Director, Technology Finance

Senior Technology Finance Manager

Join Axon and be a force for good. At Axon, we're on a mission to protect life. We're explorers, pursuing society's most critical safety and justice issues with our ecosystem of devices and cloud software. Like our products, we work better together. We connect with candor and care, seeking out diverse perspectives from our customers, communities and each other. Life at Axon is fast-paced, challenging and meaningful. Here, you'll take ownership and drive real change. Constantly grow as you work hard for a mission that matters at a company where you matter.

This role is a rare combination: a finance leader who speaks the language of cloud infrastructure. Sitting at the intersection of Finance and Engineering, this role transforms complex cloud consumption data into strategic financial insight and translates budget constraints into actionable guidance for engineering and architecture teams. This is not a back-office finance role. You will be the primary liaison between FP&A, accounting, procurement, and the cloud engineering teams running AWS and Azure workloads. You will own cloud financial governance end-to-end: from annual budgets and monthly forecasts to optimization roadmaps and executive reporting.

What You'll Do

Location: On site 4x a week (TuesdayFriday)

Reports to: VP of Finance

Direct Reports: N/A (Individual Contributor + Cross-functional Leadership)

Financial Planning & Forecasting

• Develop cloud spend forecasts and annual budgets, owning variance analysis end-to-end.
• Build financial models for cloud migration initiatives and evaluate ROI of infrastructure investments.
• Owns accrual processes and ensure cloud costs, licensing, and variable credits are accurately reflected in period-close reporting.
• Regular reforecasting of cloud consumption, monitor cloud spend trends, and proactively flag risks or opportunities to leadership.
• Embed with engineering teams to understand cloud consumption drivers, workload patterns, and architectural decisions.
• Translate technical cloud usage metrics into plain-language financial impacts for non-technical stakeholders.
• Establish cost targets with engineering leadership and track progress against them.

Cost Governance & Optimization

• Establish and maintain cloud cost governance processes, policies, and accountability frameworks.
• Identify, prioritize, and drive cost optimization opportunities across business units.
• Manage cloud optimization initiatives and track savings targets through to realization.
• Support and evolve chargeback and showback programs to drive spending accountability.
• Develop and maintain cloud cost allocation and chargeback methodologies.

Reporting, Visibility & Stakeholder Management

• Develop dashboards and KPIs that give finance and engineering real-time cloud cost visibility.
• Lead monthly cloud financial reviews with cross-functional stakeholders.
• Present cloud financial performance and optimization results to executive leadership.
• Support business cases for technology investments, ensuring financial rigor in capital decisions.
• Create and maintain cloud financial reporting across all major cloud platforms.

Procurement & Vendor Management

• Collaborate with procurement on cloud vendor negotiations, including enterprise discount programs and committed use agreements.
• Build and own forecasting models used in licensing agreement negotiations.
• Maintain knowledge of evolving pricing structures across AWS and Azure to maximize discount utilization.

Third-Party Software & AI Tool Governance

• Own financial planning and forecasting for all third-party software spend, including SaaS subscriptions, developer tools, and AI productivity tools such as Claude, Cursor, and GitHub Copilot.
• Build and maintain a comprehensive software license inventory, tracking seat utilization, renewal timelines, and cost-per-user metrics across all business units.
• Partner with IT, Security, and Procurement to establish financial evaluation frameworks for new AI tool requests, including ROI thresholds, consumption-based cost modeling, and ongoing value assessment.
• Develop and apply chargeback and showback methodologies for third-party software costs, extending cloud cost governance principles to the full software portfolio.
• Monitor AI tool adoption and usage patterns to assess value realization and identify license tier optimization or consolidation opportunities.
• Track and communicate the financial impact of vendor pricing model changes, including shifts to consumption-based billing common in AI and developer tooling markets.

SRE & Platform Engineering Finance

• Partner with SRE and platform engineering leadership on annual headcount planning, including scenario modeling for hiring, backfill, and workforce mix decisions.
• Own operating expense tracking and forecasting for SRE and platform teams, ensuring accuracy in period-close submissions and rolling forecasts.
• Develop cost-per-engineer and unit cost metrics to support capacity planning, organizational efficiency analysis, and team-level budget accountability.
• Support build-vs-buy and make-vs-outsource analyses for platform infrastructure and tooling investments, providing financial rigor to architectural decision-making.
• Collaborate with HR and Finance on compensation modeling and total cost of workforce analysis for SRE and platform engineering functions.

What You Bring

Required

• 10+ years of experience in FP&A with at least 3 years in technology finance roles.
• Demonstrated experience working directly with engineering or cloud operations organizations.
• Hands-on familiarity with at least one major cloud platform (AWS, Azure, or GCP) including billing models, cost allocation, and pricing structures.
• Strong financial modeling skills; ability to build and maintain complex Excel models independently.
• Experience with BI and reporting tools such as Power BI, Tableau, Looker, or equivalent.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the ability to communicate financial concepts to technical audiences and vice versa.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional initiatives without direct authority.

Preferred

• Experience with dedicated cloud cost management tools (e.g. AWS Cost Explorer, Azure Cost Management).
• Familiarity with FinOps Foundation principles and frameworks.
• Knowledge of cloud reserved instance and savings plan strategies, committed use discounts, and spot/preemptible pricing.
• Experience designing or administering chargeback and showback programs at scale.
• Background in or exposure to cloud infrastructure architecture concepts.

Benefits that Benefit You

• Competitive salary and 401k with employer match
• Discretionary paid time off
• Paid parental leave for all
• Medical, Dental, Vision plans
• Fitness Programs
• Emotional & Mental Wellness support
• Learning & Development programs
• Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)
• And yes, we have snacks in our offices

Base Pay Range

$141,225 - $225,960 USD

Don't meet every single requirement? That's ok. At Axon, we Aim Far. We think big with a long-term view because we want to reinvent the world to be a safer, better place. We are also committed to building diverse teams that reflect the communities we serve.

Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they check every box in the job description. If you're excited about this role and our mission to Protect Life but your experience doesn't align perfectly with every qualification listed here, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.