Senior FinOps Analyst

Lifted, an Upwork Company™; Manila; On-site; PHP 6,931,000 - 10,712,000; Full time

Job summary

SmartRecruiters, Inc. is seeking a Senior FinOps Analyst to advise engineering and R&D teams on cloud spending, investigate cost anomalies, and identify optimization opportunities.

You will partner with APAC-based teams, align cloud spend with forecasts, and contribute to cost awareness and education across technical teams. Enterprise experience is strongly preferred.

Qualifications

• Senior-level FinOps experience with cloud financial operations
• Strong cloud cost management and optimization expertise
• Proven ability to investigate spending anomalies and produce 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 and aligning forecasts with team projections
• Familiarity with OpenAI/LLM cost drivers and monitoring
• Experience with cost modeling and tracking team investments or projects
• Proficiency with Jira for documenting investigations and Slack for real-time support
• Experience maintaining technical documentation or wiki spaces and contributing to recurring reporting (Showback)
• Strong written and verbal communication skills to engage stakeholders

Responsibilities

• Serve as primary contact for engineering teams seeking cloud cost guidance via Slack and async 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 and produce written root-cause analyses with recommendations.
• Document investigations in Jira and flag findings for monthly reporting.
• Participate in monthly forecasting by reconciling central forecasts with team projections, documenting discrepancies, and capturing team plans.
• Contribute practitioner insights 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 investments and projects.
• Respond to cost-related requests via Slack, email, and other channels.
• Focus on advisory and analytical delivery; central budget ownership and vendor contract modeling are outside scope.

Skills

FinOps

Cloud cost mgmt

Cost anomaly analysis

Partner-facing with R&D

Forecasting cloud costs

OpenAI/LLM cost drivers

Cost modeling

Jira

Slack

Documentation/wiki

Showback reporting

Communication skills

Tools

Jira

Slack

Job description

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.

Job Description

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.

Qualifications

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.

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.