Director - Cost Lead

Firmus Technologies

Firmus Technologies is a global leader pioneering the solution to AI’s energy challenge, founded in Australia in 2019 by a visionary team of entrepreneurs. Our mission is to create the most energy-efficient AI infrastructure, combining cutting edge technology with a steadfast commitment to sustainability. 

Through ground-breaking research and development, we invented a verticalized AI Factory - a new class of digital infrastructure that replaces traditional data centres. Built on new approaches to liquid cooling, energy management, water use and modular construction methodology, the Firmus AI Factory delivers low-cost AI tokens across Asia-Pacific.

 

Firmus AI Cloud

We provide customers access to energy savings via our large-scale GPU cloud, Firmus AI Cloud. Rated Silver in The GPU Cloud ClusterMAX™ Rating System, our cloud empowers developers, enterprise, education and government users to train AI models with unmatched efficiency and cost savings. With an ever-growing list of services and applications, we are committed to building a cloud experience for our customers that is market-leading, proprietary and built to scale. 

 

Role Summary

Firmus is seeking a cost leader to take ownership of cost strategy, governance and portfolio oversight across its expanding data centre platform in Australia.

This role is accountable for ensuring capital deployment is disciplined, transparent and scalable, while supporting rapid delivery of hyperscale infrastructure. The Director –Cost Lead will act as a trusted advisor to executive leadership, providing clear, and commercial insight that underpins investment decisions.

 

Key Responsibilities

Cost Reporting, Data & Dashboards

• Implement and maintain a portfolio cost management dashboard covering Budget vs Committed vs Forecast vs Contingency vs Risk.
• Ensure cost data is structured, auditable and suitable for executive and investor reporting.
• Translate detailed cost information into strategic insights for decision-makers.

 

Commercial Strategy & Cost Governance

• Define and embed a regional cost management framework aligned with Firmus’ strategy and growth plans.
• Lead the standardise commercial documentation, templates and governance processes across the portfolio.
• Ensure consistency in cost planning, forecasting, contingency and escalation assumptions across all projects

 

Portfolio Oversight & Commericial Assurance

• Review and challenge Project QS cost plans, forecasts, variations and final accounts to ensure accuracy, consistency and alignment with Firmus commercial principles.
• Consolidate project-level QS data into clear, concise, board-ready portfolio cost and programme reports.
• Provide independent commercial oversight to identify emerging risk, opportunity and variance across the programme.

 

Benchmarking & Market Intelligence

• Establish and maintain cross-project benchmarking
• Use benchmarking to challenge project assumptions and inform future development strategy.

 

Risk, Contingency & Scenario Management

• Develop standard commercial calculation workings for escalation, contingency, benchmarking and cashflow forecasting.
• Provide scenario analysis to support funding decisions and delivery strategy trade-offs.

 

Vendor Governance

• Review and validate vendor and consultant invoices for compliance with contractual, commercial and governance requirements.
• Support resolution of commercial matters, variations and claims in collaboration with Commercial, Contracts and Legal teams.

 

Leadership & Process Improvement

• Drive continuous improvement in systems, tools and reporting to support Firmus’ scale and maturity
• Undertake other related commercial task as required to support portfolio performance

 

Skills & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Engineering, Business Administration, or a related field is mandatory .
• A Master's degree (e.g., MBA) or professional certification (e.g., CPA, CMA, PMP, CCP) is highly preferred 
• Minimum of 10-15 years of progressive experience in FP&A, financial management ; senior experience leading cost and commercial governance within large-scale infrastructure or mission-critical developments are essential
• Strong understanding of data center cost drivers, procurement modesl and contractor commercial behaviours
• Experience in the relevant industry (e.g., construction, infrastructure, energy, manufacturing) is highly desirable
• Experiences consolidating multi-project data into portfolio-level reporting frameworks 
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with demonstrated capability operating at both detailed technical level and executive, board-facing level

 

Location & Reporting

• Location: Sydney, Australia
• Reporting to Deputy CFO

 

Employment Basis

Full-time

 

Diversity

At Firmus, we are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace. We encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds who are passionate about creating a more sustainable future through innovative engineering solutions.

Join us in our mission to revolutionize the AI industry through sustainable practices and cutting-edge engineering. Apply now to be part of shaping the future of sustainable AI infrastructure.