IT Strategist 4 - FinOps Lead

Job Title: IT Strategist 4 - FinOps Lead
Location: Richmond, VA (Hybrid)
Duration: 06+ Months
Work Location: Primarily remote, but could be asked to attend an occasional on-site meeting

The position is hybrid and so they will typically work from home, but they will be onsite as needed by the manager.

Job Description:
The Client is seeking a FinOps Lead. The primary focus will be to monitor and optimize cloud usage/spend, improve cost visibility, & ensure financial alignment with business values.

The Client has an opportunity for a FinOps Lead in our Information Technology Division. In this role, you will be a critical link between our Infrastructure& Operations (I&O), Project and ITD Finance, and leadership team. Your primary focus will be to monitor, manage and optime cloud usage and spend, improve cost visibility, and ensure financial alignment with our business values.

This is an individual contributor role reporting to Enterprise Architecture

Qualifications:
To succeed in this role, you should have excellent time management and communication skills which are necessary to collaborate with business partners and internal teams to coordinate and track the delivery of results ahead of deadlines.

Position specific responsibilities and duties include, but are not limited to:
Cloud Cost Optimization.

• Partner with I&O, Product and DevOps teams to monitor, analyze, and optimize cloud resource usage (e.g. Azure) by Product and Product Line Pipeline.
• Identify opportunities for cost savings through right-sizing, reserved instances, and savings plans.
• Establish policies for resource tagging, allocation, and spend limits to enforce cost accountability.

Financial Planning and Analysis.

• Build detailed forecasts for cloud costs, incorporating growth trends, utilization metrics, and product development needs.
• Collaborate with ITD Finance team align cloud spend withoverall agency budgets and strategic initiatives.
• Create and maintain dashboards for tracking cloud costs aProductst forecasts and budget.

Cross-functional Collaboration.

• Work closely with product, Enterprise Architecture (EA),and engineering teams to ensure efficient resource allocation and budgeting for new features.
• Provide actionable recommendations to leadership on cloud spend trends, anomalies, and risks.
• Lead or support initiatives to educate stakeholders on FinOps best practices.
• Design & implement Cloud Product COGS calculator to guide Pricing & Packaging decisions.

Reporting and Governance.

• Implement tools and frameworks to automate cloud cost reporting and alerts.
• Develop KPIs and benchmarks to track cost efficiency overtime.
• Ensure compliance with internal financial policies and external regulatory requirements.

Experience:

• 8+ years in a Finance/FP&A related role
• 3-4 years in cloud finance or cloud operations role, ideally in a SaaS or cloud-native environment.

Qualifications:

• Proven track record of implementing a cloud cost analytics framework by product.
• Strong understanding of cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and pricing models.
• Proficiency in financial modeling and cost analysis.
• Experience with cloud cost management tools (e.g., Cloud Health, Spot, AWS Cost Explorer).
• Familiarity with FinOps principles and frameworks.
• Analytical, detail-oriented, and proactive problem-solver with a passion for efficiency and cost management.
• Basic scripting (e.g., Python, SQL) is a plus but not required.

Education:

• Bachelor s degree in Finance, Accounting, Computer Science, or a related field.