at the annual meeting, or any continuation, postponement or adjournment thereof, the proxy holders named on the Company’s proxy card will vote your shares in accordance with their best judgment.

Notice of internet availability of proxy materials

As permitted by SEC rules, Cognizant is making this proxy statement and its 2025 Annual Report available to certain of its shareholders electronically via the Internet. On or about April 17, 2026, we mailed to these shareholders a Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials (the “Internet Notice”) containing instructions on how to access this proxy statement and our 2025 Annual Report and vote online. If you received an Internet Notice by mail, you will not receive a printed copy of the proxy materials in the mail unless you specifically request them. Instead, the Internet Notice instructs you on how to access and review all of the important information contained in this proxy statement and 2025 Annual Report. The Internet Notice also instructs you on how you may submit your proxy over the Internet. If you received an Internet Notice by mail and would like to receive a printed copy of our proxy materials, you should follow the instructions for requesting such materials contained on the Internet Notice.

Printed copies of our proxy materials and householding

Some of our shareholders received printed copies of our proxy statement, 2025 Annual Report and proxy card. If you received printed copies of our proxy materials, then instructions regarding how you can vote are contained on the proxy card included in the materials.

The SEC’s rules permit us to deliver a single set of proxy materials to one address shared by two or more of our shareholders. This delivery method is referred to as “householding” and can result in significant cost savings. To take advantage of this opportunity, we have delivered only one set of proxy materials to multiple shareholders who share an address, unless we received contrary instructions from the impacted shareholders prior to the mailing date. We agree to deliver promptly, upon written or oral request, a separate copy of the proxy materials, as requested, to any shareholder at the shared address to which a single copy of those documents was delivered. If you prefer to receive separate copies of the proxy materials for this annual meeting or future annual meetings, contact Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (“Broadridge”) at 866-540-7095 or in writing at Broadridge, Householding Department, 51 Mercedes Way, Edgewood, New York 11717. If you are currently a shareholder sharing an address with another shareholder and wish to receive only one copy of future proxy materials for your household, please contact Broadridge at the above phone number or address.

Cognizant 2026 Proxy Statement 93

Solicitation of proxies

The accompanying proxy is solicited by and on behalf of the Board, whose meeting notice is included with this proxy statement, and the entire cost of such solicitation will be borne by us. In addition to the use of mail, proxies may be solicited by personal interview, telephone, e-mail, text and facsimile by our directors, officers and other employees who will not be specially compensated for these services. We have engaged Sodali & Co to assist us with the solicitation of proxies. We expect to pay Sodali & Co a fee of $18,000 plus reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses for its services. We will also request that brokers, nominees, custodians and other fiduciaries forward soliciting materials to the beneficial owners of shares held by such brokers, nominees, custodians and other fiduciaries. We will reimburse such persons for their reasonable expenses in connection therewith.

Communications to the Board from shareholders

Under procedures approved by a majority of our independent directors, our Chair and our Chief Legal Officer are primarily responsible for monitoring communications from shareholders and, if they relate to important substantive matters and include suggestions or comments that our Chair and our Chief Legal Officer consider to be important for the directors to know, providing copies or summaries to the other directors. In general, communications relating to corporate governance and long-term corporate strategy are more likely to be forwarded than communications relating to ordinary business affairs, personal grievances and matters as to which we tend to receive repetitive or duplicative communications.

The Board will give appropriate attention to written communications that are submitted by shareholders, and will respond if and as appropriate. Shareholders who wish to send communications on any topic to the Board should address such communications to the Board or our Chief Legal Officer. See “Helpful resources” onpage 100.