IT Ops Analyst - Cloud

$115,000 - $145,000/Yr

Costco - Issaquah, WA

Full-time - Mid Level

Issaquah, WA

General Merchandise Retailers

About the position

Costco IT is responsible for the technical future of Costco Wholesale, the third largest retailer in the world with wholesale operations in fourteen countries. Despite our size and explosive international expansion, we continue to provide a family, employee-centric atmosphere in which our employees thrive and succeed. As proof, Costco ranks eighth in Forbes “World's Best Employers”. This is an environment unlike anything in the high-tech world and the secret of Costco's success is its culture. The value Costco puts on its employees is well documented in articles from a variety of publishers including Bloomberg and Forbes. Our employees and our members come FIRST. Costco is well known for its generosity and community service and has won many awards for its philanthropy. The company joins with its employees to take an active role in volunteering by sponsoring many opportunities to help others. The IT Ops Analyst - Cloud is responsible for defining technology needs, prioritizing them in the global planning process, analyzing, submitting, and approving new initiatives. This role leads efforts to define and manage technology solutions, project initiatives, business architectures, technology objectives and strategies, and represents these to business areas and IS leadership as needed. The Cloud IT Ops Analyst specifically manages the lifecycle of contractual and financial obligations of the Cloud team for associated vendors and tools. This role works closely with IT business teams to manage and track contractual and financial responsibilities for Cloud vendors, as well as partnering tightly with value streams to assist in education of and forecasting for consumption of cloud platforms leveraged at Costco. The successful candidate will enhance and implement cloud cost management standards and practices, holding accountability for periodic reports detailing resource and cost trends and enabling Costco value streams to deploy effective and cost-efficient cloud solutions. They will be required to partner with senior leadership to provide guidance and support for forecasting and cost management of Cloud spend. This position is ideal for someone who is strategic, analytical, and has the ability to effectively manage multiple layers of financial responsibilities for a Cloud Environment.

Responsibilities

• Develops and drives executable IT programs in support of the company, divisional and team goals, and objectives as they relate to assigned areas.
• Documents and manages risks, issues, assumptions, and constraints impacting delivery efforts.
• Conducts periodic audits for solutions, planning, and delivery functions.
• Contributes effectively in business transformation, change management, and overall governance of solution implementation.
• Consults on industry technology, trends, and capabilities; researching industry standards, best practices, and new innovations in technology and service delivery.
• Oversees, coordinates, and assists in the management of all facets of delivery efforts to ensure milestones and deliverables are met.
• Provides project management, when there is no formal presence, to gather requirements, assemble resources, and meet milestones.
• Identifies and resolves problems, often anticipating issues before they occur or before they grow; develops and evaluates options and implements solutions.
• Oversees cost management of cloud, tools, and platforms in a multi-cloud hybrid environment.
• Manages contractual obligations and vendor expectations for cloud tools and platforms.
• Provides cost management support to value streams at the design and operational phases of implementation.
• Develops and implements cloud financial management strategies focused on maximizing cost efficiency while enabling business objectives.
• Analyzes the performance of budgets, P.O.s, and actuals, and presents areas to focus on for cost savings.
• Supports the development and utilization of dashboards and reporting tools to enable real-time visibility into cloud spend.
• Provides contract knowledge and drives ongoing value from the supplier through contract negotiations, changes, reviews and terminations.
• Oversees measurement of service targets ensuring provisions for accountability of vendors is documented in contracts.
• Manages contractual and fiduciary obligations in the event of an exceeded error budget by Cloud vendors.
• Responsible for annual budget planning, leveraging previous fiscal year spend to estimate upcoming fiscal year forecast.
• Works with Cloud Management on contract requests, revisions, extensions ensuring they align with projected forecasts for each vendor.
• Develops and implements standards, processes, and procedures for new technology solutions, to ensure newer solutions will not negatively impact current service commitments.
• Frequently coordinates with the IT Business teams to ensure timeliness of contract execution and financial payment.
• Validates and ensures financial data and work products are complete and accurate.
• Supports consolidation efforts for all planning activities, inclusive of monthly reporting and forecasting, annual budgeting, and long-range planning.
• Recommends, develops, and enhances modeling, forecasting, and reporting methods to drive informed business decisions.
• Creates executive level dashboards and presentations to represent value stream cloud consumption.
• Manages long and short-term financial planning, reporting on financial metrics including; Ad Hoc financial analysis.
• Constructs clear and effective communications, and communicates financial information with various IT levels.
• Delivers strategic guidance and decision support to team members and leaders.
• Analyzes cloud usage patterns to help guide strategic architecture decisions.
• Presents findings and recommendations to business users with meaningful interpretation and actionable insights.
• Communicates and collaborates with stakeholders to understand their needs, gather feedback, and drive results.
• Ensures timely, clear communication regarding high priority issues with the appropriate stakeholders.

Requirements

• 5 years' experience working in a technology organization/department; and possess a proficient knowledge of broad application development methods and associated processes.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to effectively negotiate with other teams to create a mutually beneficial solution.
• Experience with negotiating and managing supplier contracts.
• Able to collect, organize, analyze, and disseminate information with attention to detail and accuracy.
• The ability to quickly learn new technology, dedication to developing deep knowledge of available data and data tools, while managing multiple efforts is required.
• Ability to conduct monthly meetings with stakeholders to drive increased availability in identified trends.
• Ability to communicate complex financial information to a variety of audiences.
• Capable of using a variety of financial tools for data extraction and queries.
• Ability to manage large datasets.
• Demonstrated experience implementing industry standard cloud consumption financial practices across an IT division.
• Working experience with Cloud Financial data and associated reporting methods and tools.
• Experience with developing and presenting documentation to all levels of the organization.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, interacting across multiple departments and levels within Costco.
• Proven ability to handle diverse projects at once and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment with shifting priorities.
• Resourceful, self-motivated, and accountable team player with a constructive attitude.
• Works independently with minimal supervision and resolves practical problems.
• Experience in mentoring, negotiation, and team-building skills.
• Maintains confidentiality due to working with sensitive company information/data.
• Strong interpersonal skills, communication skills (both oral and written), and presentation skills.
• Extremely responsive with a strong sense of urgency, well organized, self-motivated, and proactive.
• Prioritizes and works multiple projects simultaneously.
• Proficient in business productivity tools (Excel, Google Spreadsheets, databases, etc.)

Nice-to-haves

• 5+ years' experience with enterprise infrastructure and software systems.
• 3+ years' experience deploying enterprise cloud technologies.
• Understanding of application architecture, network technologies, and infrastructure architecture.

Benefits

• Paid time off
• Health benefits - medical/dental/vision/hearing aid/pharmacy/behavioral health/employee assistance
• Health care reimbursement account
• Dependent care assistance plan
• Short-term disability and long-term disability insurance
• AD&D insurance
• Life insurance
• 401(k)
• Stock purchase plan to eligible employees