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Principal Cloud Economist and FinOps

Our Expedia Product & Technology division builds innovative products, services, and tools to deliver high-quality experiences for travelers, partners, and our employees. A unified, singular technology platform powered by data and machine learning provides secure, differentiated, and personalized experiences for the traveler and our partners that drive loyalty and customer satisfaction.

The Enterprise Technology, Security, and Privacy team (ETSP) is looking for a Principal Cloud Economist who will be responsible for leading and managing cloud financial operations (FinOps) across the organization as a single threaded owner for our Cloud Spend. This role ensures the efficient and cost-effective use of cloud resources by implementing financial strategies, cloud governance, and cost management frameworks. The Cloud Economist role will collaborate with cross-functional teams across Technology, Finance, and Cloud Engineering to optimize cloud spend, drive accountability, and support the organization's financial goals in cloud computing environments.

In this role, you will:

• Take the helm in understanding and streamlining Expedia Group cloud spend across AWS, and other future cloud platforms, ensuring cost efficiency without compromising on performance and scalability.

• Champion the creation of innovative cost governance and management frameworks that cater specifically to Expedia’s dynamic cloud usage, ensuring a balance between agility and fiscal discipline.

• Develop predictive cost models and budgeting tools that align with Expedia’s growth trajectory and project needs, providing transparency and control over cloud expenditures.

• Collaborate with finance, product and engineering teams to embed cost-aware culture, articulating the financial impact of architectural decisions and identifying cost-saving opportunities at an infrastructure level.

• Reporting to business, product, engineering owners the monthly cloud computing services consumption costs that will be used for show-back/charge back to the respective line of business/cost centers.

• Identify cost optimization opportunities and partner with cloud architects and application leads to resolve/solution and implement.

• Keep abreast of the latest cloud technologies and pricing structures on AWS and GCP, translating complex billing information into actionable insights for continuous financial optimization.

• Serve as the in-house advisor on cloud cost management, engaging with stakeholders to tailor cloud usage that meets business objectives while maximizing cost-effectiveness.

• Develop business reviews and presentation materials senior management team regarding spend, growth, progress, and roadblocks on Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) topics.

• Development Cost Allocation Models for Shared Services along with the development Cloud Compute cost forecasts for business application owners to support the annual budgeting process

​Key Competencies:

• Cloud/Hybrid Technical Expertise - Deep understanding of cloud architecture, services, and pricing models.

• Strategic Thinking: Ability to align cloud cost strategies with broader business objectives.

• Financial Acumen: Strong background in finance, with a focus on cost optimization, forecasting, and budgeting in cloud environments. Solid understanding of relevant GAAP and understanding of the relationship between different financial statements (Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow).

• Influence- Experience influencing senior leaders, finance teams and technology contributors, adept at articulating complex problems to all levels.

• Leadership: Ability to lead and inspire teams to drive change and efficiency across the organization.

Experience and Qualifications:

• Master’s or bachelor’s degree in computer science or engineering related field; or equivalent related professional experience

• Strong financial/cloud management experience

• Background in Technology Engineering and deep understanding of Cloud computing technologies (AWS/OCI/Azure) and can anticipate workload transition challenges

• Experience building and developing applications alongside financial modeling and analysis of large-scale IT infrastructure, application and/or service investments

• Has a deep understanding of cloud services, pricing models, cloud bills and 2+ years of experience with AWS cost management tools.

• 5+ years of experience in using analytical tools and languages such as SQL, Python, AWS cost explorer

• Report Generation/Automation skills and insight is a plus

• Comfortable working in cross-functional and multidisciplinary teams

• Ability to work independently and as part of a team

• Ability to multitask and prioritize deadlines

• Experience in building and operating financial control and analysis systems (cloud cost analysis, show-back, and chargeback)

• Ability to report on financial data

• Experience understanding how cloud resources are tagged

• Experience using tools to perform billbacks and show-backs

• Experience providing suggestions about cost optimizations

• Experience reporting to individual application owners or IT on cost savings

The total cash range for this position in Austin is $221,000 to $309,500. Employees in this role have the potential to increase their pay up to $353,000 which is the top of the range, based on ongoing, demonstrated, and sustained performance in the role.

The total cash range for this position in Chicago is $202,500 to $283,500. Employees in this role have the potential to increase their pay up to $324,000, which is the top of the range, based on ongoing, demonstrated, and sustained performance in the role.

Starting pay for this role will vary based on multiple factors, including location, available budget, and an individual’s knowledge, skills, and experience. Pay ranges may be modified in the future.

Accommodation requests

If you need assistance with any part of the application or recruiting process due to a disability, or other physical or mental health conditions, please reach out to our Recruiting Accommodations Team through the Accommodation Request .

We are proud to be named as a Best Place to Work on Glassdoor in 2024 and be recognized for award-winning culture by organizations like Forbes, TIME, Disability:IN, and others.

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