Lead, Enterprise AI FinOps

Qualcomm • San Diego, CA

3d • $155,400 - $233,000 • Onsite

About The Position

The Enterprise AI FinOps Lead establishes and operates the financial governance discipline for company-wide AI usage. This role owns cost visibility, show-back, optimization, budgeting, forecasting, and stakeholder engagement across a multi-cloud (Azure, AWS, GCP), SaaS, and on-premise AI landscape. This is not a traditional cloud cost role. It requires deep understanding of AI-specific cost drivers—models, tokens, prompts, agents, embeddings, context windows, RAG systems, and adoption behavior—and the ability to translate telemetry into actionable insights, optimization programs, and executive reporting. The role also owns full budget management for the Enterprise AI department.

Requirements

• 8+ years in FinOps, cloud cost management, technology finance, IT financial management, or enterprise analytics.
• Proven experience managing budgets, forecasts, financial reporting, and cost optimization programs.
• Strong understanding of cloud cost models (Azure, AWS, or GCP).
• Ability to analyze large-scale usage data and deliver actionable business insights.
• Strong stakeholder management across senior leaders, finance partners, and technical teams.
• Experience building dashboards, KPIs, and recurring operating reviews.
• Excellent executive communication skills (written and verbal).
• Ability to operate independently and develop operating models and business processes from the ground up.
• Minimum Qualifications: • 7+ years of IT-related work experience with a Bachelor's degree. OR 9+ years of IT-related work experience without a Bachelor’s degree.
• 4+ years in a leadership role in projects/programs.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with AI/GenAI/LLM platforms, token-based pricing, or AI platform operations.
• Familiarity with tokens, embeddings, RAG, agents, context windows, model routing, prompt optimization, and inference workloads.
• Multi-cloud cost management experience.
• On-premise infrastructure cost allocation experience.
• Cross-functional partnership with Finance, Procurement, Legal, Contracts, and Engineering.
• Proficiency with Power BI, Tableau, Looker, Databricks, Snowflake, BigQuery, SQL, Python, or similar tools.

Responsibilities

• Build & Operate the AI FinOps Function: Establish the AI-FinOps operating model: visibility, cost accountability, show-back, optimization cadences, and leadership reporting. Define processes, metrics, and governance mechanisms that manage costs while enabling adoption.
• AI Cost Visibility & Intelligence: Own end-to-end usage visibility across all cloud, on-premise, internal, and SaaS AI platforms. Identify major cost drivers and flag areas where cost growth outpaces value delivery.
• Show-Back & Chargeback Readiness: Design and implement show-back methodology with transparent allocation rules for shared platforms, model gateways, agent platforms, RAG systems, and SaaS AI. Deliver monthly/quarterly show-back packages to business unit and functional leaders.
• Budgeting, Forecasting & Financial Management: Own AI cost forecasting and budget planning based on usage trends, adoption growth, model pricing, and optimization initiatives. Manage departmental budget: planning, tracking, accruals, purchase planning, and vendor cost visibility. Partner with Finance, Procurement, Cloud FinOps, Legal, and platform owners to ensure financial discipline.
• Optimization & Cost Reduction: Identify and drive cost reduction opportunities without compromising business value or adoption. Lead recurring reviews with high-consuming teams to eliminate waste and promote efficient usage.
• Executive Reporting & Leadership Engagement: Produce executive-ready AI cost/usage reporting for CIO, Finance, IT, and business unit leaders. Develop narratives around cost growth, business value, adoption health, and efficiency gains. Define KPIs that distinguish healthy adoption from uncontrolled consumption.

Benefits

• Competitive annual discretionary bonus program
• Opportunity for annual RSU grants
• Highly competitive benefits package designed to support your success at work, at home, and at play.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior