Staff Engineer – FinOps

Government Employees Insurance Company; Bethesda (MD); On-site; USD 110,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

GEICO in Bethesda, MD is seeking a Staff Engineer – FinOps to lead cloud cost optimization, budgeting, and forecasting within the Capacity and Workload Management team. You will drive FinOps initiatives across the stack, partner with engineers, finance, and leadership, and design cost reporting strategies for IT executives.

The role emphasizes hands-on cloud economics, open-source tooling, and full-stack awareness, with experience in Python, Django, gRPC, Kafka, Spark, and Kubernetes.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of FinOps project experience and FinOps concepts.
• 5+ years budgeting, forecasting, cost savings, and reporting with tools.
• 4+ years open-source frameworks and cloud technologies (Azure, AWS, GCP).
• 3+ years cloud architecture including cost optimization and capacity planning.
• 2+ years software development with Java, TypeScript, ReactJS, BootstrapJS, Python, Golang, Docker, Kubernetes, or Terraform.

Responsibilities

• Lead FinOps projects focusing on budgeting, forecasting, cost optimization, and spend reporting.
• Collaborate with GEICO Tech and partner teams to drive cost optimizations.
• Provide technical leadership across stack layers for full-stack web app development.
• Mentor engineers in system architecture, design, and implementation.
• Communicate with stakeholders and executives with clear reporting.

Skills

Cloud cost optimization

Budgeting

Forecasting

FinOps

AWS

Azure

GCP

Open-source frameworks

Kubernetes

Docker

Terraform

Java

TypeScript

ReactJS

Python

Golang

Kafka

Apache Spark

API design

Cloud architecture

Education

Bachelor's degree in computer science or Information Systems

Tools

Django

gRPC

Protocol Buffers

Kafka

Apache Spark

Python

Java

TypeScript

ReactJS

BootstrapJS

Docker

Kubernetes

Terraform

Job description

Why Join GEICO? At GEICO, we offer a rewarding career where your ambitions are met with endless possibilities. Every day we honor our iconic brand by offering quality coverage to millions of customers and being there when they need us most. We thrive on relentless innovation to exceed our customers' expectations while making a real impact on local communities nationwide. Founded in 1936, GEICO is a member of the Berkshire Hathaway family of companies and one of the largest auto insurers in the United States. When you join our company, we want you to feel valued, supported, and proud to work here. That's why we offer the GEICO Pledge: Great Company, Great Culture, Great Rewards, and Great Careers.

Position Description: We are looking for a highly motivated and skilled Staff Engineer – FinOps to join our Capacity and Workload Management organization. This role is part of the FinOps and Cloud Optimization team, focusing on leading FinOps Engineering projects with expertise in Cloud Services, architecture, cost optimization, budgeting and forecasting. The ideal candidate should have extensive experience in leading significant projects, encompassing aspects such as budgeting and forecast, cost optimization, capacity planning, and a readiness to take charge and collaborate across the stack as per the team's requirements.

Responsibilities

• Demonstrating a strong grasp of cloud requirements such as cost optimization and capacity planning, facilitating cross-organizational partnerships for cost optimization discussions.
• Managing and implementing optimization and automation strategies for business processes.
• Contributing to the creation of a comprehensive strategy to enhance savings, improve spend reporting, governance, and drive process enhancement.
• Collaborating with business leaders, engineers, and partner teams to collect budget requirements, establish and maintain budget report using various tools, forecast the cost and relevant tasks.
• Overseeing FinOps stakeholder communications, defining FinOps KPIs for IT executives, and collaborating with Controllers/Tech Financials Controls.
• Effectively relaying critical information to stakeholders, including senior leadership.
• Assisting in developing the Economic Unit using business metrics to manage cloud operational expenses.
• Providing technical and thought leadership across multiple stack layers, focusing on full stack web app development and ensuring UI, microservices, and backend systems integration.
• Serving as a role model and mentor to senior and junior engineers, guiding them in system architecture, design, and implementation.
• Maintaining clear communication with partner teams and leads, explaining technical implementations to stakeholders for alignment across teams.
• Utilizing experience in deploying web applications in Kubernetes (k8s) environments to ensure reliable interaction with backend services and seamless integration with cloud and on-premises systems.

Qualifications

• Deep understanding of Cloud Services and architectures, pricing models, and billing structures that will allow the candidate to perform deep dives and complex analysis of cost trends, anomalies, identify areas of improvement and support decision making with data driven insights.
• Strong understanding of cloud-based services usage and pricing; AWS and/or Azure and Hands on cloud experience (AWS, Azure etc.)
• Strong understanding of cloud requirements, ability to partner across GEICO Tech and drive cost optimization discussions.
• Collaborate with application teams to understand their approaches and designs to optimize performance and costs within cloud services.
• Experience designing and developing microservices using Python, Django, gRPC with protocol buffers, Kafka and Apache Spark with a deep understanding of both API and event-driven architectures.
• 8+ years of experience working in FinOps Projects and understanding of FinOps concepts preferred.
• 5 + years of experience in budgeting, forecasting, cost savings, and reporting using various tools.
• 4+ years of experience in open-source frameworks and cloud technologies like Azure, AWS, GCP.
• 3+ years of experience with cloud architecture and design including cost optimization, capacity planning, pricing, performance tuning.
• 2+ years of professional software development experience and/or solutions engineering experience with technologies such as Java, TypeScript, ReactJS, BoostrapJS, Python, Golang, Docker, Kubernetes, or Terraform.

Education

Bachelor's degree in computer science, Information Systems, or equivalent education or work experience.

#LI-RP2 Annual Salary $110,000.00 - $230,000.00 The above annual salary range is a general guideline. Multiple factors are taken into consideration to arrive at the final hourly rate/ annual salary to be offered to the selected candidate. Factors include, but are not limited to, the scope and responsibilities of the role, the selected candidate’s work experience, education and training, the work location as well as market and business considerations.

GEICO will consider sponsoring a new qualified applicant for employment authorization for this position.

GEICO Pledge

Great Company: Protecting customers through life’s twists and turns with innovation and integrity.

Great Careers: Personalized development programs, mentorship, and certification assistance.

Great Culture: Inclusive and collaborative culture rooted in shared success.

Great Rewards: Competitive pay, benefits, and flexibility to support your well-being and future.

The equal employment opportunity policy of the GEICO Companies provides for a fair and equal employment opportunity for all associates and job applicants regardless of race, color, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, age, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, familial status, disability or genetic information, in compliance with applicable federal, state and local law. GEICO hires and promotes individuals solely on the basis of their qualifications for the job to be filled. GEICO reasonably accommodates qualified individuals with disabilities to enable them to receive equal employment opportunity and/or perform the essential functions of the job, unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship to the Company. This applies to all applicants and associates. GEICO also provides a work environment in which each associate is able to be productive and work to the best of their ability. We do not condone or tolerate an atmosphere of intimidation or harassment. We expect and require the cooperation of all associates in maintaining an atmosphere free from discrimination and harassment with mutual respect by and for all associates and applicants.

At GEICO,we offer a rewarding career where your ambitions are met with endless possibilities. Every day we honor our iconic brand by offering quality coverage to millions of customers and being there when they need us most. We thrive on relentless innovation to exceed our customers' expectations while making a real impact on local communities nationwide. Founded in 1936, GEICO is a member of the Berkshire Hathaway family of companies and one of the largest auto insurers in the United States.

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