EPAM redefines its strategy with AI-native transformation amid geopolitical shifts and new leadership

As EPAM Systems marks its 32nd year, the company embarks on a major shift towards an AI-native, consulting-led model, navigating geopolitical disruptions, acquisitions, and leadership changes to reshape its future in digital transformation.

As EPAM Systems marks its thirty-second year, the company is deliberately recasting itself from the high-growth, “engineering-first” services firm that dominated the 2010s into an AI-native, consulting-led provider aimed ...

at the large-scale digital transformation market. According to a PredictStreet analysis published on December 26, 2025, that reinvention , dubbed internally and by market observers as “EPAM 2.0” , is the product of three years of geopolitical disruption, measured M&A and a management reset that together have set a new, risk-weighted course for the business.

Rooted in engineering but refocused on outcomes
Founded in 1993 by Arkadiy Dobkin and Leo Lozner to connect Western clients with Central and Eastern European engineering talent, EPAM built a reputation on Product Development Services that treated client work as product engineering rather than commoditised maintenance. The firm’s engineering DNA remains a central competitive asset, but company disclosures show a conscious move up the value chain: amplifying strategy and design through EPAM Continuum, packaging “AI-Native Delivery” frameworks such as EPAM DIAL and AI/RUN.Transform, and pushing outcome-based commercial models to offset fears of “AI Deflation” in the services sector.

According to EPAM’s own filings for 2025, the company expects full-year revenue to be between $5.430 billion and $5.445 billion, implying roughly 15% year-over-year growth, and projects non-GAAP diluted EPS in the $11.36–$11.44 range. The third-quarter 2025 results and guidance raise the same figures in the company’s investor release. Those figures mark a clear top-line recovery from the “treading water” revenue profile of 2024, when full-year revenue was reported at $4.728 billion. At the same time, EPAM forecasts slightly compressed non-GAAP operating margins of roughly 15.0%–15.3% for 2025, a decline the company attributes to integration of lower-margin acquisitions and expanded R&D spend on Generative AI.

A decade of mixed returns for investors
Market performance over the last decade reflects two distinct eras. PredictStreet notes a roughly 10% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) across ten years, contrasted with a negative five-year return near -8% CAGR following a valuation reset from the 2021 peak. In 2025 the stock has been pressured, down about 14% year-to-date as investors weigh the costs of aggressive M&A and the challenge of turning engineering scale into higher-margin consulting revenue.

Reshaping delivery and footprint
Geopolitics forced the most fundamental change to EPAM’s operating model. After the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, EPAM undertook a multi-year relocation and diversification of its delivery footprint, exiting Russia and scaling operations in India, Latin America and Western Europe. The company now reports more than 62,350 employees across 55+ countries and regions as of the third quarter of 2025, according to its corporate “Who We Are” materials.

Strategic acquisitions have been central to the geographic and capability shift. PredictStreet and company statements cite the acquisitions of NEORIS , a Latin American nearshore platform , and First Derivative , a capital-markets technology specialist , as pivotal deals that have both expanded EPAM’s addressable market and introduced execution risk in integrating different cost and margin profiles. The NEORIS purchase, in particular, is portrayed as neutralising rivals’ nearshore advantages in Mexico and Brazil, while First Derivative adds depth in Financial Services and capital markets technology.

Leadership change and cultural continuity
The year also brought EPAM’s first CEO transition. Effective September 1, 2025, founder Arkadiy Dobkin moved to Executive Chairman and Balazs Fejes, formerly President of Global Business and Chief Revenue Officer, became CEO. PredictStreet frames the change as emblematic of the firm’s strategic pivot: Fejes is charged with marrying EPAM’s engineering pedigree to a more aggressive, consulting-centred commercial posture. Company observers caution that founder succession and rapid integration of multiple acquisitions pose cultural and execution risks that could sap margins if not managed tightly.

Competitive dynamics and the AI battleground
EPAM operates against three broad competitor sets. Global consultancies such as Accenture and IBM bring scale, breadth and deep BPO capabilities; digital natives including Globant and Endava compete on nearshore agility and design-led transformation; and legacy providers such as Cognizant and Infosys pressure price on maintenance-oriented work. PredictStreet and company materials argue EPAM’s comparative advantage lies in building “AI Infrastructure” and complex agentic systems , work that favours deep engineering expertise over simple productivity gains from code-generation tools.

Regulation and external risks
Regulatory risk is no longer peripheral. EPAM’s sizeable European presence requires compliance with the EU AI Act and other data-governance regimes, a fact the company references in describing its DIAL orchestration platform and governance-first positioning. PredictStreet also highlights geopolitical exposure in Ukraine, visa and talent mobility risks relevant to U.S. client on-site models, and the sensitivity of R&D tax credits in certain CEE jurisdictions as variables that could affect margins.

Catalysts and the investment case
Potential catalysts identified by PredictStreet and EPAM’s investor communications include a rebound in Financial Services IT spend , amplified by the First Derivative integration , and the commercialisation of agentic AI workflows that demand bespoke engineering and systems integration. Nearshoring demand across Latin America and Poland also offers secular tailwinds for higher-utilisation, lower-cost delivery models.

Yet the investment case rests on execution: converting engineering scale into higher-margin, consulting-led engagements; integrating NEORIS and First Derivative without diluting operating margins; and commercially monetising open-source and proprietary AI assets while remaining compliant with emergent regulation. Industry analysts polled by PredictStreet summarise consensus sentiment as “Moderate Buy,” with an average price target around $211 late in 2025, signalling upside leavened by elevated uncertainty.

A weathered but retooled operator
EPAM enters 2026 neither as the unalloyed growth marvel of the pre-2022 era nor as a failed transitional experiment. The company has survived a geopolitical shock that humbled many peers, rebuilt a diversified delivery footprint, and moved decisively into AI-native productisation and consulting. According to EPAM’s disclosures and the PredictStreet appraisal, the coming year will be a test of whether the firm can translate engineering credibility into sustainable, higher-margin advisory work in an industry reshaped by generative AI and shifting geography.

For now the balance sheet and cash reserves give EPAM the flexibility to keep investing in R&D and M&A. The firm’s prospects will hinge on whether its new leadership can stitch together disparate acquisitions, uphold the “engineering-first” capabilities that differentiate it, and capture value from the enterprise shift toward autonomous, agentic systems. If those pieces fall into place, EPAM may reclaim a leadership position , albeit in a different guise and at a different pace , in the next wave of digital transformation.

Source: Noah Wire Services