TIAA is seeking a Sr. Lead FinOps Engineer who will assist us in controlling our cloud costs and make efficient utilization of cloud services. As a strategic leader in the intersection of technology, finance, and operations, the Sr. Lead FinOps Engineer will spearhead the technical transformation of our cloud financial management practices.
 

This pivotal role is responsible for driving financial accountability and operational efficiency across our cloud infrastructure, ensuring alignment with business objectives, and optimizing cost performance through advanced technological solutions. This role will ensure that our cloud strategy is not only technologically robust but also financially sustainable, contributing to the overall profitability and growth of the organization.

The ideal candidate will have knowledge of advanced technologies like machine learning, AI, and big data analytics which will be critical for TIAA to enhance the company’s financial management capabilities. Familiarity with cloud-native tools and services for monitoring and optimizing cloud spend (e.g., AWS Cost Explorer, Azure Cost Management, Google Cloud’s Billing reports) will also be key to this role. This individual will be an advocate for FinOps cloud best practices and will be a subject matter expert in cloud financials across the firm. This role will require an individual to be an effective communicator, collaborator, and analytical thinker.

Responsibilities:

• Solve business problems through innovation, automation, and cloud engineering best practices.
• Monitor and analyze IT spending, identifying trends and areas for cost optimization. Utilize cloud cost management tools (e.g., AWS Cost Explorer, Azure Cost Management) to monitor and optimize cloud expenses. Implement tagging strategies to track and allocate cloud costs.
• Collaborate with finance teams to ensure financial transparency for cloud consumption.
• Implement and oversee cost-saving initiatives across IT infrastructure, software, and services. 
• Participate and/or conduct knowledge sharing sessions with the team and business partners.
• Create and facilitate presentations to leadership.
• Drive optimization through discovery, development, and sharing of cost-savings opportunities (i.e., translate financial insights and your cloud knowledge into actionable recommendations).
• Provide research and identify cloud cost optimization and opportunities as part of a continuous improvement model.
• Produce metrics, reports and make recommendations for improvement plans.
• Create custom reports providing recommendations for the stakeholders’ specific budget, best practices, timeline, and objectives.
• Stay current with the latest trends and technologies within IT financial management.
• Leverage advanced technologies and tools to enhance cloud financial management, including machine learning models for cost prediction and anomaly detection.
• Implement Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using tools like Terraform, CloudFormation, or Ansible.
• Develop and configure alerting mechanisms to detect and respond to system anomalies. 
• Advocate for and implement continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) practices that are cost aware.
• Write and maintain scripts and software to automate repetitive tasks. 
• Expertise in automation tools like Terraform, Ansible, or CloudFormation.
• Proficiency in programming languages such as Python, Go, or Java.
• Experience with containerization and orchestration technologies like Docker and Kubernetes.
• Design and implement cost aware cloud architectures. 

Qualifications:

Required:

• Minimum of 5+ years of relevant experience in Cloud FinOps/Cloud spend optimization.
• At least 3+ years’ experience with Apptio Cloudability (or similar cloud FinOps tools)

Preferred:

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, Computer Science, Accounting or Economics. MBA a plus
• Possess AWS Certified Solutions Architect certification.
• Five (5) years of experience with Cloud billing and cost management tools and processes
• Five (5) years of experience with data analysis of large and complex data sets and extracting insights from data
• Five (5) years of experience working in an engineering role in a Technology Department.
• Experience with third party cloud cost transparency and optimization tools such as Cloudhealth, Cloudability, etc.)
• Familiarity with cost structure of cloud providers such as AWS, Azure, and Google
• Possess an understanding of applications development environments, database, data management and infrastructure capabilities and constraints.
• Experience with AWS tagging benefits and limitations.
• Possess analytical and quantitative skills with hands-on experience on cloud demand forecasting, cost optimization, capacity planning, cloud utilization and spend modeling and cost savings strategy development.
• Excellent organization, time management, and communication (written and verbal) skills.
• Ability to work independently with strong attention to detail and accuracy.
• Ability to collaborate with a team to deliver superior customer service.
• Experience working in an agile environment / SDLC.
• Knowledge of industry-wide technology trends and best practices.
• Understanding of applications development environments, database, data management and infrastructure capabilities and constraints 

Educational Requirements

• University (Degree) Preferred

Work Experience

• 5+ Years Required; 7+ Years Preferred

Physical Requirements

• Physical Requirements: Sedentary Work

Career Level
9IC

#LI-VR1

Related Skills

Application Programming Interface (API) Development/Integration, Automation, Communication, Consultative Communication, Containerization, DevOps, Enterprise Application Integration, Group Problem Solving, Influence, Organizational Savviness, Prototyping, Relationship Management, Scalability/Reliability, Software Development Life Cycle, Systems Design/Analysis

Actual base salary may vary based upon, but not limited to, relevant experience, time in role, base salary of internal peers, prior performance, business sector, and geographic location.  In addition to base salary, the competitive compensation package may include, depending on the role, participation in an incentive program linked to performance (for example, annual discretionary incentive programs, non-annual sales incentive plans, or other non-annual incentive plans). 

Sr. Lead FinOps Engineer