Gain insights into what it’s like to work as a consultant at Phi, with our ‘meet our consultants’ series.  

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Yordan Dabov, Cloud Managed Services Lead and FinOps Consultant at Phi for the past two years, kindly agreed to an interview. Yordan currently works on optimising cloud spending and maximising business value, utilising over 20 years of experience in the IT field, the last 5 of which have been working with the Public Cloud – Azure and AWS, alongside his FinOps expertise. Before joining Phi, Yordan led multiple technical teams managing on-premises, Private and Public Cloud environments. 

Explore the article below for a window into Yordan’s journey and contributions to our clients at Phi Partners. 

What have you been doing recently at Phi?  

“As a FinOps consultant, I was recently engaged in a Public Cloud cost optimisation project for a global financial services company. The process began with meeting application teams to understand the specific usage patterns of their applications. Based on these insights, we identified potential areas for optimisation and developed a tailored plan. The proposed actions were then reviewed and approved in collaboration with the application teams, and subsequently translated into measurable, trackable initiatives. Finally, each action was followed through to completion to ensure tangible results. The project was both exciting and fulfilling, as it required a combination of public cloud expertise, FinOps knowledge, and strong soft skills to drive collaboration, influence stakeholders, and deliver meaningful impact.“

Tell us more…. 

“The project began with a detailed analysis of application workload patterns, incorporating key AWS service metrics – including EC2 instance CPU/memory utilisation, RDS performance indicators (e.g., IOPS, connections, and query throughput), EBS volume utilisation rates, and S3 storage class distribution. This analysis was cross-referenced with cost allocation data from the AWS Cost and Usage Report (CUR) to establish a clear cost-to-usage mapping. 

From this baseline, a comprehensive cost optimisation strategy was developed, encompassing opportunities such as: 

EC2 instance and EBS volume rightsizing based on historical utilisation profiles from CloudWatch metrics and AWS Compute Optimizer recommendations, ensuring optimal sizing for both compute and attached storage resources. 

RDS instance rightsizing by evaluating CPU, memory, storage throughput, and connection metrics from CloudWatch and Performance Insights, and scaling to optimal instance classes. 

AWS waste removal, including the identification and elimination of idle, underutilised, or orphaned resources (e.g., unattached EBS volumes, unused Elastic Load Balancers, stale snapshots, and abandoned RDS instances), with lifecycle policies implemented for automated clean-up where feasible. 

Addressing hidden AWS costs by analysing and optimising charges associated with inter-Region and cross-AZ data transfer, data egress to the internet, encryption overhead, and other non-obvious cost drivers surfaced via CUR and VPC Flow Logs. 

S3 cost optimisation by transitioning infrequently accessed objects to cost-effective storage classes (e.g., S3 Intelligent-Tiering, Glacier Instant Retrieval, or Glacier Deep Archive), enabling S3 lifecycle policies for automated tiering/deletion, and reducing small object overhead via object consolidation where appropriate. 

Implementing non-production weekend and off-hours shutdown schedules for EC2 and RDS instances using AWS Instance Scheduler, EventBridge rules, or Lambda automation to eliminate runtime costs during periods of zero business demand. 

Leveraging AWS Graviton processors and optimised EC2 instance families to improve performance per dollar, combined with utilisation of enhanced AWS discount programs to maximise cost-efficiency. 

Adopting optimised pricing models, leveraging Reserved Instances (RIs), Savings Plans, and Spot Instances orchestrated via EC2 Auto Scaling Groups and Spot Fleet. 

The strategy provided prioritised, actionable recommendations with associated ROI estimates. Upon approval from the Division’s Business Manager, initiatives were formalised as Jira epics and tasks for execution. However, the most challenging phase of the project was about to begin – engaging with Application Owners and Development teams to secure buy-in and drive execution of the recommended actions. This required presenting data-driven justifications, addressing concerns about potential performance or availability impacts, and aligning optimisation activities with ongoing development roadmaps to minimise disruption. Progress tracking was maintained via scheduled status reviews. All completed optimisations were quantitatively validated using AWS Cost Explorer, with detailed evidence archived in repositories to support auditability and future optimisation reviews. 

The tooling utilised included AWS-native services such as Trusted Advisor, Cost Explorer, and Compute Optimiser, supplemented by a third-party FinOps platform for enhanced cost visibility, anomaly detection, and governance automation.“

What are your thoughts on the direction of FinOps? 

“Public Cloud is already playing a pivotal role in Capital Markets with most financial institutions underway with their cloud transformation initiatives and are looking to enhance security and resilience as key priorities. In my view, the focus will now increasingly shift toward implementing dedicated FinOps practices, which are essential for managing cloud spend effectively and ensuring financial accountability and alignment to business value. 

In many enterprise environments, there is insufficient focus on FinOps/CostOps. Lack of cost guardrails (e.g. quotas, auto-shutdowns, reserved instances) drives waste and inefficiency. Overprovisioning, orphaned resources, and underutilisation are common pitfalls. In the absence of FinOps practices, the perception that Public Cloud is expensive often turns into reality.  

But having strong FinOps professionals alone will not be enough. To achieve meaningful results, companies will need individuals who can not only identify cost-saving opportunities but also develop and implement effective solutions. This is where the technical expertise becomes important – to bridge the gap between financial insight and technical execution.“

What would you say to someone thinking of joining Phi? 

“The interview process was exceptional – I felt at ease throughout and experienced no pressure. Being part of Phi’s Cloud team means having the opportunity to collaborate with some of the leading public cloud experts in Europe. In addition, the continuous learning that comes from working in a fast-evolving technology landscape-where innovation happens in real time-is matched by a strong work-life balance that supports both personal and professional growth. For example, I was encouraged to deepen my AWS and FinOps skills as part of my professional development, and at the same time, I received full support from my team during a prolonged injury recovery – demonstrating a strong commitment by Phi to both personal and career well-being.“

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Would you like to work with Yordan or with our wider Cloud Services Team, either as a client or as a colleague? Check out our careers page for the latest open roles: www.phipartners.com/careers or contact us for further information on relevant services: sales@phipartners.com