Cloud FinOps Lead

Cloud FinOps Lead We are looking for a Cloud FinOps Lead to establish and drive cloud financial management practices across the organisation, with an initial focus on Microsoft Azure . This is not purely a billing/reporting role . We are looking for someone who can influence architecture, cloud consumption behaviour, budgeting and operational practices. Key Responsibilities • Establish and mature the organisation’s Azure FinOps framework, governance model, policies and standards . • Define cloud cost ownership across subscriptions, applications, projects and business units. • Implement and manage showback / chargeback models and cloud cost allocation standards. • Own cloud cost visibility using Microsoft Cost Management, Azure Advisor and other FinOps tools . • Identify and drive cost optimisation opportunities across compute, storage, databases, containers and PaaS services. • Manage optimisation strategies such as Azure Reservations, Savings Plans, Azure Hybrid Benefit, rightsizing and non-production scheduling . • Build and maintain cloud cost optimisation backlogs and track realised savings. • Support annual and multi-year cloud budgeting, forecasting and financial planning . • Perform budget-vs-actual and forecast-vs-actual analysis and explain cost variances. • Develop cost models for cloud migrations, new solutions and architecture changes. • Create dashboards and reports covering spend, forecasts, cost trends, optimisation opportunities and FinOps KPIs. • Work closely with architecture and engineering teams to incorporate cost considerations into solution design and cloud provisioning. • Support migration programmes by assessing the financial impact of moving workloads to Azure. • Introduce cost-aware controls into Infrastructure as Code and cloud provisioning workflows . • Present cloud cost insights and recommendations to both technical and non-technical stakeholders. Requirements • Strong hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure and cloud consumption models. • Experience with Microsoft Cost Management, Azure billing and cloud cost analysis . • Good understanding of Azure governance, including subscriptions, management groups, resource groups, tagging, Azure Policy and Landing Zones . • Experience with Azure Reservations, Savings Plans, Azure Hybrid Benefit and Azure Advisor . • Strong experience in cloud cost optimisation and identifying inefficient or underutilised resources. • Experience with budgeting, forecasting, financial modelling and variance analysis . • Strong Excel skills; experience with Power BI or similar reporting tools is preferred. • Ability to analyse cloud usage and billing data and translate it into actionable recommendations. • Strong stakeholder-management skills and the ability to work across engineering, finance, procurement and business teams. • Strong communication and presentation skills. Good to Have • Experience with Azure Enterprise Agreement, Microsoft Customer Agreement or CSP models . • Knowledge of PowerShell, Python, KQL, Azure Resource Graph or APIs for cost automation and analytics. • Experience with Terraform, Bicep or Infrastructure as Code . • Experience embedding FinOps controls into CI/CD and cloud provisioning workflows. • Knowledge of FinOps Foundation frameworks and practices . • Exposure to AWS or multi-cloud FinOps. • FinOps Certified Practitioner / Professional or relevant Microsoft Azure certifications. • Experience in large enterprise, regulated or complex environments. Experience • Typically 5–8+ years of experience across cloud, infrastructure, cloud governance, technology operations or financial management. • Preferably 2–3+ years of direct Cloud FinOps, cloud cost management or cloud financial governance experience . Registration No.: R25156061 EA No.: 11C3373