Senior Manager – AI, Technology Value & Economics

Job description

The opportunity Technology investment is becoming increasingly consumption-driven. Cloud replaced much fixed infrastructure expenditure with variable consumption. Generative AI introduced token, inference, model and compute economics. Agentic AI will amplify the challenge as autonomous systems consume technology continuously and increasingly make decisions that themselves generate additional consumption. At the same time, boards and executive teams are demanding stronger evidence that major technology and AI investments are generating measurable enterprise value. Deloitte Africa Engineering, AI & Data Advisory is building a capability dedicated to solving both sides of this equation. We are looking for an exceptional Senior Manager – AI, Technology Value & Economics to build and lead a distinctive advisory business spanning value realisation, investment economics, consumption economics, AI economics and FinOps . This is not an internal finance role and it is not simply cloud cost optimisation. It is a strategic advisory role concerned with a fundamental executive question: Are we investing in the right technology, at the right level of consumption, for the value it creates? Your mandate As capability steward, you will help clients establish the economic management system required for increasingly AI-, data- and cloud-intensive enterprises. You will operate across four interconnected disciplines. Investment economics. Determine whether proposed AI, data, cloud and technology investments create sufficient enterprise value and help executives allocate scarce investment capital accordingly. Value realisation. Establish mechanisms that connect technology programs to measurable financial, operational and strategic outcomes and maintain accountability after investment approval. Consumption economics. Create transparency over how technology consumption translates into business outcomes, including cloud, data, GPU, model, inference, token and increasingly agent consumption. Commercial optimisation. Help clients make informed decisions around technology commercial models, vendor structures, licensing, commitments and consumption arrangements. You will simultaneously build the market, propositions, talent and intellectual property required to scale this into a material Deloitte Africa Advisory business. What you will do : Develop investment cases for AI, data, cloud and emerging-technology programs. Establish value trees connecting technology interventions to enterprise financial and operational outcomes. Define baselines, benefit hypotheses, KPIs and measurement mechanisms. Build value-realisation frameworks that continue from investment approval through implementation and operation. Create portfolio-level views of value, cost, risk and investment performance. Establish AI and technology unit economics. Analyse cost per transaction, user, workload, inference, token, agent, process or business outcome where appropriate. Design consumption economics frameworks for cloud, data and AI. Help organisations forecast technology consumption under different adoption and operating scenarios. Identify value leakage and consumption inefficiency. Establish FinOps principles and operating models where appropriate. Integrate Finance, Technology, Procurement and business ownership around a common economic management model. Define showback, chargeback and accountability mechanisms. Assess hyperscaler, SaaS, AI-model and technology-provider commercial structures. Support vendor negotiations through fact-based economic analysis. Evaluate build-versus-buy and model/platform selection decisions from an economic perspective. Develop AI portfolio prioritisation and funding mechanisms. Design stage gates connecting continued investment to demonstrated value. Develop executive dashboards and decision-support mechanisms. Support CFOs, CIOs, CDAOs and business executives with technology-investment decisions. Lead value discovery and economics engagements from diagnostic through implementation. Originate new client opportunities and convert them into advisory and transformation engagements. Build Deloitte methods, benchmarks, models, accelerators and thought leadership in .technology economics. Develop Managers and Consultants capable of combining financial analysis with technology understanding. The profile we are looking for This role requires a rare combination of commercial strategist, financial problem solver and technologist . You will likely bring approximately 15+ years of experience across management consulting, technology strategy, corporate finance, value advisory, FinOps, technology economics, AI strategy or adjacent disciplines. We expect: Significant management consulting, advisory or equivalent strategic client-facing experience. Exceptional quantitative and commercial problem-solving capability. Strong financial modelling capability. Experience developing business cases and investment cases for large technology or transformation programs. Understanding of value-realisation and benefits-management disciplines. Strong understanding of cloud economics and consumption-based technology models. Growing fluency in the economics of Generative AI and Agentic AI. Ability to engage Finance and Technology leaders with equal credibility. Experience structuring ambiguous executive problems and converting analysis into decisions. Demonstrated client-development and consulting-origination capability. Strong executive communication and storytelling. Experience leading multidisciplinary teams and developing talent. A Bachelor's degree in commerce, finance, economics, engineering, computer science, business science or another analytically rigorous discipline is expected. An MBA, CFA, CA(SA), CIMA or relevant postgraduate qualification can be advantageous but is not mandatory\. Analytical depth You should be highly capable across areas such as: ROI, NPV, IRR and payback analysis; Scenario and sensitivity modelling; Business cases and investment cases; Benefits decomposition and value trees; Technology total cost of ownership; Cloud cost models; Unit economics; Portfolio economics; Cloud FinOps; Consumption forecasting; AI inference and token economics; GPU and compute economics; Model selection economics; SaaS and enterprise technology licensing; Vendor commercial models; Showback and chargeback; Technology investment governance; and Value-realisation measurement. You must also be capable of moving beyond the spreadsheet. The central skill is using economics to change decisions and behaviour , not merely reporting numbers after decisions have already been made. What will distinguish exceptional candidates The strongest candidates may have: Built a technology-value, FinOps, cloud economics or investment-advisory capability; Advised CFO/CIO leadership teams on large technology investment portfolios; Developed sophisticated business cases for AI or digital transformation; Established enterprise value-realisation offices; Worked extensively with cloud consumption economics; Developed AI-specific unit economic models; Supported major technology commercial negotiations; Originated material consulting work; Built reusable financial models, benchmarks or economic frameworks; or Published or spoken credibly on the economics of AI and emerging technology. How success will be measured You will be expected to deliver: A recognisable market proposition around AI and technology economics; A strong qualified pipeline and repeatable origination engine; Managed revenue and contribution to wider EAID transformation revenue; Demonstrable improvement in client investment decisions and realised value; Distinctive methodologies, benchmarks and reusable IP; Successful conversion of value/economics engagements into broader transformation opportunities; Strong executive relationships across CFO, CIO, CDAO, Procurement and business leadership; Development of specialist value-and-economics talent; and External market recognition of Deloitte's point of view in this emerging discipline. Why this role is different Technology leaders increasingly know what they can build. Far fewer organisations can answer, with confidence: What should we invest in? What should it cost? What should we consume? What value should it create? And how will we know? This role will build the capability that helps answer those questions. Note: The list of tasks / duties and responsibilities contained in this document is not necessarily exhaustive. Deloitte may ask the employee to carry out additional duties or responsibilities, which may fall reasonably within the ambit of the role profile, depending on operational requirements. Be careful of Recruitment Scams: Fraudsters or employment scammers often pose as legitimate recruiters, employers, recruitment consultants or job placement firms, advertising false job opportunities through email, text messages and WhatsApp messages. They aim to cheat jobseekers out of money or to steal personal information. To help you look out for potential recruitment scams, here are some Red Flags: Upfront Payment Requests : Deloitte will never ask for any upfront payment for background checks, job training, or supplies . Requests for Personal Information : Be wary if you are asked for sensitive personal information, especially early in the recruitment process and without a clear need for it. Fraudulent links or contractual documents may require the provision of sensitive personal data or copy documents (e.g., government issued numbers or identity documents, passports or passport numbers, bank account statements or numbers, parent’s data) that may be used for identity fraud. Do not provide or send any of these documents or data. Please note we will never ask for photographs at any stage of the recruitment process. Unprofessional Communication : Scammers may communicate in an unprofessional manner. Their messages may be filled with poor grammar and spelling errors. The look and feel may not be consistent with the Deloitte corporate brand. If you're unsure, make direct contact with Deloitte using our official contact details. Be careful not to use any contact details provided in the suspicious job advertisement or email. At Deloitte, we want everyone to feel they can be themselves and to thrive at work—in every country, in everything we do, every day. We aim to create a workplace where everyone is treated fairly and with respect, including reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. We are committed to employment equity and building a diverse and inclusive workplace across the African continent. Our recruitment processes are aligned with our Employment Equity Plan and the principles of the Employment Equity Act. Preference may be given to candidates from designated groups. We actively support the inclusion of people with disabilities and embrace neurodiversity in the workplace. We recognise and value the unique strengths that neurodivergent individuals bring, and we are committed to creating an environment where everyone can thrive. If you require reasonable accommodations in relation to your disability and neurodiverse needs during the recruitment process, please let us know. We are happy to make adjustments to suit your individual needs. At Deloitte, our Purpose is to make an impact that matters for our clients, our people, and society. This is the lens for which our global strategy is set. It unites Deloitte professionals across geographies, businesses, and skills. It makes us better at what we do and how we do it. It enables us to deliver on our promises to stakeholders, while creating the lasting impact we seek. Harnessing the talent of 450,000+ people located across more than 150 countries and territories, our size and scale puts us in a unique position to help change the world for the better—by bringing together the services we provide, the societal investments we make, and the collaborations we advance through our ecosystems. Deloitte offers career opportunities across Audit & Assurance (A&A), Tax & Legal (T&L) and our Consulting services business, which is made up of Strategy, Risk & Transactions Advisory (SR&T) and Technology & Transformation (T&T). About Africa Consulting Services Deloitte’s Africa Consulting Services has always been about helping our clients and our people move forward. It’s important that we do the same for our business: celebrating how far we’ve come, and always preparing to take our next, big steps towards a global future. We’re moving and evolving on our journey to be an undisputed leader in consulting, globally and in all major markets. Together, we will achieve our aspirations through a relentless focus on our shared strategic agenda.