1

Finops Engineer Jobs in California, MD (NOW HIRING)

Data Engineer

Dahlgren, VA · On-site

$116K - $140K/yr

The role integrates data engineering, FinOps, Zero Trust security, and AI/ML infrastructure responsibilities within a single position. This position is expected to work onsite at JWAC in Dahlgren ...

Data Engineer

Dahlgren, VA · On-site

$116K - $140K/yr

The role integrates data engineering, FinOps, Zero Trust security, and AI/ML infrastructure responsibilities within a single position. This position is expected to work onsite at JWAC in Dahlgren ...

Data Engineer

Dahlgren, VA · On-site

$116K - $140K/yr

The role integrates data engineering, FinOps, Zero Trust security, and AI/ML infrastructure responsibilities within a single position. This position is expected to work onsite at JWAC in Dahlgren ...

New

Finops Engineer information

See California, MD salary details

$37.4K

$97.5K

$131.8K

How much do finops engineer jobs pay per year?

As of Aug 28, 2026, the average yearly pay for finops engineer in California, MD is $97,508.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $80,500.00 and $111,600.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is a FinOps engineer?

FinOps Engineers are professionals who specialize in cloud financial management, helping organizations optimize their cloud spending and improve budgeting, forecasting, and cost allocation. They work closely with engineering, finance, and operations teams to implement best practices for cloud usage and cost control. Their goal is to ensure that cloud investments deliver maximum business value by balancing performance, cost, and innovation.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a FinOps engineer?

To thrive as a FinOps Engineer, you need a solid understanding of cloud computing, financial analysis, and cost optimization, often supported by a background in computer science, finance, or cloud certifications. Familiarity with cloud platforms (such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud), cost management tools, and data analytics systems is essential. Strong problem-solving, cross-functional collaboration, and effective communication skills set top performers apart in this role. These skills are crucial for managing cloud spending efficiently and enabling organizations to maximize value from their cloud investments.

How does a FinOps engineer typically collaborate with engineering and finance teams to optimize cloud spending?

A FinOps Engineer acts as a bridge between engineering and finance teams by translating technical cloud usage data into actionable financial insights. They often participate in regular meetings with both groups to review cloud costs, identify optimization opportunities, and set budgetary controls. This role requires clear communication to ensure that engineering teams can maintain performance while finance teams achieve cost visibility and predictability. FinOps Engineers also help establish and enforce best practices for tagging, resource allocation, and forecasting to support collaborative decision-making.

What is the difference between Finops Engineer vs Cloud Engineer?

AspectFinops EngineerCloud Engineer
CredentialsCertifications in cloud cost management, FinOps Foundation, cloud platformsCertifications in cloud architecture, AWS, Azure, or GCP
Work EnvironmentFinance and operations teams, cloud cost optimization projectsCloud infrastructure setup, deployment, and management
Industry UsageFinance, IT, cloud service providersIT, cloud service providers, enterprise IT teams

Finops Engineers focus on managing and optimizing cloud costs, working closely with finance and operations teams. Cloud Engineers build and maintain cloud infrastructure. While both roles require cloud platform knowledge, Finops Engineers specialize in cost management, making them distinct yet complementary roles in cloud environments.

Is Finops Engineer a good career?

A Finops Engineer is a role focused on managing cloud financial operations, optimizing cloud costs, and implementing financial governance in cloud environments. It is a growing field with demand for skills in cloud platforms, financial analysis, and tools like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud, making it a promising career choice for those interested in cloud technology and finance. The role often requires certifications and strong analytical skills, with opportunities across various industries adopting cloud solutions.

What are popular job titles related to Finops Engineer jobs in California, MD?

For Finops Engineer jobs in California, MD, the most frequently searched job titles are:

What cities near California, MD are hiring for Finops Engineer jobs?

Cities near California, MD with the most Finops Engineer job openings:

Infographic showing various Finops Engineer job openings in California, MD as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 67% Full Time, and 33% Contract. Highlights an 100% In-person job distribution, with an average salary of $97,508 per year, or $46.9 per hour.

Data Engineer

Dahlgren, VA • On-site

Delaware Nation Industries
501 - 1,000 employees

$116K - $140K/yr

Full-time

Posted 4 days ago


Job description

DNI is seeking a highly qualified Data Engineer to support the Joint Warfare Analysis Center (JWAC) under Air Force JWAC IT Services (JITS) Task Order 2. The Data Engineer will design, implement, secure, monitor, and optimize cloud-native data engineering solutions that support data science, artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML), agentic services, hosted models, and large language model (LLM) optimization. The role integrates data engineering, FinOps, Zero Trust security, and AI/ML infrastructure responsibilities within a single position.

This position is expected to work onsite at JWAC in Dahlgren, Virginia, supporting a TS/SCI/SAP environment.

Responsibilities
  • Design, build, troubleshoot, and tune end-to-end cloud-native data engineering solutions using AWS platform and software services.
  • Develop and administer data ingestion, ETL, integration, transformation, validation, publication, and lifecycle-management workflows.
  • Integrate structured and unstructured data from databases, web services, message traffic, data dumps, documents, and other sources.
  • Design data architectures and managed data stores that support analytics, feature engineering, model training, and real-time inference.
  • Develop solutions using AWS services such as AWS Glue, Amazon Athena, Amazon Redshift, Amazon Kinesis, AWS Lake Formation, AWS Glue Data Catalog, Amazon RDS, Amazon Aurora, and Amazon DynamoDB.
  • Create REST APIs and web services to expose data to JWAC-developed applications and analytical systems.
  • Support AI/ML infrastructure, including model hosting, model-ready datasets, agentic workflow orchestration, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and LLM integration and optimization.
  • Develop automation, monitoring, alerting, and self-healing capabilities using AWS-native tools such as Amazon CloudWatch and AWS CloudTrail.
  • Implement data discovery and search capabilities using services such as Amazon OpenSearch Service, AWS Glue Data Catalog, and Amazon Kendra.
  • Apply FinOps practices, including resource tagging, cost allocation, right-sizing, storage tiering, query optimization, budget monitoring, cost-per-workload analysis, and AI/LLM cost tracking.
  • Implement DoD Zero Trust and NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 security controls across data engineering and AI service environments.
  • Configure identity and access management, least-privilege access, encryption at rest and in transit, network segmentation, certificate management, and security monitoring.
  • Support security assessments, compliance documentation, data-flow diagrams, control mappings, and authorization activities.
  • Gather requirements, evaluate data sources, communicate technical recommendations, and document architecture, processes, costs, risks, and implementation decisions.
  • Develop briefings, technical proposals, operating procedures, user documentation, training materials, and knowledge-transfer products.
  • Collaborate with Government stakeholders, data scientists, analysts, cybersecurity personnel, cloud engineers, and other technical teams.

Requirements

  • Bachelor of Science degree in computer science, computer engineering, data engineering, data science, or a related technical discipline.
  • At least three years of full-time experience in computer science, data engineering, or data science, including hands-on software development lifecycle experience.
  • Recent experience designing or implementing data engineering solutions or cloud-native systems on AWS.
  • At least one year of experience with cloud-native data warehouse or analytics platforms, such as Amazon Redshift, Amazon Athena, AWS Glue Data Catalog, or AWS Lake Formation.
  • At least one year of experience supporting data science applications and analytical tools such as Python, Jupyter, Amazon SageMaker Studio, AWS Glue DataBrew, or Amazon QuickSight.
  • Experience preparing data for data scientists, including data preparation, feature engineering, and model-ready dataset construction.
  • At least one year of experience implementing cloud-native data security controls, including IAM, encryption, and network segmentation.
  • Ability to meet DoD 8140.03 requirements for the applicable work roles, including Primary Work Role 422 - Data Architect (Intermediate).
  • Ability to obtain and maintain the required TS/SCI/SAP access.
  • Ability to work onsite in Dahlgren, Virginia, during established core hours and support scheduled maintenance activities as required.
Preferred Qualifications
  • Experience with Amazon Bedrock, Knowledge Bases, RAG architectures, agentic services, or LLM prompt and token optimization.
  • Experience with AWS Security Hub, Amazon GuardDuty, AWS KMS, AWS IAM Identity Center, and AWS Certificate Manager.
  • Experience applying NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 and DoD Zero Trust Architecture principles.
  • Experience with FinOps dashboards and tools such as AWS Cost Explorer, AWS Budgets, and AWS Cost and Usage Reports.
  • Experience with data discovery, federated search, geospatial or non-geospatial search, and knowledge-management solutions.
  • Experience supporting classified or highly regulated Department of Defense environments.
  • AWS certifications, data engineering certifications, or relevant DoD cybersecurity certifications.