Lead Cloud Economist

Experience: 7-12years

Location and Work Mode: Pune/Bengaluru, Hybrid

About this Role

We are embarking on a journey to establish a robust and proactive Cloud Finance Management (FinOps) practice. This is a greenfield opportunity to define and implement the strategy, processes, and tooling required to optimise cloud spending, improve cost visibility, and drive financial accountability across cloud environments, initially focused on AWS with a clear roadmap to include GCP and Azure.

As the Lead Cloud Economist, you will play a key role in building, sustaining, and continuously improving this critical capability. Working closely with engineering, finance, procurement, and business stakeholders, you will help create a cloud cost-conscious culture while enabling effective financial governance and cloud investment decisions.

Who are you

• An experienced cloud finance and FinOps professional with 8+ years of experience in cloud cost management and optimisation.
• Experienced in establishing and scaling a Cloud Finance Management (FinOps) practice from the ground up.
• Knowledgeable in AWS, Azure, and GCP pricing models, billing mechanisms, and financial management capabilities.
• An analytical problem-solver who can interpret complex financial and technical data and convert insights into actionable recommendations.
• A collaborative communicator who can effectively engage both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Experienced in data visualisation, reporting, automation, and cloud cost governance.
• Passionate about driving financial accountability, optimisation, and continuous improvement across cloud environments.

What you will do

Practice Vision and Strategy

• Develop and articulate a clear vision and strategic roadmap for the Cloud Finance Management practice aligned with business objectives and cloud strategy.
• Define the scope of services, key performance indicators (KPIs), and success measures for the practice.
• Anticipate future business requirements and support the evolution of the practice across AWS, GCP, and Azure.

Practice Establishment and Implementation

• Lead the end-to-end setup of the Cloud Finance Management practice.
• Define governance frameworks, operating processes, and tooling requirements.
• Develop and maintain policies, standards, and best practices related to cloud cost management, forecasting, budgeting, and reporting.
• Establish cost allocation, showback, chargeback, and accountability mechanisms across business units and teams.

Cloud Cost Optimisation and Analysis

• Perform detailed analysis of AWS, Azure, and GCP spending patterns.
• Identify optimisation opportunities across compute, storage, networking, and cloud services.
• Provide recommendations on resource rightsizing, Reserved Instances, Savings Plans, architecture efficiency, and cost reduction opportunities.
• Develop dashboards and reports providing visibility of cloud spend, cost drivers, optimisation opportunities, and realised savings.
• Work closely with engineering teams to implement recommendations and measure outcomes.

Multi-Cloud Strategy and Implementation

• Develop and execute a strategy to extend Cloud Finance Management across GCP and Azure.
• Evaluate and select appropriate multi-cloud cost management platforms and tools.
• Establish consistent governance, reporting, and financial management processes across cloud providers.
• Maintain and contribute to critical finance and governance activities requiring strong IT financial acumen.

Stakeholder Management and Collaboration

• Build effective relationships with engineering, finance, procurement, and business stakeholders.
• Communicate cloud cost insights, trends, risks, and recommendations in a clear and accessible manner.
• Promote a culture of cloud cost awareness and financial accountability.
• Deliver guidance and enablement activities on cloud cost management best practices.

Tooling and Automation

• Evaluate, implement, and manage cloud cost management and optimisation tooling.
• Develop automation workflows and scripts to improve reporting, analysis, and optimisation activities.
• Ensure data accuracy, consistency, and integrity within cost management platforms.

Forecasting and Budgeting

• Develop cloud cost forecasting frameworks and financial models.
• Partner with finance teams to integrate cloud expenditure into budgeting processes.
• Monitor actual spend against forecasts and provide variance analysis and recommendations.

Continuous Improvement

• Stay informed about evolving cloud pricing models, services, and FinOps best practices across AWS, Azure, and GCP.
• Continuously improve processes, governance, reporting, and optimisation practices to enhance effectiveness and efficiency.

What skills you need

Core Competencies, Knowledge and Experience

• Extensive experience in cloud cost management and optimisation with a strong focus on AWS, Azure, and GCP.
• Demonstrable experience establishing and scaling a FinOps or Cloud Finance Management practice.
• Strong understanding of cloud financial principles, pricing models, billing structures, and cost optimisation techniques.
• Hands-on experience with AWS Cost Explorer, Cost and Usage Reports, AWS Budgets, Savings Plans Recommendation Engine, and Reserved Instance planning.
• Familiarity with GCP Cloud Billing and Cost Management capabilities.
• Familiarity with Azure Cost Management + Billing capabilities.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and data interpretation skills.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder engagement, and presentation abilities.
• Experience with data visualisation tools such as Tableau and Power BI.
• Experience with scripting languages such as Python for analysis and automation.
• Understanding of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) concepts and cost implications.
• Relevant certifications such as FinOps Certified Practitioner, AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner, AWS Certified Cost Management, Google Cloud Associate Cloud Engineer, and Microsoft Azure Fundamentals are advantageous.

Technical / Professional Qualifications

AWS

• Billing and Cost Management
• Trusted Advisor
• Compute Optimizer
• Pricing Calculator
• CloudWatch
• Athena

Azure

• Azure Cost Management
• Azure Advisor

Third-Party Platforms

• CloudHealth
• Cloudamize
• CloudblazeTech

Additional Skills

• Tableau
• Power BI
• Python
• Terraform
• CloudFormation

What skills you will learn

• Advanced Cloud Finance Management and FinOps practices in a multi-cloud environment.
• Cloud governance, financial accountability, and cost optimisation frameworks.
• Strategic cloud forecasting, budgeting, and financial planning methodologies.
• Enterprise-scale cost allocation, showback, and chargeback models.
• Multi-cloud cost management tooling and automation techniques.
• Cross-functional stakeholder engagement and financial decision-making within large-scale cloud environments.

About VOIS

VOIS (Vodafone Intelligent Solutions) is a strategic arm of Vodafone Group Plc, creating value and enhancing quality and efficiency across 28 countries, and operating from 7 locations: Albania, Egypt, Hungary, India, Romania, Spain and the UK.

Over 29,000 highly skilled individuals are dedicated to being Vodafone Group's partner of choice for talent, technology, and transformation. We deliver the best services across IT, Business Intelligence Services, Customer Operations, Business Operations, HR, Finance, Supply Chain, HR Operations, and many more.

Established in 2006, VOIS has evolved into a global, multi-functional organisation, a Centre of Excellence for Intelligent Solutions focused on adding value and delivering business outcomes for Vodafone.

About Vodafone

You may have already heard of Vodafone - We're a leading Telecommunications company in Europe and Africa. But what you might not know is that we are continuously investing in new technologies to improve the lives of millions of customers, businesses and people around the world, creating a better future for everyone.

As part of our global family, whether that's Vodafone, Vodacom or VOIS, you'll feel a sense of pride and purpose as you contribute to our culture of innovation. We pursue equality of opportunity and inclusion for all candidates through our employment policies and practices. We recognise and celebrate the importance of diversity and inclusivity in our workspace and we do not tolerate any form of discrimination especially related to but not limited to race, colour, age, veteran status, gender identification, sexual orientation, pregnancy, ethnicity, disability, religion, political affiliation, trade union membership, nationality, indigenous status, medical condition, HIV status, social origin, cultural background, social, or marital status.