Description The TeamAlvarez & Marsal's Corporate Performance Improvement practice is looking for a FinOps leader who bridges finance, engineering, and operations to align cloud investments with maximum business value. This is both a strategic role - defining cloud financial management roadmaps - and a hands-on tactical role designing and implementing cost avoidance and cost reduction measures.
Experience Should Include
- Cloud cost modeling, optimization, and benchmarking (government and/or commercial comparables) including AI workloads.
- FinOps framework implementation - governance, tagging taxonomy, chargeback/show-back models, KPI frameworks
- FinOps Open Cost and Usage Specification (FOCUS)
- Workload rightsizing, auto-scaling, and commitment-based discount strategy (reserved instances, savings plans, committed-use agreements)
- Orphaned/unused resource identification and remediation - VM rightsizing, guardrails, tagging automation
- Native cloud cost management tools (AWS Cost Explorer, Azure Cost Management, GCP Billing) and third-party FinOps platforms (Apptio, Flexera, Cloud Health)
- Enterprise software licensing consolidation and optimization
- AI-assisted cost anomaly detection, forecasting, and optimization recommendation engines - must demonstrate active use of AI tools in delivery; AI fluency is required for this role
How you will contribute- Develop and execute comprehensive FinOps strategies aligned with business and mission goals, detailing frameworks, processes, and governance
- Create and maintain FinOps roadmaps embedding cost-conscious practices into engineering and architecture lifecycles
- Design KPI frameworks with clear targets and accountability mechanisms to monitor FinOps delivery
- Establish governance frameworks for tagging, budgeting, and resource accountability - including guardrails to prevent unnecessary resource allocation
- Drive automation and transparency in cost reporting, anomaly detection, and forecasting - providing real-time visibility into cloud spend across mission partners
- Build ROI models and cost reduction business cases that quantify optimization impact for executive audiences
- Integrate findings into A&M's broader engagement scope and deliverables
- Support practice development through internal training, content creation, and people development
Qualifications- 8-12+ years of professional experience in cloud cost management and FinOps practice development
- FinOps Practitioner or FinOps Engineer certification strongly preferred
- Demonstrated 15-30% cloud cost savings delivery on prior engagements
- Strong data analytics and visualization skills - experience with SQL, PowerBI, or equivalent
- Federal FinOps experience helpful but not required - demonstrated cost optimization at scale in any large enterprise is the primary qualifier
- Bachelor's degree required; Finance, Computer Science, or MIS preferred
- Comfortable with travel up to 80%
- Full-time, contract, and project-based engagements available
What Distinguishes a Great Candidate
Has built FinOps practices from scratch in large enterprises - not just reported on costs. Can do rate negotiation strategy. Understands both the financial and engineering levers of cloud cost optimization. Brings AI-powered cost analytics and forecasting as standard practice, not as an add-on.
