FinOps Lead, Cloud Services

FinOps Weekly; Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 118,000 - 163,000; Full time

Job summary

Kinaxis is seeking a Cloud FinOps Lead to design, implement, and operate financial governance for cloud and AI spend. You will partner with Data & Analytics, Cloud Operations, Cloud Engineering, Product Development, and Finance to drive cost efficiency and scalable growth.

This role demands strong stakeholder management and hands-on FinOps expertise. You will own cost allocation, tagging standards, and commitment management while delivering impactful insights through dashboards and narratives.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; 7+ years in financial operations, analytics, or related roles with a focus on cloud cost management / FinOps.
• Familiarity with observability platforms (e.g., Datadog) and ability to interpret infrastructure, application, and usage metrics to influence cloud cost optimization decisions.
• Strong understanding of cloud infrastructure, consumption-based pricing, and FinOps principles (allocation, showback/chargeback, commitment management, unit economics).
• Experience with cloud cost management platforms and native tooling (e.g., Cloudability, CloudHealth, AWS Cost Explorer, Azure Cost Management, GCP Cost Management, Looker CCM).
• Experience with data analysis, financial modeling, and communicating insights through dashboards and narratives.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills: ability to influence across Engineering, Finance, and Leadership.
• Proven track record delivering process improvements and measurable outcomes (savings, efficiency gains, governance maturity).
• Master’s degree preferred; certifications like FinOps Foundation, CPA/CMA a plus.

Responsibilities

• Build and operate FinOps capabilities: design, implement, and manage financial systems for cloud cost management.
• Vendor funding & incentives optimization: track and secure cloud vendor funding, incentives, credits, and subsidization opportunities.
• AI cost management: establish visibility and governance for AI/ML spend and define cost controls.
• Cloud financial governance: define cost allocation, ownership, and governance models.
• Tagging and allocation standards: own the cloud spend tagging policy framework and compliance.
• Commitment management: manage Kinaxis’ global commitments and reservations portfolio.
• Licensing optimization & compliance: manage Windows Licensing footprint and audits as needed.
• Cross-functional optimization: collaborate with Cloud and Product teams on cost/performance trade-offs.
• Reporting & insights: monitor and report on cloud and AI usage/cost trends and present solutions.

Skills

Cloud cost management

Financial modeling

Data analysis

Dashboards & storytelling

Stakeholder management

Observability interpretation

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Computer Science, or related field

Master’s degree in Finance or related field

Tools

Cloudability

CloudHealth

AWS Cost Explorer

Azure Cost Management

GCP Cost Management

Looker CCM

Datadog

Job description

Kinaxis# FinOps Lead, Cloud Services## Job DescriptionAbout Kinaxis Elevate your career journey by embracing a new challenge with Kinaxis. We are experts in tech, but it’s really our people who give us passion to always seek ways to do things better. As such, we’re serious about your career growth and professional development, because People matter at Kinaxis. In 1984, we started out as a team of three engineers. Today, we have grown to become a global organization with over 2000 employees around the world, with a brand-new HQ based in Kanata North in Ottawa. As one of Canada’s Top Employers, we are proud to work with our customers and employees towards solving some of the biggest challenges facing supply chains today. At Kinaxis, we power the world’s supply chains to help preserve the planet’s resources and enrich the human experience. As a global leader in end-to-end supply chain management, we enable supply chain excellence for all industries, with more than 40,000 users in over 100 countries. We are expanding our team as we continue to innovate and revolutionize how we support our customers. Location Ottawa, Canada – Hybrid Toronto, Canada – Hybrid All other Canadian locations – Remote About The Team The Data & Analytics team drives Kinaxis’ transformation into a data-driven organization by building and governing scalable, modern data ecosystems. We deliver high-quality, reliable, and accessible data that empowers decision-making, improves operational efficiency, and enables new business opportunities. Our expertise spans data integration, engineering, governance, business intelligence, and cloud financial optimization. We are seeking a highly skilled Cloud FinOps Lead to design, implement, and operate the financial governance, tooling, and processes that ensure Kinaxis’ cloud and AI spend is transparent, optimized, and aligned to business outcomes. You’ll partner closely with Data & Analytics, Cloud Operations, Cloud Engineering, Product Development, and Finance to drive cost efficiency, reduce waste, and enable scalable growth across our cloud infrastructure. Success in this role relies on the ability to engage stakeholders, craft compelling data-driven narratives, and influence leadership to foster a culture of accountability and continuous improvement. Salary Range Annual cash compensation ranges from $118,400 to $162,800, plus a discretionary 12% company bonus. The final offer within this range will reflect the successful candidate’s skills and experience. Vacancy Status This is an existing job vacancy. What you will do Build and operate FinOps capabilities : design, implement, and manage financial systems and processes for cloud cost management across the organization. Vendor funding & incentives optimization : proactively identify, track, and secure cloud vendor funding, incentives, credits, and subsidization opportunities; partner with relevant stakeholders to ensure programs are applied, realized, and measured. AI cost management : establish visibility and governance for AI/ML-related spend (e.g., model training/inference, GPU/accelerator usage, managed AI services), define cost controls, and drive optimization strategies. Cloud financial governance : define and evolve cost allocation, ownership, and governance models that align spend to products, teams, and environments. Tagging and allocation standards : own the cloud spend tagging policy framework, including standards, compliance monitoring, and continuous improvement. Commitment management : own and manage Kinaxis’ global committed use and reservations portfolio, balancing burn-down efficiency with budget constraints and operational needs. Licensing optimization & compliance : manage Windows Licensing footprint (SPLA, MPSA), optimize for cost savings while ensuring compliance; participate in audits as needed. Cross-functional optimization : collaborate with Cloud and Product teams to optimize customer-facing infrastructure spend and enable informed decision-making on cost/performance trade-offs. Reporting & insights : monitor and report on cloud and AI usage/cost trends; identify optimization opportunities; recommend, socialize, and present solutions to management. Stakeholder leadership : deliver impactful presentations and chair a monthly Steering Committee focused on cloud and AI spend, risks, and optimization outcomes. Product ownership mindset : act as a Product Owner within Data & Analytics to help build world-class visibility into cloud and AI spending (dashboards, metrics, alerts, and self-serve insights). Financial analysis & modeling : provide modeling support for cloud infrastructure investments, pricing/packaging implications, program initiatives, and capacity planning. Budgeting & forecasting : contribute to budgeting and forecasting processes for cloud and AI costs, including variance analysis and corrective action plans. Enablement & training : provide training, documentation, and support to teams on FinOps practices, tools, and decision frameworks. AI-enabled productivity : leverage AI tools to accelerate analysis, automate repetitive tasks, improve documentation quality, and increase day-to-day productivity (while ensuring responsible use of data and compliance with internal policies). Continuous improvement : stay current on FinOps and cloud/AI cost management best practices, vendor tooling, and emerging standards. Observability-driven optimization: leverage observability tooling (e.g., Datadog), including metrics, traces, and log data, to identify cost drivers, inefficiencies, over-provisioning, performance bottlenecks, and waste. Translate telemetry insights into actionable cost optimization recommendations. What we are looking for Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field. 7+ years of relevant experience in financial operations, analytics, or related roles with a strong focus on cloud cost management / FinOps. Familiarity with observability platforms (e.g., Datadog) and the ability to interpret infrastructure, application, and usage metrics to influence cloud cost optimization decisions. Ability to correlate telemetry data (metrics, logs, traces) with consumption-based billing models to drive measurable cost efficiency outcomes. Strong understanding of cloud infrastructure, consumption-based pricing, and FinOps principles (allocation, showback/chargeback, commitment management, unit economics). Strong understanding of application and infrastructure metrics and how they influence cloud cost optimization decisions. Hands-on experience with cloud cost management platforms and native tooling (e.g., Cloudability, CloudHealth, AWS Cost Explorer, Azure Cost Management, GCP Cost Management, Looker CCM, etc.). Experience with data analysis, financial modeling, and communicating insights through dashboards and narratives. Excellent stakeholder management skills: ability to influence across Engineering, Finance, and Leadership. Proven track record delivering process improvements and measurable outcomes (savings, efficiency gains, governance maturity). Demonstrated ability to work independently in a complex, fast-paced environment, set strategic priorities, and manage multiple concurrent initiatives with strong ownership and accountability. Preferred Qualifications: Master’s degree in Finance, Accounting, or related field. FinOps Foundation certifications (or willingness to obtain). CPA/CMA certification. Experience in a SaaS company and/or customer-facing infrastructure optimization. Experience with self-serve BI tools and analytics engineering practices. Familiarity with AI/ML cost drivers (GPU usage, inference pricing, managed AI services ) and governance patterns. #Senior, Work With Impact: Our platform directly helps companies power the world’s supply chains. We see the results of what we do out in