Alex CLOSS
Working Remotely From NCR
Summary
Results-driven FinOps Certified Professional with a proven track record of delivering over $1M in estimated savings from commitment-based discounts across multiple clouds. Experienced in rate and usage optimizations and implementing cost-saving strategies, resulting in increased efficiency. Possessing strong analytical skills combined with a deep understanding of cloud technologies, able to identify opportunities for cost reduction and drive business value in the cloud.
Overview
20
20
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
IT Specialist (CS-03) / FinOps Analyst
Canada Revenue Agency
Cloud Centre Of Excellence
10.2021 - Current
- Became CRA’s first FinOps Certified Professional
- Presented CRA’s Invoicing and Chargeback process to the Cloud Cost Management Community of Practice in May 2024
- Co-developed the Cloud Enterprise Commitment Discount Strategy
- Responsible for the purchases of CRA’s commitment discounts, amounting to over $1M in estimated savings since April 2023
- Worked on the options analysis to choose between Power BI and AWS Cloud Intelligence Dashboards as the tool for CRA cost reporting
- Designed, documented, and maintain processes for purchasing commitment based discounts and responding to cost anomalies
- Developed and monitored key performance indicators to track progress toward goals and support data-driven decision making
- Conducted ad-hoc analysis to support business inquiries
IT Project Leader (CS-03)
Canada Revenue Agency
DBID Security Centre Of Expertise (CoE)
03.2020 - 09.2021
- Participated in working group meetings for the 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) project
- Participated in reorganization of content from shared drives to align with Project Gating Framework
- Parental leave: July 2020 – July 2021
IT Project Leader (CS-03)
Canada Revenue Agency
Informatics, Data Services & Technology Management
12.2018 - 02.2020
- Project Manager for Informatics Product Conversion to BI Security Controls
- Duties included: development of the original planning timeline, collaboration on development of costing formula, facilitation of meetings with clients, creation of ICERT, and application to the Application Sustainability Program for funding
- Later duties included applying to the Security Sustainability Program and creating the associated ICERT
- Developed or contributed to the development of governance documents for the project: Project Charter, Communication Plan, Change Management Plan, Issue Management Plan, Terms of Reference, Project Success Criteria, Project Plan and timeline
- Reported on the project on a predetermined regular basis
- Collected information on the Agency Data Clearing House stock take in December 2018 and January 2019
- Revived the Informatics Dashboard and was responsible for keeping it alive and up to date
- Represented Informatics at the SAS Migration Working Group with AADD in SIIB in March 2019
IT Specialist (CS-03)
Canada Revenue Agency
E-Delivery / E-Alerts Project Management Office
09.2015 - 12.2017
- Project Manager for e-Delivery (Electronic Delivery) from September 2015 – December 2017
- Project Manager for e-Alerts (Account Alerts) Project from April 2016 – December 2017
- Duties included: liaising with the business clients and impacted IT development teams to flesh out requirements, business analysis to identify additional/hidden requirements, determining impacted IT areas, collecting and amalgamating cost estimates for project releases, reporting progress to management, and creating and updating Project Gating Assessment documentation for Finance Committee
- Responsible for training and mentoring new and junior employees
- Parental leave: December 2017-December 2018
IT Specialist (CS-03)
Canada Revenue Agency
Benefits EApplications Team, Credit Determination
09.2012 - 08.2015
- Lead Analyst on eDocs (Submit Documents) project, deployed April 2014
- Duties included liaising with the business clients and interfacing teams, as well as the creation of the Systems Use Case documentation;
- Divisional representative at the IRBD Standardization Working Group for Java best practices and conventions;
- Responsible for cost estimates for the MyCRA project, the Tax Data Delivery project, and the WET 4 conversion of several applications (SIMNET, Child and Family Benefits Online (CFBO, sub-app of My Account), and Benefits eDocs);
- Responsible for training and mentoring junior employees;
- Responsible for developing standardized forms for tracking client requests, initial and detailed analysis, and testing of team’s development tasks
IT Project Leader (CS-03)
Canada Revenue Agency
Performance Measurement Centre, BBMD
09.2011 - 09.2012
- Worked on Performance Measurement, collected metrics toward IT Strategy & Plan refresh;
- Worked on e502 analysis (business use cases, system use cases, use case briefs, process metrics, High Level Business requirements document, etc.)
- Presented research on Lean, Six Sigma & Theory of Constraints management to the Assistant Commissioner at BEC;
- Volunteered with BBMD Social Committee and received a recognition award for 'Community Service and Creativity'
IT Specialist (CS-03)
Canada Revenue Agency
Generate Communication (GENCOM) Team, CDD
11.2009 - 09.2011
- Worked on the analysis and development of the Ontario Energy Property Tax Credit / Northern Ontario Energy Credit (OEPTC/NOEC) in cooperation with the functional clients and several other teams in CDD
- Developed the Nova Scotia Affordable Living Tax Credit (NSALTC)
- Worked on the Endevor source code migration and annual conversion activities
- Worked on Incident Reports (IRs)
- Led and participated in peer reviews ranging from simple desk checks to detailed walkthroughs of code and Work Orders
IT Developer/ Analyst (CS-02)
Canada Revenue Agency
DADIS Team, Credit Determination Division
09.2005 - 10.2009
- Senior Developer/Analyst on distributed Java system called the Release Management System (RMS)
- Coordinated release content for all 15 RMS releases from late 2005 to 2009
- Led steering committee meetings for RMS, including release planning and wrap-up meetings
- Responsible for presenting RMS to new areas interested in using the application; Audience ranged from functional clients, to IT Developers, Team Leaders, Managers, and Directors
- Responsible for training new client users of RMS including functional clients and ITB employees from different divisions
- Mentor for all new RMS developers – this included doing peer reviews of all RMS changes, providing feedback, and updating my Team Leader of the progress
- Wrote all RMS documentation available on the application’s wiki pages
- Wrote and performed testing for RMS including regression testing and system integration testing
- DB2 administrator for all databases hosted on the Web Application Development Environment (WADE)
- Created DB2 instances, tablespaces, schemas, tables, et
- For all DADIS distributed applications
- Created replication programs for DADIS distributed applications to allow prod data to be used in UA/ UT environments
- Analyzed and designed the project to add Emergency Change Request (ECR) logging, and approval tracking to RMS
- Suggested and implemented changes and improvements to RMS, including providing detailed analysis and estimates
- Participated in information collection for Gap Analysis by the Quality division, including participating in Application Workgroup meetings held by Quality divisional staff
- Migrated RMS from SQL Server 2000 to DB2 UDB v8
Summer Student
Canada Revenue Agency
Desktop Services: SAMS Team And Heron LAN Team
07.2005 - 09.2005
- Created and edited proposals, procedures and broadcasts, including the End User Renewal user guide, and the Printer Reduction broadcasts
- Created and updated inventory using Remedy Service Desk
- Created a prototype for the DTS Home website using CSS, JavaScript, and HTML
- Assisted in physical inventory verification on all floors of 875 Heron road, head office, and provided support to DTS clients
Education
Diplôme D’Études Collégiales - Computer Science
CEGEP Heritage College
Hull, Quebec01.2004
Skills
- Analytical thinking
- FinOps
- Rate Optimization
- Multi-cloud cost management
- Commitment-based Discounts
- Anomaly Management
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Microsoft Azure
Security Clearance
Enhanced reliability, 2015
Certification
- FinOps Certified Professional, June 2024
- FinOps Certified Practitioner, October 2023
- FinOps - FOCUS Certified Analyst, August 2024
- FinOps Trained Containers, January 2024
Timeline
IT Specialist (CS-03) / FinOps Analyst
Canada Revenue Agency
10.2021 - Current
IT Project Leader (CS-03)
Canada Revenue Agency
03.2020 - 09.2021
IT Project Leader (CS-03)
Canada Revenue Agency
12.2018 - 02.2020
IT Specialist (CS-03)
Canada Revenue Agency
09.2015 - 12.2017
IT Specialist (CS-03)
Canada Revenue Agency
09.2012 - 08.2015
IT Project Leader (CS-03)
Canada Revenue Agency
09.2011 - 09.2012
IT Specialist (CS-03)
Canada Revenue Agency
11.2009 - 09.2011
IT Developer/ Analyst (CS-02)
Canada Revenue Agency
09.2005 - 10.2009
Summer Student
Canada Revenue Agency
07.2005 - 09.2005
Diplôme D’Études Collégiales - Computer Science
CEGEP Heritage College