FinOps Program Manager

University of California - Los Angeles Health; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 109,000 - 242,000; Full time

Job summary

UCLA Health seeks a hands-on FinOps Program Manager to lead our enterprise cloud financial management program across public cloud, AI, and data platforms. You will set strategy, roadmaps, and governance, directing analytics and integrations with engineering partners to drive cost optimization and cost transparency.

This individual-contributor role collaborates across research grants, state allotments, and internal chargebacks, delivering budgeting data, recommendations, and approvals to budget

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a related area or equivalent experience.
• Proven experience leading complex, cross-functional technology programs.
• Advanced FinOps knowledge: cost allocation, budgeting, forecasting, optimization.
• Experience with Apptio Cloudability or similar platform.
• Expert knowledge of AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud billing.
• Ability to turn large datasets into clear reporting.
• Experience communicating with executive-level management.
• Ability to build consensus without direct authority.

Responsibilities

• Direct FinOps projects with cross-functional teams from engineering, finance, and research.
• Develop FinOps strategy, policies, and standards via governance processes.
• Lead cloud cost allocation, showback, and chargeback across funding sources.
• Run budgeting and forecasting with budget owners; report variances early.
• Manage FinOps tooling (Apptio Cloudability), reporting, tagging, and anomaly detection.
• Identify optimization opportunities and provide cost analyses for cloud commitments.
• Lead cost visibility for AI consumption, Databricks, GPUs, and research computing.
• Report KPIs, progress, and risks to leadership; run a FinOps community of practice.

Skills

Cross-functional leadership

FinOps / cloud cost management

Budgeting & forecasting

Apptio Cloudability

Executive reporting

Vendor management

Python scripting (basic)

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Tools

Apptio Cloudability

Power BI

Tableau

Job description

Description

UCLA Health is seeking a hands-on FinOps Program Manager to lead our enterprise cloud financial management (FinOps) program across public cloud (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud), AI, and data platforms. You will set the strategy and roadmap, lead the projects that deliver it, and lead a cross-functional governance workgroup that recommends policy and standards. Where commercial tooling (currently Apptio Cloudability) falls short, you will direct analytics, automation, and integrations with engineering partners.

The role works across a complex funding landscape of research grants, state allotments, and internal chargebacks. You will provide the budgeting process, data, and recommendations; budget approval and spending decisions remain with designated budget owners. This is an individual-contributor role with no direct reports.

Responsibilities include:

• Direct FinOps projects with defined scope, plans, schedules, and risk management, leading cross-functional teams from engineering, finance, and research through delivery and handoff to operations
• Develop FinOps strategy, proposed policies, and standards, and obtain approval through established governance processes
• Lead cloud cost allocation, showback, and chargeback, mapping consumption to applications, departments, and funding sources such as grants
• Run the cloud budgeting and forecasting process with budget owners: track spend against each owner's budget, report budget vs. actual, and flag variances early
• Manage implementation and enhancement of FinOps tooling (Apptio Cloudability), including reporting, integrations, tagging compliance, and anomaly detection
• Identify and track optimization opportunities, cost savings, and cost avoidance, and provide analysis for cloud commitments in partnership with finance and procurement
• Lead cost visibility and allocation for AI consumption (token-based services), Databricks, GPU, and research computing
• Report program KPIs, progress, and risks to executive leadership, and lead a cross-functional FinOps community of practice

Salary Range: $108,900.00 - $241,500.00 annually

Salary offers are based on a variety of factors. The University anticipates offering a salary between $140,000 - $160,000 depending on experience, qualifications, and internal equity.

Qualifications

Required:

• Bachelor's degree in a related area and/or equivalent experience/training
• Demonstrated experience leading complex, cross-functional technology programs and projects, including scope, schedule, budget, risk, stakeholder management, system integration, and vendor management
• Advanced knowledge of cloud financial management (FinOps): cost allocation, showback/chargeback, budgeting, forecasting, and optimization
• Experience with Apptio Cloudability or a comparable cloud cost management platform
• Expert knowledge of AWS, Azure, and/or Google Cloud billing and cost data, with the ability to turn large datasets into clear reporting
• Experience designing cost attribution models and directing cross-platform reporting or data integration initiatives
• Demonstrated ability to communicate with executive-level management on a regular basis
• Proven ability to build consensus and lead cross-functional work without direct authority

Preferred:

• Master's degree in a related discipline
• FinOps Certified Practitioner, PMP, or related certification
• Working knowledge of scripting (such as Python), SQL, APIs, or automation
• Data visualization (Power BI, Tableau)
• Databricks and AI platform billing; familiarity with Technology Business Management (TBM)
• Experience in healthcare, higher education, research, or grant-funded environments