[Hiring] Cloud Service Provider Costing Specialist @Guidehouse

Role Description

The Cloud Service Provider Costing Specialist provides technical and financial expertise in commercial cloud pricing, cost modeling, and cloud service provider purchasing options, with a primary emphasis on Microsoft Azure. This role supports enterprise cloud migration, modernization, and hosting decisions by developing defensible cost estimates, evaluating financial alternatives, and identifying opportunities to optimize cloud expenditures.

• Develop comprehensive Microsoft Azure cost estimates, financial models, and total cost of ownership (TCO) analyses to support enterprise workload migration, modernization, and hosting decisions.
• Evaluate and compare the financial implications of hosting alternatives, including on-premises infrastructure, Azure VMware Solution (AVS), Azure-native Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS), and other commercial cloud platforms.
• Analyze Azure pricing structures, Microsoft licensing models, consumption-based charges, reservations, savings plans, data transfer costs, and commercial purchasing agreements to determine projected cloud costs.
• Assess existing infrastructure configurations, resource utilization, application requirements, and workload characteristics to establish current-state cost baselines and forecast future cloud expenditures.
• Evaluate cloud service provider pricing, purchasing options, discounts, licensing considerations, and contractual factors, with a primary emphasis on Microsoft Azure.
• Collaborate with cloud engineers, solution architects, and other technical stakeholders to assess the financial implications of architecture, infrastructure sizing, migration strategies, and modernization decisions.
• Develop cloud cost optimization recommendations addressing resource sizing, consumption patterns, licensing, reservations, savings plans, and cloud service selection.
• Use Azure Pricing Calculator, Azure Cost Management, Azure Migrate, Microsoft Excel, and related tools to develop estimates, analyze expenditures, validate assumptions, and maintain detailed cloud cost models.
• Develop financial comparisons, forecasts, and business cases that clearly document assumptions, cost drivers, financial tradeoffs, risks, and projected outcomes.
• Present cloud cost analyses and recommendations to technical, business, and executive stakeholders in a clear and defensible manner.

Qualifications

• SIX (6+) years of experience in cloud financial management, IT infrastructure costing, cloud pricing analysis, or related technical financial disciplines.
• University degree or FOUR (4) years experience in lieu of formal education.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience independently developing detailed Microsoft Azure pricing estimates, cloud financial models, and TCO analyses for enterprise infrastructure and application workloads.
• Strong practical knowledge of Azure consumption pricing, Microsoft licensing, reservations, savings plans, data transfer charges, and commercial cloud purchasing models.
• Demonstrated ability to translate infrastructure configurations, resource utilization, workload requirements, and architectural designs into detailed cloud consumption forecasts and cost estimates.
• Experience evaluating and comparing the financial implications of cloud migration, modernization, and hosting alternatives, including Azure IaaS, PaaS, and VMware-based environments.
• Experience working with Microsoft Enterprise Agreements, Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) purchasing arrangements, negotiated pricing, and cloud licensing considerations.
• Working knowledge of Azure infrastructure architecture, including compute, storage, networking, databases, and managed services, sufficient to identify and evaluate technical cloud cost drivers.
• Experience using Azure Pricing Calculator, Azure Cost Management, Azure Migrate, or comparable cloud financial management and estimation tools.
• Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Excel and the ability to independently develop, validate, document, and maintain complex cloud cost models.
• Demonstrated ability to develop financial analyses, clearly document assumptions, and communicate cost comparisons, financial tradeoffs, and recommendations to both technical and business stakeholders.

Requirements

• Experience developing financial business cases and cost comparisons for migrations from Azure VMware Solution (AVS) to Azure-native infrastructure and platform services.
• Experience supporting highly regulated or federal cloud environments, including Azure Government pricing, federal cloud procurement arrangements, and agency-specific financial requirements.
• Experience evaluating pricing, licensing, and purchasing options across multiple commercial cloud service providers, particularly Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI).
• Experience implementing FinOps practices across large enterprise environments, including cloud cost allocation, showback/chargeback, forecasting, optimization, and financial governance.
• FinOps Certified Practitioner certification.
• Microsoft Azure certifications or comparable cloud financial management credentials.
• Experience developing and presenting cloud financial recommendations and business cases to senior leadership and executive stakeholders.

Benefits

• Medical, Rx, Dental & Vision Insurance
• Personal and Family Sick Time & Company Paid Holidays
• Parental Leave
• 401(k) Retirement Plan
• Group Term Life and Travel Assistance
• Voluntary Life and AD&D Insurance
• Health Savings Account, Health Care & Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts
• Transit and Parking Commuter Benefits
• Short-Term & Long-Term Disability
• Tuition Reimbursement, Personal Development, Certifications & Learning Opportunities
• Employee Referral Program
• Corporate Sponsored Events & Community Outreach
• Care.com annual membership
• Employee Assistance Program
• Supplemental Benefits via Corestream (Critical Care, Hospital Indemnity, Accident Insurance, Legal Assistance and ID theft protection, etc.)
• Position may be eligible for a discretionary variable incentive bonus