FinOps Architect (68021) in London

Our Company
We’re Hitachi Digital Services, a global digital solutions and transformation business with a bold vision of our world’s potential. We’re people-centric and here to power good. Every day, we future-proof urban spaces, conserve natural resources, protect rainforests, and save lives. This is a world where innovation, technology, and deep expertise come together to take our company and customers from what’s now to what’s next. We make it happen through the power of acceleration.

Imagine the sheer breadth of talent it takes to bring a better tomorrow closer to today. We don’t expect you to ‘fit’ every requirement – your life experience, character, perspective, and passion for achieving great things in the world are equally as important to us.

Mandatory Skills:

• Certified from FinOps.org
• FinOps for DC knowledge
• DCIM
• CMDB / asset DB
• Hypervisor metrics
• Power monitoring
• Contracts & licenses management

Role Description Skills:

ROLE PURPOSE
Own the end-to-end FinOps strategy and architecture for the organisation’s on-premises estate, following the FinOps Foundation (FinOps.org) framework across the Inform, Optimise, and Operate lifecycle phases. Define the cost visibility strategy, establish the data model and governance framework, lead maturity assessments, and architect the reporting and dashboard ecosystem. Serve as the primary FinOps authority, engaging all FinOps personas — from executives and finance through engineering and operations — to build a culture of cost accountability and data-driven infrastructure economics. This role bridges the gap between financial management and engineering, translating on-premises infrastructure complexity into clear cost models, unit economics, and actionable savings roadmaps.

FINOPS SCOPE OF WORK
This role directly contributes to the following FinOps programme workstreams, aligned to FinOps.org’s Inform, Optimise, and Operate lifecycle:

• Cost Visibility — Gain full visibility of on-premises infrastructure, licensing, and operational costs by establishing comprehensive data collection and integration from identified sources
• Data Source Identification & Setup — Identify, agree upon, and integrate all relevant cost data sources including CMDB, asset management, licensing portals, procurement systems, and infrastructure monitoring tools
• FinOps Maturity Baselining — Assess current FinOps maturity against the FinOps.org maturity model (Crawl → Walk → Run), identifying gaps and opportunities across tagging, savings, and cost governance
• Tagging & Allocation Gaps — Identify and remediate gaps in cost allocation, tagging, and labelling across on-premises assets to enable accurate chargeback, showback, and cost attribution
• Savings Identification — Discover potential savings opportunities through licence optimisation, hardware rightsizing, capacity rebalancing, decommissioning, and vendor renegotiation
• Cost Governance Gaps — Assess and strengthen cost governance processes including approval workflows, budget controls, anomaly detection, and policy enforcement
• Data Normalisation — Normalise cost data from disparate sources into a unified cost model, enabling consistent reporting across business units, environments, and service categories
• Usage, Pattern & Licence Analysis — Analyse infrastructure utilisation patterns, workload distribution, peak/off-peak trends, and software licence usage to identify waste and optimisation opportunities
• Cost Modelling & Economics — Define unit economics, cost-per-service models, TCO calculations, and amortisation schedules for on-premises infrastructure to enable informed decision-making
• Implementation Roadmap — Develop a prioritised roadmap of quick-wins (0–3 months), mid-term initiatives (3–6 months), and long-term transformations (6–12 months) based on value and feasibility
• Reporting & Dashboards — Design and recommend live/near-real-time cost dashboards with drill-down capabilities, trend analysis, anomaly alerts, and executive reporting views

FINOPS PERSONA COLLABORATION
As defined by FinOps.org, this role works with all key FinOps personas:

• Executives (CTO, CFO, CIO) — Present cost visibility dashboards, business cases for optimisation, and FinOps maturity roadmaps to drive strategic investment decisions
• Finance / Procurement — Collaborate on cost allocation models, chargeback/showback mechanisms, budgeting, forecasting, and vendor contract analysis for on-premises licensing
• Engineering / DevOps Teams — Partner on tagging strategies, resource utilisation analysis, rightsizing recommendations, and embedding cost-awareness into engineering culture
• Product Owners / Business Units — Provide unit economics and cost-per-service metrics to inform product decisions, capacity planning, and build-vs-buy analysis
• IT Operations / Infrastructure — Work on data source integration, asset management, capacity utilisation, and hardware lifecycle cost modelling
• Architecture & Governance — Align FinOps governance policies, cost guardrails, and architectural decisions with total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis
• Security & Compliance — Ensure cost data handling meets compliance requirements and that FinOps tooling adheres to organisational security policies

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Define and own the on-premises FinOps strategy, architecture, and maturity roadmap aligned to the FinOps.org Inform → Optimise → Operate lifecycle
• Lead the FinOps maturity assessment (Crawl/Walk/Run) across tagging, savings identification, and cost governance — produce a baseline scorecard with prioritised improvement actions
• Architect the cost data model: identify and integrate all data sources (CMDB, asset management, procurement, licensing, monitoring), define normalisation rules, and establish the single source of truth for on-premises cost data
• Design cost allocation frameworks: define chargeback/showback models, tagging taxonomies, and cost attribution rules that enable accurate cost-per-business-unit, cost-per-service, and cost-per-environment reporting
• Develop unit economics and cost modelling: build TCO models, amortisation schedules, build-vs-buy comparisons, and cost-per-transaction metrics for on-premises infrastructure
• Lead savings discovery workshops across all FinOps personas: licence optimisation (true-ups, shelfware, harvesting), hardware rightsizing, capacity rebalancing, and decommissioning opportunities
• Architect the FinOps reporting and dashboard ecosystem: define requirements for live/near-real-time dashboards with executive views, drill-down capabilities, trend analysis, anomaly detection, and budget variance alerts
• Establish FinOps governance framework: cost approval policies, budget guardrails, anomaly response procedures, and regular cost review cadences with all persona groups
• Create the prioritised FinOps implementation roadmap: quick-wins (0–3 months), mid-term initiatives (3–6 months), and long-term transformation (6–12 months) based on value, feasibility, and stakeholder alignment
• Mentor and lead the FinOps engineering team (1 onshore + 1 offshore), establish engineering standards, and drive a culture of cost transparency and accountability across the organisation
• Present FinOps insights, savings opportunities, and governance reports to executive stakeholders (CTO, CFO, CIO) and lead regular FinOps review forums
• Stay current with FinOps.org framework evolution, contribute to the FinOps community of practice, and continuously refine methodologies for on-premises environments

TECHNICAL SKILLS & EXPERTISE

• Deep expertise in on-premises infrastructure economics: server, storage, network, licensing (Microsoft EA, Oracle, VMware, Red Hat), data centre costs (power, cooling, space), and depreciation/amortisation models
• Strong understanding of the FinOps.org framework: Inform, Optimise, Operate lifecycle; FinOps Domains (Cost Allocation, Anomaly Management, Rate Optimisation, Usage Optimisation, etc.); FinOps maturity model (Crawl/Walk/Run)
• Experience with cost data integration from: CMDB (ServiceNow), asset management tools, procurement platforms, licence management tools (Snow, Flexera), and infrastructure monitoring (Datadog, Dynatrace, SolarWinds)
• Data modelling and analytics: SQL, Python/Pandas for cost data analysis; experience building normalisation pipelines and cost allocation engines
• Dashboard and reporting tools: Power BI, Tableau, Grafana, or custom BI solutions for real-time cost visibility and executive dashboards
• Understanding of ITIL asset and configuration management, hardware lifecycle management, and capacity planning methodologies
• Familiarity with FinOps tooling: Apptio, CloudHealth/VMware Aria, Flexera One, ServiceNow ITOM/ITFM, or custom-built cost management platforms
• Knowledge of hybrid/multi-cloud cost management to bridge on-premises FinOps with cloud FinOps practices where applicable

SOFT SKILLS & COMPETENCIES

• Exceptional stakeholder management — able to influence executives, finance, engineering, and operations teams with equal credibility
• Strategic thinker who translates complex cost data into clear business narratives and actionable recommendations
• Strong leadership and mentoring ability — coaches and develops FinOps engineers and builds a cost-aware engineering culture
• Excellent presentation and communication skills — comfortable presenting to C-level audiences and leading governance forums
• Commercial acumen — understands P&L, depreciation, amortisation, OpEx/CapEx distinctions, and vendor contract structures
• Data-driven decision maker with strong analytical rigour and attention to detail

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

• 10+ years in IT infrastructure, finance operations, or cost management with 5+ years focused on FinOps, ITFM, or TBM
• Proven track record of delivering measurable cost savings (15%+) through infrastructure optimisation and licence management in on-premises environments
• FinOps Certified Practitioner (FinOps.org) — required or willingness to certify within 3 months
• Experience leading FinOps maturity assessments and building FinOps practices from the ground up
• Strong background in enterprise licensing (Microsoft, Oracle, VMware, SAP) including true-up processes, compliance, and optimisation
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Finance, Engineering, or related field; MBA or finance qualification desirable

DESIRABLE / NICE TO HAVE

• FinOps Certified Professional or FinOps Certified Service Provider (FinOps.org)
• ITIL 4 certification or TBM (Technology Business Management) Council certification
• Experience with Apptio, ServiceNow ITFM, or Flexera for on-premises cost management
• Background in data centre operations, power/cooling economics, or facilities cost modelling
• Experience extending FinOps practices from cloud to on-premises (hybrid FinOps)

About us
We’re a global, team of innovators. Together, we harness engineering excellence and passion to co-create meaningful solutions to complex challenges. We turn organizations into data-driven leaders that can make a positive impact on their industries and society. If you believe that innovation can bring a better tomorrow closer to today, this is the place for you.

Fostering innovation through diverse perspectives
Hitachi is a global company operating across a wide range of industries and regions. One of the things that sets Hitachi apart is the diversity of our business and people, which drives our innovation and growth.

We are committed to building an inclusive culture based on mutual respect and merit-based systems. We believe that when people feel valued, heard, and safe to express themselves, they do their best work.

How we look after you
We help take care of your today and tomorrow with industry-leading benefits, support, and services that look after your holistic health and wellbeing. We’re also champions of life balance and offer flexible arrangements that work for you (role and location dependent). We’re always looking for new ways of working that bring out our best, which leads to unexpected ideas. So here, you’ll experience a sense of belonging, and discover autonomy, freedom, and ownership as you work alongside talented people you enjoy sharing knowledge with.

We’re proud to say we’re an equal opportunity employer and welcome all applicants for employment without attention to race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran, age, disability status or any other protected characteristic. Should you need reasonable accommodations during the recruitment process, please let us know so that we can do our best to set you up for success.