FinOps Lead

FinOps Lead

Position Purpose :

At Brambles, the FinOps Lead serves as the critical link between Finance and Technology, ensuring seamless integration and collaboration. This role demands a business-focused, technology-savvy, and outcome-driven individual with a relentless commitment to continuous improvement. The FinOps Lead is a recognized authority in Cloud FinOps, blending technical expertise in cloud engineering with a profound understanding of cost optimization and financial budget management. This individual will oversee and optimize the financial aspects of all cloud-based services and infrastructure within the organization ensuring a shared comprehension of the financial impacts of cloud infrastructure and guiding strategic business decisions.

Major/Key Accountabilities

Delivery of optimisation targets across all cloud accounts

Effective leadership of FinsOps service on behalf of brambles

Manage end to end FinsOps process

Management of cloud provider financial relationships

Challenges/ Problem Solving

Understanding of Agile methodologies

Understanding of CI/CD pipelines

Appreciation of Cloud Diagramming and visualisation

Experience in cloud engineering

Advanced knowledge in cost allocation strategies

Strong experience in cost optimisation in cloud technology

Strong experience in (financial) data analysis

Experience in developing technical documentation

Understanding of cloud vendor charging models

Authority/ Decision Making

Is fully accountable for meeting allocated technical and/or project/supervisory objectives including the recovery of failing services.

Has influence over the allocation and management of resources appropriate to recover services and/or given assignments and in the delegation of service and project responsibilities.

Make decisions which impact the resiliency and cost efficiency of cloud services.

Provides Product and Platform teams with workload analysis to guide selection of the right cloud service model to optimise cost/benefit performance from available Brambles cloud options.

Experience

Significant previous experience in within a similar sized or larger and globally distributed cloud technology group as a FinOps professional

5-10 years experience leading, managing or supervising technical staff and projects.

Proven success in improving the customer experience.

Experience working within a matrix structure.

Skills and Knowledge

Deep understanding and mastery a broad range of visualisation techniques used to facilitate shared understanding of highly complex architecture and workflows. Recognised expert who has strategic oversight of the skill and has grown and guided others through mentoring and training to grow their expertise in using software solutions to provide interactive user-friendly visualizations. Contributes to the advancement of visualisation techniques within their field

Cloud Engineering: Deep understanding of cloud technologies, platforms, and services to generate organization-wide value. Influence technology selection and enhance or engineer new solutions. Recognized FinOps expert who mentors and trains others.

Cost Allocation: Mastery in budgeting and forecasting for cloud projects. Articulate cost-related decisions to senior stakeholders. Identify data trends and manage complex budgets. Mentor others in cost allocation practices.

Collaborating with various teams such as IT, finance, operations, and procurement to align cloud strategies with business goals, ensure financial compliance, and improve cross-functional coordination. Providing guidance and support to stakeholders on cloud cost management.

Cost Optimization: Assess and advise on cloud usage and expenditure to drive cost efficiencies. Experienced in cost optimization for complex environments. Influence senior stakeholders in decision-making.

Conducting in-depth financial analysis, identifying cost-saving opportunities, and recommending strategies to optimize cloud spending.

Developing and implementing cost management strategies to control and reduce cloud expenses. This may involve monitoring usage, negotiating contracts with cloud service providers, identifying inefficient resource allocation, and recommending cost-effective alternatives.

Data Analysis: Analyse data to drive decision-making. Generate insights to solve complex problems. By Preparing regular financial reports and providing insights to management on cloud spending patterns, trends, and potential risks. Creating dashboards and metrics to track and monitor cost efficiency, usage, and performance of cloud services. Mentor others in data analysis techniques.

Documentation: Maintain and ensure the relevance of complex documentation impacting DevOps flow.

Keeping up-to-date with industry trends, best practices, and emerging technologies in cloud computing and financial management. Sharing knowledge and insights with the team to drive innovation and continuous improvement.

Stakeholder Relationships: Build trust-based relationships with cross-functional stakeholders. Present updates to C-suite stakeholders, detailing technical capabilities, challenges, solutions, and progress. Establish cloud-related budgets and creating financial forecasts to support strategic decision-making. Ensuring adherence to budgetary guidelines and identifying any variances or risks.

Strategic Influence: Influence tactical and long-term strategic decisions. Foster customer-focused delivery through understanding customer context. Adapt communication style based on audience. Role model and champion of change management.

Establishing governance policies and procedures to ensure compliance with financial and regulatory requirements. Collaborating with internal and external auditors to address any audit-related queries or concerns.

Qualifications

Essential Qualifications: FinOps Certified Practitioner Desirable Qualifications

FinOps Certified Professional and/or Engineer

ITIL Practitioner

Cloud Practitioner

Bachelors degree in computer science, Information Systems, Business or related field, Masters preferred Or equivalent combination.