Sr. Cloud FinOps Analyst

Job Description:

We are looking for a hands-on technical project manager and FinOps enthusiastic who can meet us at the crossroads of business practicality and technical data savvy. You will help clients harness the value of their data and implement best practices for FinOps/cloud optimization by collaborating closely with applications & engineering teams. You will work in a fast environment with technology with various internal teams to drive large-scale cloud adoption and will be an integral part of Cloud Centre of Excellence (CCOE).

In this dynamic role you will support cloud cost management and governance across the enterprise by building and maintaining business intelligence dashboards, integrating cloud FinOps technology solutions via APIs, building data pipelines, partnering with engineering teams cost-optimized solutions, and databases for reporting and analysis purposes across cloud vendor(s) to enable cloud consumption tracking & cost conscious culture, maximize cloud discounts, allocate cloud spending, forecasting, budgeting, and migration business case development.

As a Sr. Cloud FinOps Analyst, you will oversee Sun life’s Public Cloud spending with the ability to collaborate with key stakeholders with recommendations to drive optimal use of cloud resources. This position requires active analytical engagement to facilitate, support and execute tasks in alignment with direction and goals for Cloud Center of Excellence and organization.

What will you do:

• Analyze cloud data to identify cost optimization and usage opportunities and create optimization recommendations; review those recommendations with clients
• Monitor and report on cloud usage against budget and forecast, explore trends in cloud spend
• Create reports, dashboards and alerts to track spending and usage trends and the potential impact of cost optimizations
• Closely partner with Engineering teams to understand Cloud business processes and cost drivers
• Enabling better financial decision-making through promoting and demonstrating cloud financial information through Power Query, PowerBI / QuickSight / Tableau reports and Apptio Cloudability
• Where needed, assist in implementing, maintaining and governing the FinOps service
• Work with the technical teams (both internal and client) to ensure proper tagging and allocation of cloud resources for accurate cost tracking and reporting (both initially and ongoing)
• Monitor cloud consumption at the account level to detect, investigate, and escalate anomalies and unplanned spikes.
• Develop data pipelines, visualizations, metrics, and enterprise dashboards via automated solutions to centralize import information for Cloud consumption within FinOps and application/development teams.
• Collaborate with IT organization on IT Total Cost of Ownership, financial metrics, and cost transparency initiatives.
• Analyze, recommend & implement process improvement opportunities that enhance the efficiency of the IT Finance processes while also increasing the informative value of the content provided to IT Senior Management.
• Responds to financial inquiries by gathering, analyzing, summarizing, and interpreting data for IT business leaders.
• Own analysis and recommendations based on Cloud consumption and cost data directly from CSP sources ( Cloud ), as well as Cloud data from internally developed DBs/Tools
• Monitor cloud resources efficiency across accounts, report violations, develop recommendations, and collaborate with teams to implement improvements
• Participate in deep analysis relating cloud capacity commitment purchases to optimize spend and reduce on demand usage where possible
• Develop and create cost and usage reports with cost reduction and performance improvement recommendations such as Reserved instance, Spot, or commitment-based purchases.
• Aid the IT Finance team for monthly Cloud Consumption reporting
• Provide Cost Center Owners actionable recommendations on cloud spend to optimize their cloud spend
• Ensure tagging compliance are improved & data feeds to automated dashboards are always available

Your Corporate Responsibilities:

• Drive engagement with Workload Owners, execute on optimization and efficiency work efforts to achieve annual goals and target KPIs
• Support analysis and execution for financial engineering, support rightsizing compute & database resources optimizations, implementing resource scheduling, developing and implementing Automation and Orchestration solutions
• Collaborate and lead discussions with architects and engineers relating better resource setup, configuration, and usage
• Perform specialized studies and analysis to determine impact of resources downscale/changes for more economical consumption
• Participate and provide technical subject matter expertise as needed in maturing cloud infrastructure governance practices that impact cost tracking such as tagging standardization, automation, security governance, and optimal resource setup during account provisioning
• Provide technical expertise in laying design groundwork for special projects to pull cost and usage data from vendors for reporting and tracking purposes (via API queries/Python)
• Enable a cost conscience culture via data and insights, Work with IT, Procurement, Finance, and Engineering executive stakeholders to develop requirements and success criteria aligned with the company objectives and goals.

What you need to succeed:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science management information systems, finance or equivalent degree and experience OR equivalent combination of education and relevant experience
• Hands-on working experience in one or more FinOps and Technology Business Management (TBM) tools like Cloudability, Apptio, QuickSight, Cloudhealth, AWS Cost Explorer, Azure Cost Management, etc.
• 3 to 5 years relevant experience as an Information Technology or Finance professional managing IT
• Experience in financial controls including: forecasting, expense trending, budgeting, budget planning
• 1-2 years’ of experience with Apptio Cloudability or equivalent cloud financial monitoring and analysis tools
• 3 to 5 years of developing data & analytics products via the cloud and Amazon QuickSight
• Ability to create data visualizations, including PowerBI and or scripting via Python, BASH, SQL, R, etc
• Interpersonal, consultative and facilitation skills, coupled with analytical thinking and problem-solving skills
• At least 2+ years of current and/or past performance as a business/engineering leader in information technology & can demonstrate the unique ability to bridge finance & technology.
• At least 2+ years of professional working experience with teams developing Application Programming Interface (APIs), automation and instilling an API first culture.
• At least 2+ years of professional working experience in facilitating budgetary meetings with stakeholders and finance, for the purpose to align spend to budgets, highlighting deviations and developing remediation strategies.
• You have at least 1+ years of professional working experience with FinOps Principles, Capabilities, and the Well Architected “Cloud” Framework.
• You have at least 2+ years of financial working experience with public cloud cost management & optimization on AWS and/or GCP and/or Azure.
• You have at least 2+ years of working knowledge in hybrid cloud and/or multi cloud infrastructure financial management and/or migration execution.