Cloud FinOps Specialist

Job Title: Cloud FinOps Expert / Specialist

Overview

Cloud FinOps Expert combines financial management and cloud technology expertise to optimize cloud costs, improve financial accountability, and ensure maximum value from cloud investments. This role bridges the gap between finance, engineering, and operations teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Cloud Cost Management
• Financial Analysis & Reporting
• Governance & Compliance
• Collaboration
• Tooling & Automation
• Training & Evangelism
• Monitor and analyze cloud usage and spending across AWS, Azure, and GCP.
• Identify cost-saving opportunities and implement optimization strategies.
• Develop financial models for forecasting and budgeting cloud expenses.
• Prepare and present cost reports and dashboards for stakeholders.
• Ensure adherence to company policies, industry standards, and regulatory requirements.
• Maintain accurate tagging and allocation for cost transparency.
• Work with engineering teams to design cost-efficient architectures.
• Partner with finance and procurement for contract negotiations and reserved instance planning.
• Manage cloud cost management tools (e.g., CloudHealth, Apptio, Spot.io).
• Automate reporting and anomaly detection for cloud spend.
• Educate teams on FinOps principles and best practices.
• Promote a culture of financial accountability in cloud usage.

Required Skills

• Technical
• Financial
• Analytical & Communication
• Strong knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP).
• Familiarity with FinOps Foundation principles.
• Experience with cost management tools and data analytics (Power BI, Tableau).
• Expertise in budgeting, forecasting, and cost allocation.
• Ability to create and interpret financial models.
• Strong problem-solving and data analysis skills.
• Excellent communication for cross-functional collaboration.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Computer Science, or related field.
• 8–10 years of experience in cloud technologies and 4-6 years of experience  in cloud cost management, financial operations.
• Certifications: AWS/Azure/GCP Certified Cloud Practitioner, FinOps Certified Practitioner (preferred).

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Cloud Cost Optimization

• Percentage reduction in monthly cloud spend without impacting performance.
• Savings achieved through reserved instances, savings plans, or spot instances.

Forecast Accuracy

• Variance between forecasted and actual cloud spend (target: ±5–10%).

Resource Utilization

• Percentage of underutilized or idle resources identified and remediated.
• Ratio of tagged vs. untagged resources (target: >95% tagged).

Automation & Efficiency

• Number of automated cost optimization scripts/processes implemented.
• Reduction in manual effort for cost reporting and anomaly detection.

Governance & Compliance

• Compliance rate with cost allocation and tagging policies.
• Number of policy violations detected and resolved.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Frequency and quality of cost optimization reports delivered to stakeholders.
• Training sessions conducted on FinOps best practices.

Business Value Metrics

• Cost per application/service vs. business value delivered.
• ROI on cloud investments.