Consultant - Charge Back and Cost Management

Mission

The Consultant - Charge Back and Cost Management plays a pivotal role in ensuring financial accountability, transparency, and efficiency within the AI organization by managing cost structures, charge-back mechanisms, financial planning. This role ensure that cost management strategies align with business objectives while enabling seamless financial operations.

The incumbent will be responsible for establishing financial frameworks to allocate costs effectively, develop financial governance models, implement cost recovery mechanisms, and oversee the allocation of AI investment costs to ensure optimized spending, maximum return on investment, and alignment with overall MTN Business strategies

The Consultant - Charge Back and Cost Management will ensure adherence to financial policies, streamline budget management, and enhance cost efficiency in AI projects. The role also will provide actionable insights into financial performance and recommend cost optimization

Values

We at MTN are a purpose and value-led organization. At MTN, we believe that understanding our people's needs and aspirations is key to creating experiences that delight you at work, everyday. We are committed to fostering an environment where every member of our Y'ello Family is heard, understood and empowered to live an inspired life.

Our values keep us grounded and moving in the right direction. Most importantly, they keep us honest. It is not something we claim to be. It is in our DNA.

As an organisation, we consider it our mission to create an exciting and rewarding place to work, where our people can be themselves, thrive in positivity and ignite their full potential. A workplace that boosts creativity and innovation, improves productivity, and ultimately drives meaningful results. A workplace that is built on relationships and achieving a purpose that is bigger than us.

Our commitments go beyond an organisational promise. It is in our leadership and managerial ethos to meaningfully partner with our employees, customers and stakeholders with a vision to realise our shared goals.

Live Y'ello

• Lead with Crae
• Can-do with Integrity
• Collaborate with Agility
• Serve with Respect
• Act with Inclusion

The Consultant - Charge Back and Cost Management will be responsible for the following:

• Develop and maintain a structured charge-back model to allocate AI costs transparently for AI solution design and deployment by defining clear cost drivers, implementing automated tracking mechanisms, ensuring financial accountability, and regularly reviewing and optimizing allocation methodologies to reflect business growth and AI investment shifts
• Establish a cost governance framework that ensures accountability in AI investments and spending by defining clear cost allocation principles, monitoring expenditure trends, and implementing robust financial controls to prevent budget overruns and inefficiencies
• Analyze AI project costs by conducting detailed financial assessments, identifying cost-saving opportunities, and benchmarking AI expenditures against industry standards
• Provide strategic recommendations for cost optimization by evaluating alternative sourcing models, leveraging economies of scale, and automating cost-tracking mechanisms
• Ensure compliance with transfer pricing policies, optimizing cost structures, and maintaining regulatory alignment across multiple jurisdictions to facilitate seamless cross-border AI cost allocations
• Support decision-making for AI financial planning by developing predictive financial models, assessing long-term financial sustainability, and aligning cost structures with overall business objectives
• Monitor and track AI project budgets by implementing real-time cost tracking mechanisms, ensuring adherence to financial policies, conducting periodic financial audits and identifying budgetary risks
• Provide regular financial reports, dashboards, and insights to leadership on AI investment performance and cost distribution by analyzing expenditure trends, forecasting future costs, identifying inefficiencies
• Develop financial risk assessment models to evaluate potential financial exposure in AI initiatives by identifying cost uncertainties, assessing probability-weighted financial risks, simulating different investment scenarios and implementing mitigation strategies
• Implement financial performance metrics to measure cost efficiency and return on AI investments by defining key financial KPIs, establishing benchmarking standards, tracking cost variances and analyzing ROI trends
• Drive process automation initiatives to improve financial reporting and cost tracking for AI initiatives
• Ensure that charge-back methodologies are scalable, adaptable, and aligned with evolving AI solutions and services by continuously assessing financial impact, refining allocation models, integrating automation for cost tracking, and incorporating feedback 
• Identify areas for cost consolidation and optimization to enhance overall financial efficiency in AI operations by analyzing current expenditure patterns, leveraging economies of scale, and aligning financial strategies with long-term AI investment goals to maximize value creation.

Education:

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, Economics, or a related field.
• Certification in CPA, CFA, AI/ML or related fields (preferred)

Experience:

• 4+ years of experience in experience in finance, cost management, or financial planning, preferably within IT, AI, or digital transformation initiatives
• Prior experience in developing and implementing charge-back models, cost allocation frameworks, and financial governance
• Experience in managing AI-related investments and cost structures is an added advantage
• Strong background in cross-functional financial management and corporate financial compliance.

Skills:

• Advanced financial modeling, cost analysis, and transfer pricing strategies for AI-related financial structures
• Proficiency in financial reporting and data visualization tools (Power BI, Tableau)
• Knowledge of AI-driven financial models and cost optimization techniques
• Hands-on experience with charge-back and cost recovery models
• Strong negotiation and stakeholder management skills
• Strong business acumen and strategic thinking
• Excellent problem-solving abilities and analytical mindset