Title - Cloud FinOps Support Specialist
Client - NOAA
Location - Silver Spring, MD
5+ year contract
1. Position Title & Role Summary
Position Title: Cloud Financial Operations (FinOps) Support Specialist
Role Summary: The Cloud FinOps Support Specialist is a critical technical-financial function
dedicated to supporting the OAR IT Office and the OAR Cloud Program. This role is responsible
for the professional execution of financial operations across a multi-cloud ecosystem, including
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform (Google Cloud Platform), and modern
Commercial AI/SaaS providers. The Specialist ensures financial accountability and cost
transparency through rigorous invoice reconciliation, proactive cost optimization, and the
maintenance of a comprehensive audit trail for the OAR Cloud portfolio.
2. Primary Responsibilities: Monthly Invoice Reconciliation & COR Support
The Specialist manages the end-to-end multi-cloud invoice reconciliation process to ensure
technical consumption aligns with financial disbursements. The workflow requirements include:
1. Intake & Tracking: Receive monthly invoices for cloud consumption and labor. Log all
data into centralized tracking systems, including Google Drive repositories and
specialized spreadsheet trackers.
2. Data Organization: Maintain a rigorous documentation hierarchy. All records must be
categorized systematically by Service Provider, then by Month, and finally by
Lab/Program. This includes the management of "Lab-Specific Invoice Folders" to ensure
reports are partitioned for correct stakeholder delivery.
3. Metadata Validation & Verification: Execute detailed metadata validation by
cross-referencing PDF invoice data—specifically the Task Order number and Billing
Period—against the centralized tracker. Verify invoiced consumption totals against
technical usage reports, including Excel-based consumption breakdown files.
3. Cost Attribution & Shared Services Allocation
The Specialist implements technical methodologies to ensure precise cost management and
back-billing accuracy. This includes:
● Cost-Allocation Methodology: Utilizing cloud-native tagging and attribution methods
to manage back-billing for individual labs and programs.
● Best-Effort Allocation Logic: Executing shared services cost allocation across
multi-cloud environments. In instances where labs provide insufficient accounting
information or delayed feedback, the Specialist applies "best-effort" allocation using
fund-aging logic . This involves identifying and utilizing the oldest available funds via
alphabetical project code sequencing (e.g., prioritizing "T" funds over "U" or "V" funds).
● Balance Management: Maintenance of a "Balance" tracking system to monitor
real-time expenditures against available funds per line of accounting, ensuring that
expenditures never exceed authorized limits.
4. Cost Optimization, Savings Management, & ROI
Proactive financial management is a core function of the OAR Cloud Program. The Specialist is
required to:
● Instrument Evaluation: Continuously evaluate cloud discount instruments, specifically
Compute Savings Plans and Reserved Instances (RIs), to minimize unblended costs.
● Execution Support: Provide data-driven recommendations and technical assistance to
OAR management in the procurement and renewal of these savings instruments.
● Performance Metrics & Value Reporting: Establish a tracking system for documented
cloud cost savings. This ROI narrative is supported by "Value Added Reports" (e.g.,
MTD Net Bill, Average Net Bill, and Highest Service Net Bill) to demonstrate the
position's fiscal impact.
5. Reporting, Analytics, & Resource Usage
The Specialist provides deep visibility into cloud spend through multi-dimensional analytical
reporting.
Cloud SLA Management Serve as primary point of contact for cloud SLA management
Custom Dashboarding Generate and update customized dashboards and value-added
reports tailored to specific Lab/Program requests. The Specialist ensures these products evolve
based on stakeholder feedback to provide actionable financial insights.
Multi-Cloud Drill-Down Analytics Utilize enterprise tools such as Apptio Cloudability or
CloudCheckr to provide granular, "drill-down" visibility into consumption. This includes analyzing
spend patterns and anomalies across all providers to ensure cost-efficient resource utilization.
Modern Resource Tracking Apply specific focus to tracking usage metrics for Commercial AI
platforms and modern SaaS cloud resources. This ensures that emerging technology
expenditures are integrated into the core infrastructure financial management framework.
6. Qualifications & Core Competencies
Requirements
Cloud Management Tools,"Expertise in Apptio Cloudability. Advanced proficiency in native cost
management consoles (AWS Billing Console, Google Cloud Console, and Azure Cost
Management)."
FinOps Knowledge,"Comprehensive understanding of FinOps principles, cost optimization
techniques, and the lifecycle management of Compute Savings Plans and Reserved Instances
(RIs)."
Documentation,Proficiency in managing complex documentation hierarchies and maintaining
comprehensive audit trails within cloud-based storage environments (Google Drive).
Certifications,FinOps Certified Practitioner (Preferred).
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