FinOps Lead: Cloud Cost & Engineering Spend

Plaid; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 172,800 - 237,600; Full time

Job summary

Plaid, headquartered in San Francisco, seeks a FinOps leader to optimize engineering spend across cloud, AI/ML, data platforms, and SaaS. You will develop forecasts, partner with Finance and engineering leaders, and embed cost decisions into roadmaps and architecture to maintain velocity and transparency.

The ideal candidate has 6–10+ years at the intersection of engineering, infra, data, or finance, with strong cost analytics, data storytelling, and experience delivering dashboards for both

Qualifications

• 6–10+ years of experience at the intersection of engineering, infrastructure, data, or finance in a cloud-native or SaaS environment.
• Proven ability to influence decisions on cloud infra, data platforms, AI/ML workloads, or SaaS spend.
• Experience forecasting budgets and identifying cost-optimization opportunities.
• Strong SQL skills or ability to work effectively with AI-assisted SQL tools.
• Ability to translate data into clear, actionable insights for engineers and executives.
• Experience building dashboards and BI artifacts for technical and leadership audiences.

Responsibilities

• Monitors and analyzes engineering spend across cloud, AI/ML, data platforms, and SaaS to identify trends and optimization opportunities.
• Builds and maintains forecasts for engineering spend with Finance and engineering leaders.
• Partners with engineering, product, and TPMs to embed cost considerations into roadmaps and architecture.
• Leads cost optimization initiatives and workload efficiency improvements.
• Creates dashboards and reporting to make spend understandable for engineers and executives.
• Implements FinOps practices including showback/chargeback and unit economics.
• Collaborates on tooling to improve cost visibility and forecasting accuracy.
• Drives behavior change to balance cost, performance, reliability, and velocity.

Skills

Cost forecasting

BI dashboards

SQL skills

FinOps

Cross-functional

Communication

Cost optimization

Data platforms

Cloud infra

Cost management

Job description

Plaid, headquartered in San Francisco, seeks a FinOps leader to optimize engineering spend across cloud, AI/ML, data platforms, and SaaS. You will develop forecasts, partner with Finance and engineering leaders, and embed cost decisions into roadmaps and architecture to maintain velocity and transparency.

The ideal candidate has 6–10+ years at the intersection of engineering, infra, data, or finance, with strong cost analytics, data storytelling, and experience delivering dashboards for both