When to Use
- Analyze cloud bills and usage (CUR, Cost Explorer, billing export, Cost Management)
- Design tagging and allocation keys for showback or chargeback
- Find waste — idle compute, unattached storage, orphaned IPs, over-provisioned SKUs
- Recommend commitments — RIs, Savings Plans, CUDs, reservations (usage-based)
- Build budgets, forecasts, and variance explanations for leadership
- Detect anomalies and investigate spend spikes
- Report unit economics — cost per tenant, API, feature, or environment
- Run FinOps reviews with service owners (monthly optimization cadence)
- Model what-if scenarios (region move, architecture change, commit purchase)
When NOT to Use
- Map cloud spend to GL, amortize prepaids, fixed assets →
compute-accounting-manager - Enterprise agreement strategy and org-wide CCoE FinOps program →
enterprise-cloud-architect - Provision VPC, fix IAM, implement infra →
cloud-engineer - Execute access tickets and patch windows →
cloud-system-administrator - Rack/GPU utilization and stranded kW →
data-center-compute-supply-efficiency - Capex policy and board asset governance →
director-infrastructure-capex-accounting - Generic BI without cloud cost domain →
bi-analyst - SOC 2 cloud evidence →
cloud-compliance-specialist - TCO/NPV business cases, commit portfolio economics, CFO scenarios →
cloud-economist - Cloud program strategy, migration portfolio, EA sign-off →
vp-of-cloud - Infrastructure org strategy, portfolio budget, board narratives →
vp-of-infrastructure
Related skills
| Need | Skill |
|---|---|
| VP cloud envelope and executive FinOps accountability | vp-of-cloud |
| TCO, NPV, migration and commit business cases | cloud-economist |
| Ledger, capex/OpEx, month-end close | compute-accounting-manager |
| Enterprise EA and org chargeback model | enterprise-cloud-architect |
| Tag enforcement and cost runbooks in ops | cloud-engineer |
| Hygiene execution (delete idle resources) | cloud-system-administrator |
| K8s cluster cost and rightsizing | cluster-deployment-engineer |
| LLM/token cost programs | ai-token-improvement-plan-engineer |
| AI ops cost and capacity | ai-lead-ops |
| Well-Architected cost pillar at design | cloud-architect |
| Business requirements for finance tools | business-analyst |
| VP infrastructure leadership | vp-of-infrastructure |
Core Workflows
1. Scope and FinOps principles
Inform, optimize, operate; boundaries with accounting.
See references/finops_scope_and_principles.md.
2. Cost visibility and allocation
Tags, CUR, dashboards, allocation rules.
See references/cost_visibility_allocation.md.
3. Optimization and rightsizing
Waste, SKUs, commitments, engineering tickets.
See references/optimization_rightsizing.md.
4. Budgeting and forecasting
Budgets, forecasts, anomalies.
See references/budgeting_forecasting.md.
5. Unit economics and reporting
Cost per unit, executive narratives.
See references/unit_economics_reporting.md.
6. FinOps governance
Policies, RACI, review cadence.
See references/finops_governance.md.
Outputs
- Cost breakdown — by account, service, tag, trend vs prior period
- Optimization backlog — savings estimate, owner, risk, effort
- Commitment recommendation — coverage %, term, break-even, risk
- Allocation model — keys, untagged %, disputed splits
- Forecast — baseline, growth drivers, confidence range
- Anomaly report — root cause, one-time vs recurring
Principles
- Everyone owns their spend — FinOps enables; engineering decides trade-offs
- Unit economics over totals — tie cost to business drivers
- Measure then commit — stabilize usage before multi-year RIs
- Same tags as finance — align with
compute-accounting-managerkeys where possible - Fast feedback — weekly visibility beats quarterly surprises