VP FinOps

CardWorks

1d

About The Position

The Vice President of FinOps leads CardWorks Servicing’s technology financial operations practice, driving accountability, predictability, and disciplined optimization across the enterprise’s full technology spend — including cloud (AWS, Azure, and emerging platforms), SaaS and software licensing, infrastructure, and supporting tooling. Reporting to the SVP of Enterprise Architecture, this executive owns the strategy, governance, tooling, and team that align engineering velocity with cost-aware decision making. The VP, FinOps partners closely with Finance, Procurement, Enterprise Architecture, and engineering leadership to forecast technology consumption, negotiate enterprise commitments (AWS Enterprise Discount Program, Microsoft Enterprise Agreement, Savings Plans, Reserved Instances, and SaaS contracts), and embed unit economics into the way CardWorks builds and operates its servicing platforms. The role establishes and runs the FinOps Center of Excellence and ensures CardWorks operates its full technology footprint at scale efficiently, securely, and in alignment with industry-standard cost optimization frameworks.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, Finance, or related field required; MBA or advanced technical degree preferred.
• 12+ years of progressive experience in cloud engineering, enterprise architecture, IT finance, or technology leadership, with deep hands-on experience across multiple public cloud providers (AWS, Azure) at enterprise scale.
• 5+ years of demonstrated leadership in FinOps, cloud financial management, or technology cost optimization, including direct ownership of multi-million-dollar technology spend across cloud, SaaS, and infrastructure.
• Proven track record negotiating and managing enterprise commitments including AWS Enterprise Discount Programs (EDPs), Microsoft Enterprise Agreements, Savings Plans, Reserved Instances/Reservations, and SaaS multi-year contracts.
• Deep working expertise across AWS core services (EC2, S3, IAM, Lambda, API Gateway, RDS, CloudTrail, KMS, CloudWatch, Systems Manager) with the ability to translate technical architecture decisions into financial impact.
• Demonstrated mastery of cloud billing constructs: AWS Organizations, Consolidated Billing, Cost Allocation Tags, Cost and Usage Reports (CUR); Azure Management Groups, Subscriptions, Cost Management + Billing, and tag governance.
• Hands-on experience modeling, forecasting, and remediating large-scale storage cost issues, including multi-hundred-terabyte S3 storage class optimization, Azure storage tier alignment, lifecycle policy design, and bulk data migration or deletion at petabyte scale.
• Strong command of cloud Well-Architected Frameworks, with a proven ability to operationalize the Cost Optimization pillar across heterogeneous workloads.
• Track record of producing executive-grade cost models, briefings, and interactive cost calculators that translate complex consumption patterns across cloud and SaaS into clear business decisions.
• Familiarity with SaaS spend management practices, license rationalization, and contract negotiation across major enterprise vendors.
• Excellent cross-functional leadership skills with a track record of partnering across Engineering, Finance, Procurement, Risk, and Compliance.
• Strong analytical mindset; comfort translating raw billing and consumption data into actionable insights and unit economics.
• Familiarity with regulated financial services environments and the governance expectations of FFIEC, GLBA, PCI-DSS, and SOX.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with comfort presenting to C-level leadership and the Board.

Nice To Haves

• Prior experience building and leading FinOps teams, Cloud Centers of Excellence, or Enterprise Architecture functions at financial services, fintech, or similarly regulated organizations strongly preferred.
• FinOps Foundation certification (FinOps Certified Practitioner or Professional) preferred.
• Cloud certifications across multiple providers preferred.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute the enterprise FinOps strategy and operating model spanning cloud (AWS, Azure, and emerging platforms), SaaS, software licensing, and supporting infrastructure, including showback/chargeback frameworks, budget governance, and unit economic models (cost per cardholder, cost per transaction, cost per environment).
• Build, lead, and grow the FinOps Center of Excellence, including a team of cloud financial analysts, cost engineers, SaaS license analysts, and tooling specialists.
• Forecast monthly and annual spend across cloud, SaaS, and infrastructure; manage variance to budget; and report cost performance to executive leadership.
• Negotiate and steward enterprise commitments across providers — including AWS, Private Pricing Agreements, Savings Plans, and Reserved Instances; Microsoft Enterprise Agreements, Azure Reservations, and Hybrid Benefit; and SaaS multi-year contracts — in partnership with vendor account teams and Procurement.
• Establish and enforce mandatory tagging, account and subscription structure, and resource hierarchy standards in partnership with Enterprise Architecture, ensuring every dollar of technology spend is attributable to a business owner, application, and environment.
• Drive cost optimization initiatives across compute, storage, data, networking, and SaaS — including rightsizing, idle resource elimination, storage tier optimization, license harvesting, and architectural remediation — partnering with engineering and product teams to address inefficiencies at the source.
• Build executive dashboards and KPIs covering cloud, SaaS, and total technology cost, and deliver monthly and quarterly business reviews to Technology and Finance leadership.
• Stand up automated anomaly detection and proactive alerting across providers on cost spikes, unused or orphaned resources, license under-utilization, and policy drift — including AWS Service Control Policies, S3 Object Lock, MFA Delete, Azure Policy, and Azure Blueprints guardrails.
• Champion FinOps culture across engineering and product through training, scorecards, and embedded engagement with squads to drive cost-aware architecture and design decisions across all technology layers.
• Partner with Information Security, Risk, and Compliance to ensure financial governance aligns with regulatory expectations applicable to a federally regulated card servicer (FFIEC, GLBA, PCI-DSS, SOX).
• Lead vendor and SaaS lifecycle management, including license rationalization, contract renewal strategy, multi-vendor negotiation, and rationalization of overlapping tooling.

Benefits

• Competitive Pay, including a Bonus Target or Variable Pay Incentive Program
• Medical, Dental, and Vision
• 401(k) Plan with Company Match
• Short- & Long-Term Disability
• Wellness Programs
• Group Life and AD&D Insurance
• Paid Vacation, Sick Days and bank Holidays
• Employee Engagement Activities including Employee Appreciation Day, DEI Employee Resource Groups, Corporate Social Responsibility, Service Recognition

What This Job Offers

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