Cloud Financial Operations Engineer

Zelis • St. Louis, MO

2d • $105,000 - $133,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

At Zelis, we Get Stuff Done. So, let’s get to it! A Little About Us Zelis is modernizing the healthcare financial experience across payers, providers, and healthcare consumers. We serve more than 750 payers, including the top five national health plans, regional health plans, TPAs and millions of healthcare providers and consumers across our platform of solutions. Zelis sees across the system to identify, optimize, and solve problems holistically with technology built by healthcare experts – driving real, measurable results for clients. A Little About You You bring a unique blend of personality and professional expertise to your work, inspiring others with your passion and dedication. Your career is a testament to your diverse experiences, community involvement, and the valuable lessons you've learned along the way. You are more than just your resume; you are a reflection of your achievements, the knowledge you've gained, and the personal interests that shape who you are. Position Overview The FinOps Analyst / FinOps Practitioner serves as a core member of the centralized cloud financial management team, responsible for operationalizing FinOps Foundation best practices across AWS and Azure. This role supports the full FinOps lifecycle (Inform, Optimize, Operate) across AWS and Azure. This role blends cloud financial engineering, financial analysis, and cross-functional enablement to drive visibility, optimization, and accountability for cloud spend. This role reports to Cloud Engineering leadership, this role acts as a hands-on practitioner executing FinOps capabilities while partnering with Engineering, Cloud Practice, Finance, Product, and Executive Leadership. FinOps Foundation Alignment This role is explicitly aligned to FinOps Foundation principles and capabilities, including: - Visibility & Allocation - Optimization & Rate Efficiency - Budgeting, Forecasting, and Anomaly Management - Business Value & Unit Economics - Governance and Cost Accountability

Requirements

• 3+ years of experience in FinOps, cloud financial management, cloud cost optimization, or cloud financial analysis
• Hands-on experience with AWS and Azure cloud platforms and their billing and pricing models
• Strong understanding of consumption-based cloud economics and commitment discount models
• Proven ability to work cross-functionally with engineering, finance, and leadership teams
• Strong analytical, financial modeling, and problem-solving skills
• Financial analysis, forecasting, and cost modeling
• Cloud architecture and workload awareness
• Data analysis, reporting, and visualization
• Stakeholder communication and executive presence
• Continuous improvement and FinOps maturity mindset

Nice To Haves

• FinOps Foundation Certified Practitioner (or equivalent)
• Experience in healthcare, fintech, or regulated environments
• Experience with Power BI or similar financial reporting and visualization tools
• Familiarity with ETL tools such as AWS Glue or Azure Data Factory
• Cloud certifications (AWS or Azure) strongly preferred

Responsibilities

• Analyze, monitor, and report on cloud usage and spend across AWS and Azure environments
• Develop and maintain standardized cost allocation models using tagging, accounts, subscriptions, and cost centers
• Produce operational, leadership, and executive-level reporting on cloud spend, trends, and unit economics
• Own cloud cost forecasting processes and track variance against budgets and financial targets
• Identify and drive optimization opportunities including:
• Rightsizing and workload optimization
• Reserved Instances, Savings Plans, and Azure Reservations
• Spot usage strategies where applicable
• Storage tiering and lifecycle optimization
• Identification and remediation of idle or orphaned resources
• Partner with cloud architects and engineering teams to prioritize and implement cost optimization initiatives
• Track realized vs potential savings using FinOps KPIs and maturity metrics
• Define and enforce FinOps governance standards including tagging policies, budget guardrails, and cost allocation rules
• Implement and manage anomaly detection and alerting for unexpected cost behavior
• Support audit readiness and financial controls related to cloud spend and governance
• Maintain oversight of cloud operating budgets across AWS and Azure
• Embed business value analysis into cloud demand and architectural decision-making
• Develop and support showback and chargeback models to reinforce cost ownership
• Translate cloud financial data into actionable insights for technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Educate engineering, product, and finance teams on FinOps best practices and cost-aware decision making
• Leverage AWS Cost Explorer, AWS Budgets, Azure Cost Management, and Azure Advisor
• Evaluate and support cost allocation and reporting platforms as needed
• Collaborate with data and cloud engineering teams to centralize FinOps reporting, including Power BI dashboards
• Support ETL processes to normalize and aggregate AWS and Azure cost and usage data
• Prepare executive summaries, financial reports, and business reviews related to cloud Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
• Present cloud financial insights, risks, and optimization progress to senior leadership
• Develop communication strategies to ensure transparency and alignment across stakeholders

Benefits

• Zelis’ full-time associates are eligible for a highly competitive benefits package as well, which demonstrates our commitment to our employees’ health, well-being, and financial protection.
• The US-based benefits include a 401k plan with employer match, flexible paid time off, holidays, parental leaves, life and disability insurance, and health benefits including medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed