Senior FinOps Analyst

Key Responsibilities • Serve as a primary contact for engineering teams seeking cloud cost guidance, responding to questions in real time through Slack and other asynchronous channels. • Proactively engage with high-spending R&D teams to: • Review monthly cloud spending. • Identify cost optimization opportunities. • Understand upcoming engineering roadmap plans and their potential cost implications. • Capture meeting notes, recommendations, recurring questions, and emerging cost patterns. • Monitor cloud and AI/LLM spending for anomalies, spikes, and inefficiencies. • Investigate spending variances, produce written root-cause analyses, and recommend optimization opportunities to team owners. • Document investigations in Jira and flag relevant findings for monthly reporting. • Participate in monthly forecasting by: • Reconciling central forecasts with team-level projections. • Documenting discrepancies. • Capturing team plans and anticipated spending. • Contribute practitioner insights and team-sourced information, including AI/LLM cost drivers, to Showback reporting and spending reviews. • Support cloud cost awareness and education across engineering and R&D teams. • Audit and update technical wiki content and documentation. • Model team cost projections and track team investments and projects. • Respond to cost-related requests through Slack, email, and other communication channels. • Focus on advisory and analytical delivery. Central budget ownership, vendor contract modeling, and platform/tooling engineering are outside the scope of this engagement. Must-Have Skills • Senior-level experience in FinOps (cloud financial operations) . • Strong expertise in cloud cost management and optimization. • Proven ability to investigate spending anomalies and produce clear, written root-cause analyses. • Experience advising and consulting directly with R&D or engineering teams in a partner-facing capacity. • Experience with cloud cost forecasting, including aligning central forecasts with team-level projections. • Familiarity with OpenAI/LLM cost drivers and monitoring LLM spending. • Experience with cost modeling and tracking team investments or projects. • Proficiency with Jira for documenting investigations and Slack for real-time and asynchronous support. • Experience maintaining technical documentation or wiki spaces and contributing to recurring reporting, such as Showback. • Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to engage stakeholders and communicate findings effectively. Nice-to-Have Skills • AI/LLM governance expertise. • AI/LLM variable cost management expertise. Required Tools & Platforms • Jira and Slack . • Familiarity with OpenAI/LLM cost drivers and LLM spend monitoring. • Experience working with technical documentation and wiki spaces; no specific wiki platform is required. Location, Time & Engagement • Open to candidates based in eligible LATAM locations or the United States . • Ability to cover APAC business hours , with some overlap with Pacific Time and the afternoon in Central Time . • Remote contract engagement , 40 hours per week We are seeking a Senior FinOps Analyst to advise engineering and R&D teams on cloud spending, investigate cost anomalies, and identify actionable optimization opportunities. In this role, you will serve as a primary partner-facing resource for APAC-based teams , helping align cloud spending with forecasts and measurable business outcomes through cost analysis, education, and proactive engagement. Enterprise experience is strongly preferred. Originally posted on Himalayas