Junior Cloud Strategy & Cost Consultant (m/w/d)

Job description

Technology spend is growing in complexity - across cloud, AI, SaaS, and on-prem. Organizations need clarity on where their money goes, and how to optimise it. As a Junior Cloud Strategy & Cost Consultant at Cortex Reply, you'll work with C-suite stakeholders, engineering teams, and finance leaders to bring financial accountability and transparency to technology investments. We operate at the forefront of FinOps: shaping industry standards with the FinOps Foundation and expanding the discipline into areas like AI cost management and sustainability. Your Tasks Client Engagements & Operating Models Lead FinOps engagements optimising cloud, AI, SaaS, and on-prem spending Analyse complex environments (IaaS, PaaS, AI workloads) to identify optimisation potential Design FinOps operating models tailored to each client's structure and maturity Transparency & Accountability Architect cost allocation strategies, tagging standards, and showback/chargeback models Develop management reporting — from requirements and mockups to executive dashboards Optimisation & Value Delivery Drive usage and rate optimisation campaigns: prioritise recommendations, enable account owners, track realised savings Evaluate and select FinOps tools through PoCs and vendor assessments Stakeholder Enablement Coach product owners, engineering leads, and finance teams on cost-aware decision-making Deliver workshops that embed FinOps practices into daily operations Establish communities of practice and share benchmarks across the organisation Thought Leadership Develop FinOps blueprints and playbooks for internal and external use Contribute trainings, talks, and publications that position the team as industry experts Expand offerings into FinOps for AI, FinOps for SaaS, and sustainability tracking What We Offer Competitive compensation Professional development through challenging projects and training opportunities A diverse, international team with a strong knowledge-sharing culture Opportunities for thought leadership: conferences, publications, certifications A collaborative, supportive team environment Degree in Data Analytics, Finance, Business Administration, Informatics, IT Management, or related field Proficiency in English and German (min. B2 each) Residence in Germany with work eligibility Willingness to travel occasionally Strong analytical skills with focus on financial data interpretation Excellent communication and presentation skills for technical and non-technical audiences Understanding of agile frameworks (Scrum, SAFe, Kanban) and consulting/project management experience Initial experience with data analysis/visualisation tools (e.g. BigQuery, Power BI, Tableau) Initial experience with at least one major cloud provider (AWS, Azure, or GCP) Proactive, self-organised mindset with intrinsic motivation for sustainable technology solutions Nice to Have Cloud certifications (AWS, GCP, Azure) or FinOps Practitioner certification Familiarity with cloud cost management tools (e.g. Cloudability, Flexera, Kubecost, Infracost) Exposure to SaaS management, on-prem licence optimisation, or AI cost management Interest in community building, public speaking, or content creation Here you can find more information about Cortex Reply and how we process your data .