Senior FinOps Analyst: Cloud Cost & AI Spend Lead

Lifted (an Upwork Company); United States; Remote; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Lifted (an Upwork Company) is seeking a Senior FinOps Analyst to advise engineering and R&D teams on cloud spending and cost optimization. You will act as the primary partner-facing resource for APAC and US-based teams, driving cost analysis, education, and proactive engagement to align spending with forecasts and measurable business outcomes.

You will work closely with engineering stakeholders, investigate anomalies, and contribute to monthly reporting and Showback processes with strong

Qualifications

• Senior-level FinOps experience and cloud cost optimization expertise.
• Experience advising and consulting with R&D or engineering teams in a partner-facing role.
• Experience with cloud cost forecasting and aligning forecasts to team projections.
• Familiarity with OpenAI/LLM cost drivers and monitoring.

Responsibilities

• Serve as primary contact for engineering teams seeking cloud cost guidance in real time (Slack and async channels).
• Proactively engage high-spending R&D teams to review monthly cloud spend and identify cost optimizations.
• Understand upcoming engineering roadmap plans and their cost implications.
• Capture meeting notes, recommendations, recurring questions, and emerging cost patterns.
• Monitor cloud and AI/LLM spending for anomalies, spikes, and inefficiencies.
• Investigate variances, produce root-cause analyses, and recommend optimizations to owners.
• Document investigations in Jira and flag findings for monthly reporting.
• Participate in monthly forecasting by reconciling central forecasts with team projections and capturing spending plans.

Skills

FinOps

Cloud cost mgmt

Root-cause analysis

Stakeholder communication

Forecasting

OpenAI/LLM cost drivers

Jira

Slack

Documentation

AI/LLM cost governance

Education

Bachelor's degree in a relevant field

Tools

Jira

Slack

Job description

Lifted (an Upwork Company) is seeking a Senior FinOps Analyst to advise engineering and R&D teams on cloud spending and cost optimization. You will act as the primary partner-facing resource for APAC and US-based teams, driving cost analysis, education, and proactive engagement to align spending with forecasts and measurable business outcomes.

You will work closely with engineering stakeholders, investigate anomalies, and contribute to monthly reporting and Showback processes with strong