Cloud Strategist

HM Note: This hybrid contract role is two (2) days in office. Candidate resumes must include first and last name, email and telephone contact information.

Description

• Looking for a Senior Cloud Cost Forecasting Strategist to take a lead role in shaping and driving our cloud financial strategy. This role will lead the forecasting and financial planning of our cloud spend across cloud platform (Azure). This role will work closely with Finance, Engineering, and Cloud Operations teams to analyze trends, forecast future consumption, and provide strategic insights to drive cost efficiency and governance.

Key Contributions

• Optimization & Strategic Insight
• Support & Drive cloud cost optimization strategies by identifying over-provisioned or underutilized resources
• Work closely with engineering and product teams to incorporate financial perspectives into design and architecture decisions.
• Collaborate with vendors and procurement teams to evaluate pricing structures and opportunities for savings.

• Drive outcomes from FinOps tools by turning cloud cost data into insights, and insights into strategic actions that reduce spend, improve forecast accuracy, and align investments with business priorities.

• Tagging Strategy & Governance

• Design and implement a comprehensive cloud tagging strategy to ensure full visibility of cloud spend across departments, applications, environments, and projects.
• Collaborate with engineering, DevOps, and operations teams to enforce tagging compliance through automation, tooling, and policy frameworks.
• Identify gaps or inconsistencies in tagging and lead remediation efforts to improve cost attribution accuracy and chargeback/showback processes.

• Maintain documentation and training to ensure ongoing awareness and adoption of tagging best practices.

• Forecasting & Planning

• Build and maintain multi-year cloud cost forecasts in alignment with technology and business roadmaps.
• Analyze historical cloud usage trends to project accurate future spend across cloud providers.
• Collaborate with Finance and Technology teams to ensure budget alignment, including ongoing updates to forecasts and actuals.
• Develop and maintain accurate cloud cost forecasts based on usage trends, business plans, and anticipated changes in workloads.
• Drive re-baselining exercises and year-over-year forecasting improvements to align financials with actual consumption trends.

Section 2: Cost Governance & Reporting

• Utilize cloud-native tools (e.g., Azure Cost Management) and FinOps platforms (e.g., Apptio Cloudability,) to provide cost visibility and trend analysis.
• Own the creation of executive dashboards, variance analysis, and forecast accuracy metrics.
• Identify gaps between forecasted and actual spend and drive corrective actions.

• Develop models for cost attribution, showback/chargeback, and unit cost analysis

• Tooling & Enablement

• Leverage platforms like Apptio (Cloudability), Azure Cost Management, and Power BI for reporting and analysis.
• Implement tagging and resource management policies to ensure accurate data collection for forecasting and accountability.
• Continuously optimize tool usage to derive actionable insights and improve cloud cost transparency across departments
• Oversee the implementation and onboarding of the FinOps tool, ensuring data accuracy, role-based access, and reporting alignment with organizational goals

Section 3: Requirements

• Education Completion of a diploma in Computer Science, or a related discipline – or a combination of education, training and experience deemed equivalent
• Experience Minimum 4 years' experience in the cloud Finops related tools like Apptio. Thorough understanding of cloud cost spends. Experience developing & designing roadmaps, implement strategies & transformation plans for clients. Hands-on experience with FinOps tools.
• Certifications or Designations FinOps Certified Practitioner or equivalent certification

Section 4: Competencies & Specialized Skills

• Customer Service Teamwork Initiative

• Quality & Safety Engaged in the Business

• Technical Competencies

• Strong knowledge of Azure, billing structures, and optimization levers.
• Demonstrated experience in cloud tagging implementation, governance, and remediation.
• Advanced skills in Excel and Power BI; experience with FinOps tools like Apptio Cloudability, Cloud Health, or native cloud cost platforms.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate financial data into actionable insights for technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Prior experience in large-scale cloud transformations or hybrid cloud environments.
• Experience creating tagging policies via Azure Policy or custom enforcement scripts. Familiarity with Infrastructure as Code (IaC), CI/CD pipelines, and cloud cost tagging best practices.
• Background in cloud architecture, infrastructure engineering, or DevOps a strong plus.

Must Haves:

• 3+ years experience Supporting & Driving cloud cost optimization strategies by identifying over-provisioned or underutilized resources
• 3+ years experience Work closely with engineering and product teams to incorporate financial perspectives into design and architecture decisions.
• 3+ years experience Driving outcomes from FinOps tools by turning cloud cost data into insights, and insights into strategic actions that reduce spend, improve forecast accuracy, and align investments with business priorities.