Principal, Financial Operations & Software Asset Management

FinOps Weekly; Minnesota; On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive pay & bonus

Wellbeing support

Paid time off

Discounts & community perks

Growth & development

Health & wellness

Job summary

FinOps Weekly in Minnesota seeks a Principal, Financial Operations & Software Asset Management to advance how the organization manages technology spend across cloud, software licensing, SaaS, and AI services. This IC role focuses on transparency, accountability, and optimization, collaborating across Engineering, Product, Finance, Procurement, Security and more.

You will influence outcomes through expertise and governance, build dashboards and reports, mature FinOps and SAM practices, and guide

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in IT/CS/Engineering/Finance or related field.
• 10+ years in FinOps, cloud financial management, SAM, or related discipline.
• Experience building governance and reporting in complex organizations.
• Ability to influence without direct authority.
• Strong FinOps, cloud financial management, and SAM knowledge.
• Proficiency in budgeting, forecasting, allocation, showback, and chargeback.
• Experience with cloud services, SaaS platforms, and AI consumption.
• Strong data analysis, modeling, dashboards, KPI development, and exec reporting.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, and cross-functional partnering skills.

Responsibilities

• Own and improve enterprise FinOps processes, operating model, standards, controls, and decision rights.
• Establish governance rhythms linking technology consumption with forecasts, budgets, and accountability.
• Partner with Finance, Procurement, Engineering, Product, Architecture, Security to embed FinOps in planning.
• Design and maintain dashboards, scorecards, and reporting assets.
• Define metrics, tagging, allocation rules, and reporting standards.
• Translate cost, utilization, forecast, and trend data into actionable insights.
• Own and mature SAM processes across licenses, SaaS, renewals, entitlements, and utilization.
• Improve inventory visibility, license compliance, and renewal readiness.
• Identify opportunities to reclaim unused licenses and reduce spend.
• Analyze cloud, software, platform, data, and AI consumption to surface cost drivers and risks.
• Develop recommendations balancing cost, performance, security, and value.
• Maintain an optimization pipeline and track savings and cost avoidance.
• Support adoption of FinOps and SAM via playbooks, training, and self-service resources.

Skills

FinOps

Cloud FinOps

SAM governance

Data analysis

Dashboard design

KPI development

Executive reporting

Power BI

Stakeholder influence

Cross-functional partnership

Education

Bachelor’s degree in IT/CS/Engineering/Finance

Tools

Power BI

Excel

Job description

Principal, Financial Operations & Software Asset Management

About the Role

This principal-level individual contributor role is focused on improving how Deckers manages and understands technology spending across cloud services, software licensing, SaaS platforms, AI services, and related investments. The position exists to bring greater transparency, accountability, and optimization to technology consumption and cost management.

You will work across Engineering, Product, Architecture, Finance, Procurement, Security, and other technology teams to turn complex financial and utilization data into practical insights and recommendations. The role supports the continued maturation of FinOps and Software Asset Management (SAM) capabilities across the organization.

Rather than leading a direct team, you will influence outcomes through expertise, partnership, and governance. Your work will help teams better understand cost drivers, improve decision-making, and strengthen the balance between cost, performance, resilience, security, and business value.

Key Responsibilities

• Own and improve enterprise FinOps processes, operating model, standards, controls, and decision rights.
• Establish governance rhythms that connect technology consumption with forecasts, budgets, and accountability.
• Partner with Finance, Procurement, Engineering, Product, Architecture, Security, and platform teams to embed FinOps practices into planning and delivery.
• Design and maintain reusable dashboards, scorecards, allocation views, and reporting assets.
• Define and maintain common metrics, data definitions, tagging and allocation expectations, and reporting standards.
• Translate cost, utilization, forecast, and trend data into clear and actionable insights.
• Own and mature SAM processes across licensed software, SaaS subscriptions, renewals, entitlements, and utilization.
• Improve inventory visibility, license compliance, and renewal readiness.
• Identify opportunities to reclaim unused licenses, right-size subscriptions, consolidate overlapping solutions, and reduce unnecessary spend.
• Analyze cloud, software, platform, data, and AI consumption to surface cost drivers, anomalies, risks, and optimization opportunities.
• Develop recommendations that balance cost, performance, resilience, security, and business value.
• Maintain an optimization opportunity pipeline and track recommendations, decisions, cost avoidance, realized savings, and other value measures.
• Support adoption of FinOps and SAM practices through playbooks, standards, training, office hours, and self-service resources.

Required Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, Finance, Business Administration, Accounting, or a related field, or equivalent education and experience.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in FinOps, cloud financial management, Software Asset Management, technology operations, technology finance, procurement, or a related discipline.
• Experience establishing governance and reporting capabilities in complex, matrixed organizations.
• Ability to influence outcomes without direct authority.
• Strong knowledge of FinOps and cloud financial management concepts.
• Strong knowledge of SAM and SaaS governance.
• Experience with technology budgeting, forecasting, allocation, showback, and chargeback concepts.
• Experience working with cloud services, SaaS platforms, software licensing, and AI consumption.
• Strong data analysis, financial modeling, dashboard design, KPI development, and executive reporting skills.
• Proficiency with Power BI and Excel.
• Understanding of software licensing, vendor and contract analysis, renewal planning, cost optimization, benefits tracking, process design, and continuous improvement.
• Ability to convert complex financial and operational data into practical recommendations.
• Strong communication, facilitation, coaching, and cross-functional partnership skills.
• Systems-thinking mindset with a focus on scalable processes, transparency, and decision support.

Preferred Skills

• FinOps Certified Practitioner certification.
• Certified Software Asset Manager certification.
• IT Asset Management certification.
• Cloud platform certification.
• Related certification.

FinOps Platforms

• FinOps
• Cloud financial management

Reporting & BI

• Power BI
• Excel

Software & SaaS

• Software licensing
• SaaS platforms
• SaaS subscriptions
• Licensed software

AI / Emerging Technologies

• AI services
• AI consumption

FinOps Responsibilities

• Improve enterprise FinOps operating models, standards, controls, and decision rights.
• Connect technology consumption to forecasts, budgets, and accountability.
• Build dashboards, scorecards, allocation views, and reporting assets for visibility into cost and consumption.
• Define metrics, tagging expectations, allocation rules, and reporting standards.
• Analyze cloud and related technology consumption for anomalies, risks, and optimization opportunities.
• Maintain an optimization pipeline and track cost avoidance and realized savings.
• Support showback and chargeback concepts through reporting and governance.
• Help teams understand and manage cost drivers through reusable resources and enablement.

• Competitive pay and bonus programs.
• Financial planning and wellbeing support.
• Time away from work.
• Discounts and community-based perks.
• Growth and development support.
• Health and wellness programs.

Why You Might Be Interested

This role offers the opportunity to shape FinOps and Software Asset Management practices at a principal level across a large, cross-functional environment. It combines governance, reporting, financial analysis, and operational influence without direct people management. The work is centered on improving visibility into technology spend and helping teams make better decisions about cloud, software, SaaS, and AI investments. It may appeal to candidates who enjoy building scalable processes and turning complex data into practical business guidance.