Lead Enterprise AI FinOps
Qualcomm
Lead Enterprise AI FinOps
Qualcomm
Designs mobile chips and licenses wireless patents
General Summary:
The Enterprise AI FinOps Lead establishes and operates the financial governance discipline for company-wide AI usage. This roleownscost visibility, show-back, optimization, budgeting, forecasting, and stakeholder engagement across a multi-cloud (Azure, AWS, GCP), SaaS, andon-premiseAI 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.
This role requires full-time onsite work in San Diego, CA (5 days per week).
**This role is not eligible for Qualcomm immigration sponsorship.**
Key Responsibilities
1. Build & Operate the AI FinOps Function
Establish theAI-FinOpsoperating model: visibility, cost accountability, show-back, optimization cadences, and leadership reporting.
Define processes, metrics, and governance mechanisms that manage costs while enabling adoption.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
Required Qualifications
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 anddevelop operating models and business processesfrom the ground up.
Preferred Qualifications
Familiarity with tokens, embeddings, RAG, agents, context windows, model routing, prompt optimization, and inference workloads.
Multi-cloud cost management experience.
On-premiseinfrastructure 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.
Ideal Candidate Profile
A practical operator who sits at the intersection of AI platforms, finance, data, and enterprise leadership—equally comfortable analyzing raw usage data and presenting cost trends to senior executives. Treats FinOps not as cost-cutting, but as enabling responsible AI adoption with visibility, accountability, and efficiency.
Minimum Qualifications:
• 7+ years of IT-related work experience with a Bachelor's degree.Qualcomm is an equal opportunity employer. If you are an individual with a disability and need an accommodation during the application/hiring process, rest assured that Qualcomm is committed to providing an accessible process. You may e-mail [email protected] or call Qualcomm's toll-free number found here. Upon request, Qualcomm will provide reasonable accommodations to support individuals with disabilities to be able participate in the hiring process. Qualcomm is also committed to making our workplace accessible for individuals with disabilities. (Keep in mind that this email address is used to provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities. We will not respond here to requests for updates on applications or resume inquiries).
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EEO Employer: Qualcomm is an equal opportunity employer; all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, Veteran status, or any other protected classification.
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Pay range and Other Compensation & Benefits:
$161,700.00 - $242,500.00The above pay scale reflects the broad, minimum to maximum, pay scale for this job code for the location for which it has been posted. Even more importantly, please note that salary is only one component of total compensation at Qualcomm. We also offer a competitive annual discretionary bonus program and opportunity for annual RSU grants (employees on sales-incentive plans are not eligible for our annual bonus). In addition, our highly competitive benefits package is designed to support your success at work, at home, and at play. Your recruiter will be happy to discuss all that Qualcomm has to offer – and you can review more details about our US benefits at this link.
If you would like more information about this role, please contact Qualcomm Careers.
Qualcomm designs the Snapdragon processors and modems inside many Android phones, and it licenses its wireless patents to device makers around the world. It helped commercialize CDMA, the cellular technology behind 3G networks, and its patents cover core parts of the 4G and 5G standards that phones use to connect. The company does not run its own chip factories; contract foundries make its chips, which it sells to makers of phones, PCs, cars, and connected devices. Device makers also pay Qualcomm royalties for using its patented technology, which forms a second business alongside chip sales. Qualcomm was founded in 1985 and is based in San Diego, California.
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