Overview
The FinOps Analyst is responsible for managing technology costs across the organization's cloud and SaaS portfolio. This role provides technology leadership with cost and budget insights to collaborate effectively with Finance. The position establishes and operates the FinOps function, driving cost visibility, optimization, and financial discipline in partnership with infrastructure engineering, application development, and finance teams. The role reports to the Vice President of Information Technology.
Responsibilities
Cloud Cost Management & Optimization (35%)
- Operate the cloud cost management platform (Vantage) across AWS, Azure, GCP, and OCI.
- Build and maintain cost dashboards, allocation reporting, and chargeback/showback models.
- Identify cost optimization opportunities across cloud workloads and collaborate with engineering teams to implement savings.
- Manage commitment-based pricing strategies including reserved instances, savings plans, and enterprise discount programs.
- Produce monthly and quarterly cloud cost reports for IT leadership and finance partners.
SaaS Cost Management & Operations (25%)
- Manage SaaS cost and license operations, transitioning from a managed-service engagement to in-house management.
- Maintain the SaaS system of record including contracts, owners, spend, and usage data.
- Identify and reclaim unused or underutilized licenses to reduce waste.
- Support SaaS renewal preparation with usage data, benchmarking, and optimization recommendations.
- Identify shadow IT and enforce SaaS purchasing and governance policies.
Budget & FP&A Partnership (25%)
- Extract and analyze technology cost and budget data ahead of monthly Finance and FP&A reviews.
- Collaborate with FP&A to reconcile numbers, investigate variances, and identify open items.
- Partner with IT leaders to understand drivers behind variances and spend changes.
- Prepare pre-read materials and issue lists for leadership to inform Finance and IT budget reviews.
- Attend IT budget reviews, capture action items, and track them to resolution.
- Support business case development and cost modeling for technology investments.
FinOps Practice Development (15%)
- Establish the FinOps operating model including allocation taxonomy, tagging standards, and governance forums.
- Develop FinOps capabilities and cost accountability across the technology organization.
- Drive anomaly detection and cost-spike investigations across cloud and SaaS.
- Promote adoption of FinOps best practices including the FinOps Foundation framework.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Computer Science, Information Systems, or related discipline, or equivalent professional experience.
- Minimum 4 years of experience in technology finance, cloud cost management, or FinOps.
- Experience partnering with finance or FP&A on budgeting, forecasting, or variance analysis.
- Hands-on experience with cloud cost management platforms such as Vantage, Apptio Cloudability, Flexera, CloudHealth, or comparable tools.
- Hands-on experience with SaaS management platforms such as Zylo, Productiv, Torii, or comparable tools.
- FinOps Certified Practitioner certification preferred.
Skills and Abilities
- Strong knowledge of cloud pricing models across AWS, Azure, and GCP.
- Experience with reserved instances, savings plans, and enterprise discount programs.
- Expertise in SaaS license optimization, renewal management, and shadow IT remediation.
- Strong analytical skills including data analysis, modeling, and reporting.
- Proficiency with spreadsheets (Excel), reporting tools (Power BI, Tableau), and SQL preferred.
- Experience with chargeback and showback financial models.
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate cost data into business outcomes.
- Proven ability to collaborate effectively with engineering and finance teams.
- Self-directed with the ability to work autonomously and manage shifting priorities in a fast-paced environment.
- Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
Work Environment and Physical/Mental Demands
- This position is primarily remote, requiring the ability to set up and operate computer equipment within a home office.
- Occasional in-person team meetings may be required.
- The role is primarily sedentary and may involve repetitive motions, requiring the ability to remain stationary for extended periods, operate a computer, and communicate effectively.
- Must be able to discern text on a monitor, input data accurately, and adjust focus to distances up to three feet.
- Ability to learn new tasks, follow established processes, maintain focus, multitask, and communicate professionally.
- Must manage moderate to significant mental stress due to dynamic workload demands.
Additional Information
- Career progression opportunities include FinOps Senior Analyst and FinOps Manager roles.
- Job responsibilities may evolve over time based on business needs.
- The organization is an equal opportunity employer and considers all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, nationality, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other legally protected status.