FinOps Specialist

What You'll Be Doing

• Support the execution of FinOps strategies and operating models to optimize cloud spend across AWS, Azure, and other cloud and SaaS platforms.
• Assist in maintaining cost allocation models, including showback frameworks, to support accountability and transparency across business units.
• Help build and maintain cost forecasting, budgeting, and variance analysis reports through vendor and business partnerships to support financial planning and governance.
• Identify and help implement cost optimization opportunities including rightsizing, reserved capacity planning, spot instance strategies, and architectural recommendations, in collaboration with senior team members.
• Collaborate with engineering and platform teams to promote cost awareness in development practices and infrastructure-as-code standards.
• Help enforce tagging governance policies to ensure accurate cost attribution and reporting across cloud resources.
• Build and maintain cost reports, dashboards, and KPIs that communicate cloud financial performance to business stakeholders.
• Assist with FinOps governance processes including cost anomaly monitoring, budget alerting, and spend review cadences.
• Support analysis and tracking of cloud provider commitments, including Reserved Instances, Savings Plans, and Enterprise Discount Programs.
• Coordinate with IT Governance and Finance to help align cloud financial management with enterprise budgeting and procurement processes.
• Serve as a resource for teams on cost-conscious cloud consumption, sharing FinOps practices learned from senior team members and from continued professional development.
• Stay current with FinOps Foundation frameworks, cloud provider pricing models, and emerging best practices, and continuously build personal expertise to grow the organization's FinOps capabilities.

What You'll Bring

• Working knowledge of FinOps principles, frameworks, and practices as defined by the FinOps Foundation, with willingness to deepen expertise.
• Foundational knowledge of cloud pricing models, billing structures, and cost optimization concepts across at least one major cloud platform (AWS, Azure, GCP); exposure to multiple platforms a plus.
• Ability to analyze cloud financial data and translate findings into clear insights and recommendations.
• Solid analytical, financial modeling, and data analysis skills.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills with the ability to work effectively with both technical and business teams.
• Familiarity with cost governance processes and policies, and a desire to learn and contribute to their operationalization.
• Ability to work cross-functionally and manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.

Education & Experience

Minimum Required: Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or a related field, or equivalent experience.

Minimum Required: 1+ year of experience in cloud financial management, IT finance, cloud operations, or a related discipline; relevant internship experience, coursework, or certifications will also be considered.

Preferred: Exposure to cloud cost management and optimization in multi-cloud or SaaS environments. Exposure to financial services or other regulated industries is a plus.

Licenses & Credentials

Preferred: FinOps Certified Practitioner certification, or willingness to obtain within first year in the role. Foundational cloud certifications (AWS Cloud Practitioner, Azure Fundamentals, or equivalent) a plus; associate-level certifications a strong plus.

Systems & Technology

Minimum Required: Experience and working proficiency with at least one native cloud cost management tools (AWS Cost Explorer, AWS Cost and Usage Reports, Azure Cost Management, GCP Billing); exposure to multiple is a plus.

• Familiarity with leading third-party FinOps platforms. Cloudability exposure is a plus.
• Working skills in data visualization and reporting tools (e.g., Power BI, Tableau, QuickSight) for building cost dashboards.

About Stifel

Stifel is more than 130 years old and still thinking like a start-up. We are a global wealth management and investment banking firm serious about innovation and fresh ideas. Built on a simple premise of safeguarding our clients' money as if it were our own, coined by our namesake, Herman Stifel, our success is intimately tied to our commitment to helping families, companies, and municipalities find their own success. While our headquarters is in St. Louis, we have offices in New York, San Francisco, Baltimore, London, Frankfurt, Toronto, and more than 400 other locations. Stifel is home to approximately 9,000 individuals who are currently building their careers as financial advisors, research analysts, project managers, marketing specialists, developers, bankers, operations associates, among hundreds more. Let's talk about how you can find your place here at Stifel, where success meets success.