Cloud Business Analyst

Acuity INC•, DC

5d•$87,000 - $194,000

About The Position

Looking to make a difference and help modernize critical government missions? Join Acuity's team supporting the U.S. Department of State. As a Cloud Business Analyst, you will serve as the liaison between business stakeholders, cloud engineering teams, and program leadership to support enterprise cloud modernization initiatives. You will analyze business and technical requirements, support cloud financial management and FinOps, develop operational metrics, improve business processes, and help ensure cloud services are delivered efficiently, securely, and in alignment with mission objectives. Working closely with cloud engineers, cybersecurity teams, finance, acquisition personnel, and government stakeholders, you will help translate business needs into actionable cloud solutions while supporting governance, reporting, budgeting, FinOps, cost optimization, and continuous improvement initiatives. As a front-line partner to our customers, you will help stakeholders understand cloud utilization, costs, and opportunities to improve financial efficiency.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Business, Information Systems, Information Technology, Computer Science, Finance, or related field (or equivalent experience).
Minimum of three (3) years of experience supporting cloud programs, cloud operations, cloud financial management, cloud modernization, or enterprise IT initiatives.
Experience gathering, documenting, and analyzing business and technical requirements.
Experience supporting cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud Platform.
Experience developing reports, dashboards, KPIs, metrics, and executive-level presentations.
Experience facilitating stakeholder meetings, requirements workshops, and cross-functional collaboration.
Strong analytical, organizational, communication, and problem-solving skills.
Ability to manage multiple priorities while working in a fast-paced federal environment.
Experience applying cloud financial management or FinOps concepts, including cost allocation, forecasting, utilization analysis, rightsizing, commitment optimization, chargeback/showback, and communicating cost optimization recommendations to customers or business stakeholders.
Experience using Microsoft Excel, Power BI, Tableau, Azure Cost Management, AWS Cost Explorer, or comparable reporting and analytics tools.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting the U.S. Department of State or other federal civilian agencies.
Experience supporting cloud modernization, digital transformation, DevSecOps, or enterprise cloud migration initiatives.
Familiarity with Agile methodologies, Azure DevOps, Jira, ServiceNow, or comparable project management platforms.
Knowledge of FedRAMP, NIST RMF, FISMA, cloud governance, and federal cloud security requirements.
FinOps Practitioner certification or practical experience supporting FinOps governance, cloud cost optimization, or cloud financial accountability is preferred.
AWS Cloud Practitioner, Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900), Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP), PMI-PBA, or similar certifications are preferred.

Responsibilities

Partner with government stakeholders, cloud engineering teams, and program leadership to gather, analyze, document, and validate business and technical requirements supporting enterprise cloud modernization initiatives.
Analyze cloud service utilization, consumption trends, operational metrics, and financial data to support cloud governance, optimization, and decision-making.
Apply FinOps practices to improve cloud cost allocation, forecasting, utilization, rightsizing, commitment optimization, chargeback/showback, and financial accountability across cloud environments.
Partner directly with our government customers to communicate cloud utilization and cost drivers, identify optimization opportunities, and develop actionable recommendations that reduce unnecessary spend while maintaining mission, performance, security, and availability requirements.
Collect, review, and reconcile Cloud Service Provider (CSP) invoices, billing reports, and usage data across cloud environments.
Develop monthly cloud utilization, cost, performance, and operational reports for government stakeholders and program leadership.
Track cloud funding, contract ceilings, licensing, and periods of performance while supporting financial planning and cloud resource management.
Support cloud budgeting, forecasting, pricing estimates, and acquisition activities using cloud pricing calculators and vendor-provided cost estimation tools.
Assist with development of technical and management content supporting cloud modernization proposals, task orders, and acquisition activities.
Collaborate with cloud engineers, cybersecurity personnel, architects, and project teams to ensure business requirements are accurately translated into cloud solutions.
Analyze existing business processes and identify opportunities to improve cloud operations through automation, standardization, and process improvement.
Support cloud governance initiatives by maintaining operational documentation, Memoranda of Agreement (MOAs), cloud service inventories, and supporting documentation.
Develop dashboards, metrics, and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that measure cloud adoption, operational performance, financial efficiency, and service delivery.
Facilitate stakeholder meetings, requirements workshops, and cloud planning sessions while documenting action items and business decisions.
Support Agile delivery teams by maintaining requirements, tracking action items, and assisting with backlog refinement activities where appropriate.
Prepare reports, executive briefings, process documentation, workflows, and recommendations supporting cloud modernization efforts.
Perform additional duties as assigned in support of customer mission objectives.