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Position Summary
The Cloud Operations Lead owns end-to-end operational execution for Strategic Communications’ cloud reseller and managed customer lifecycle, with primary emphasis on AWS public sector customers, partner programs, and multi-cloud operations. This individual serves as the customer-facing operating lead for onboarding, payer and account transfers, provisioning, billing transitions, program funding, credits, reporting, renewals, escalations, and offboarding.
This role converts commercial, contractual, security, billing, and technical requirements into coordinated actions across customers, Sales, Customer Success, Project Management, Engineering, Accounting, and cloud partners. The successful candidate can confidently explain how a transition will occur, identify required access and controls, assign clear ownership, maintain an auditable record, and drive work through completion.
Key Responsibilities
Customer Lifecycle and Transition Leadership
- Own the operational lifecycle for cloud reseller and managed customers from contract handoff through onboarding, steady-state operations, renewal, account transfer, and offboarding.
- Lead customer-facing kickoff and transition meetings, explain the process in business and technical terms, establish roles and timelines, and maintain confidence throughout execution.
- Plan and coordinate AWS payer and linked-account transfers, partner-of-record changes, account ownership changes, reseller transitions, access alignment, reporting continuity, and final acceptance.
- Translate security, least-privilege access, billing, data, and operational requirements into an actionable transition plan in partnership with Engineering and Security stakeholders.
- Serve as the named operational owner and escalation point for customer-impacting cloud operations issues, ensuring no request or transition stalls between departments.
- Coordinate Customer Success and Project Management involvement while retaining accountability for the cloud-specific operational workstream and customer outcome.
AWS Partner Program, Funding, and Marketplace Operations
- Operationalize approved AWS partner programs, incentives, discounts, credits, private offers, and funding mechanisms, including Migration Acceleration Program activities where applicable.
- Work closely with alliance and partner-program owners to convert approvals and claims into accurate console actions, account-level application, customer billing treatment, and documented evidence.
- Validate how credits, discounts, software commitments, and reseller benefits are applied across customer accounts and invoices, escalating discrepancies before customer or audit impact occurs.
- Coordinate procurement and provisioning of AWS and partner licenses, subscriptions, Marketplace products, and related entitlements, with clear ownership from award through customer availability.
- Maintain an auditable record of program actions, approvals, account changes, funding use, customer communications, and reconciliation status.
- Monitor changes in AWS partner operations, billing requirements, and reseller processes, then update internal procedures and stakeholder guidance.
Cloud Billing, FinOps, and Platform Operations
- Oversee operational use of CloudCheckr or successor FinOps and cloud management platforms for account inventory, billing, reporting, optimization, and customer visibility.
- Maintain working knowledge of AWS Organizations, payer and linked-account structures, Cost and Usage Reports, billing exports, permissions, account ownership, and account transfer procedures.
- Lead investigation and correction of billing, reporting, allocation, and categorization issues across cloud usage, Marketplace, professional services, discounts, credits, and customer invoices.
- Reconcile data across cloud consoles, FinOps platforms, ticketing systems, contracts, distributor reports, and internal financial systems to preserve reporting accuracy and auditability.
- Support customer FinOps discussions involving pricing, usage, commitments, savings opportunities, credit strategy, and operational implications, coordinating specialist support as needed.
- Lead operational readiness for transitions between cloud management, billing, and reporting platforms, including data validation, automation testing, report continuity, and stakeholder adoption.
Process Governance and Operational Leadership
- Design, maintain, and enforce standard operating procedures, responsibility matrices, checklists, escalation paths, and control points for recurring cloud operations processes.
- Create a consistent intake and handoff model for new cloud customers, account transfers, partner-program actions, billing changes, license orders, and operational escalations.
- Establish service expectations, aging thresholds, status reporting, and closure criteria so stakeholders can identify ownership, blockers, customer risk, and next actions at any time.
- Lead cross-training and knowledge transfer to reduce dependency on any single employee for account transfers, billing administration, platform knowledge, or partner-program execution.
- Provide functional leadership, coaching, and escalation support to cloud operations specialists and other contributors, whether or not they report directly to this role.
- Identify recurring failure points, remove unnecessary handoffs, and implement practical automation while preserving financial, security, and audit controls.
- Ensure required time, task, and operational records are maintained in TigerPaw/Rev.IO, Smartsheet, or designated systems of record.
Customer, Partner, and Cross-Functional Coordination
- Serve as a trusted operational liaison among customers, AWS, distributors, cloud technology partners, and Strategic Communications stakeholders.
- Communicate effectively with customer technical, security, procurement, and financial teams, including public sector stakeholders with regulated-environment requirements.
- Partner with Sales and Solution Architecture during late-stage opportunities to validate transition feasibility, operational assumptions, billing structure, and post-award readiness.
- Provide clear executive and operational status reporting, including decisions required, customer impact, financial exposure, security considerations, and recovery plans.
- Support occasional customer and partner travel as business needs require.
Behavioral Competencies
- Customer Executive Presence: Communicates complex operational, financial, security, and technical matters with confidence, precision, and sound judgment.
- Ownership and Follow-Through: Accepts accountability for outcomes, closes gaps between teams, and drives work to verified completion.
- Operational Rigor: Creates order within complex, cross-functional environments and preserves accurate records, controls, and decision history.
- Commercial and Financial Acumen: Understands how cloud account structure, programs, credits, discounts, and usage affect customer invoices and company economics.
- Public Sector Judgment: Recognizes procurement, security, compliance, and reputational considerations common to government customers.
- Structured Problem Solving: Investigates root causes, separates urgent symptoms from systemic failures, and implements durable corrective actions.
- Collaborative Leadership: Influences teams without relying solely on reporting authority and develops productive relationships across internal and partner organizations.
- Initiative and Adaptability: Learns evolving cloud platforms and partner requirements quickly, anticipates risk, and acts without waiting for repeated direction.
Qualifications and Experience
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Operations, Information Systems, Technology, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
- Five or more years of progressively responsible experience in cloud operations, cloud resale, FinOps, customer success, service delivery, or partner operations within an enterprise technology environment.
- Direct experience working for an AWS partner, cloud reseller, distributor, managed service provider, or systems integrator, with practical responsibility for customer account and billing operations.
- Demonstrated experience leading customer onboarding, payer or account transfers, reseller transitions, provisioning, billing changes, and operational escalations.
- Hands-on working knowledge of the AWS Management Console and AWS billing structures, including payer and linked accounts, AWS Organizations, Cost and Usage Reports, permissions, credits, and account ownership processes.
- Experience using CloudCheckr or a comparable FinOps or cloud management platform for billing, reporting, account administration, and customer operations.
- Working knowledge of AWS partner discounts, incentives, credits, Marketplace transactions, private offers, funding programs, and reseller economics.
- Strong customer-facing communication skills, including the ability to lead discussions involving security, access, billing, transition risk, and operational responsibility.
- Proven ability to create and enforce SOPs, responsibility matrices, process controls, performance reporting, and auditable operational records.
- Advanced organizational, prioritization, and issue-management skills in a fast-moving, cross-functional environment.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience supporting AWS public sector customers or government-focused cloud programs.
- Experience with AWS Migration Acceleration Program operations, partner funding claims, account-level credit application, or similar cloud incentive programs.
- Familiarity with AWS Partner Central, ACE, AWS Marketplace, distributor or aggregator workflows, and cloud software licensing operations.
- Working knowledge of Azure or Google Cloud reseller and customer operations.
- Familiarity with FinOps practices, cloud commitments, optimization, and customer business reviews.
- AWS certification, FinOps Certified Practitioner credential, or comparable cloud operations certification.
- Awareness of NIST, FedRAMP, state security requirements, and public sector procurement considerations.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Excel, Smartsheet, TigerPaw/Rev.IO, ticketing platforms, documentation tools, and operational dashboards.
- Experience leading or mentoring operational personnel and building cross-functional service processes.
Physical Requirements:
Work is generally sedentary in nature, but may require standing and walking for up to 20% of the time. The work environment is generally favorable. Lighting and temperature are reasonable. Work is generally performed within an office environment, with standard office equipment available.
Require use of multiple computer monitors and software programs simultaneously, desk phone, mouse and keyboard.
Benefits: Medical Insurance, Dental Insurance, Life Insurance, Vision Insurance, Long-term and Short-term Disability Insurance, 401k Plan, Paid Vacation Days, Paid Sick Days, Paid Holidays
Other Benefits: Dog-friendly corporate office, wellness incentives, referral bonuses
Screening Requirements: Background Check, Drug Testing
