## About the Role

The Cloud Strategy Office is seeking a senior finance partner to support Rakuten’s internal-cloud service providers. The role will own the financial model, consolidation, forecasting quality, and decision support for cloud services involving infrastructure, hardware, depreciation, vendor contracts, shared costs, and internal pricing.

You will partner with service owners, the Cloud Center of Excellence, data specialists, finance teams, senior leaders, and internal cloud buyers. The role will improve cost transparency, service economics, pricing, investment decisions, and operational efficiency while maintaining service quality and reliability.

You will also lead the financial evaluation and benefits tracking of AI investments and productivity initiatives under guidelines established by the hiring manager. The position is part of a newly formed, small cross-functional team supported by engineering specialists who provide reliable data and tooling.

## Key Responsibilities

– Act as the senior finance partner for internal-cloud service providers.
– Own financial models, consolidation, quality controls, budgets, forecasts, and management reporting.
– Lead budget-versus-actual and forecast analysis, identify key drivers, and track follow-up actions.
– Develop and challenge service unit economics, cost structures, allocation methods, chargeback/showback models, and internal pricing.
– Lead cost-reduction and efficiency initiatives.
– Analyse fixed assets, capitalization, depreciation, hardware investments and lifecycles, and vendor cost structures.
– Develop scenarios and recommendations that improve efficiency and customer value without reducing service quality or reliability.
– Challenge technical and operational stakeholders using financial evidence, alternatives, and clearly defined trade-offs.
– Evaluate AI investments and productivity initiatives, track realized benefits, and provide follow-up reporting.
– Improve financial dashboards, simulations, automated reports, and management information.
– Communicate, document, and support reviews and decisions in English.

## Required Skills

– At least 6 years of relevant experience in FP&A, management accounting, or finance business partnering.
– Practical understanding of technology infrastructure or cloud cost structures.
– Hands-on experience with fixed assets, capitalization, and depreciation.
– Experience with cost allocation, chargeback/showback, or internal service pricing.
– Strong budgeting, forecasting, variance analysis, financial modelling, and management reporting skills.
– Experience analysing costs involving hardware, capacity, usage, or vendor spend.
– Ability to challenge operational and technical stakeholders using financial evidence and credible alternatives.
– Ability to explain concepts such as OpEx and CapEx clearly to non-finance stakeholders.
– Business-level English, demonstrated by a TOEIC score of 800 or higher or equivalent ability.

## Preferred Skills

– Experience with cloud services, internal technology products, data centres, telecommunications, SaaS, or other infrastructure-intensive businesses.
– Experience evaluating technology investments, productivity initiatives, or AI-related benefits and tracking realized value.
– Experience improving finance processes through dashboards, automation, or data products.
– Advanced Excel, SQL, business intelligence, or comparable financial-data skills.
– Relevant accounting, management accounting, FP&A, or FinOps certification.
– Business-level Japanese.

## Cloud Platforms & Technologies

### Cloud Environments
– Internal cloud
– Private cloud
– Public cloud

### Infrastructure & Technology Domains
– Hardware infrastructure
– Data centres
– Telecommunications
– SaaS

### Data & Analytics
– Excel
– SQL
– Business intelligence
– Financial dashboards
– Simulations
– Automated reporting

### Emerging Technology
– AI investments

## FinOps Responsibilities

– Manage cloud financial models, budgets, forecasts, and variance analysis.
– Analyse cloud infrastructure, hardware, capacity, usage, depreciation, and vendor costs.
– Develop cost allocation, chargeback/showback, unit economics, and internal pricing models.
– Lead cost-saving and operational efficiency initiatives.
– Improve cost transparency through dashboards, simulations, automated reports, and management information.
– Evaluate AI and productivity investments and track realized financial benefits.
– Support financial governance and decision-making for internal-cloud services.

## Why You Might Be Interested

This role offers the opportunity to shape financial strategy for internal-cloud services within a newly formed cross-functional team. You will work across finance, engineering, cloud governance, data, and service ownership functions. The position combines FP&A, infrastructure cost management, service economics, investment evaluation, and FinOps-related responsibilities.