Victoria Levy of Alteryx on Why FinOps Needs to Think Like Security
FinOps isn’t just about saving money — it’s about managing financial risk.
In this episode of FinOps in Action, I’m joined by Victoria Levy, FinOps Engineering Lead at Alteryx, to explore how FinOps teams can learn from security, prioritize cost optimization alongside engineering, and get serious about forecasting cloud and SaaS spend.
Victoria shares her journey from physics to FinOps, lessons learned working with engineering and product teams, and why organizations should stop calling it "cost optimization" and start treating it like a "risk to the budget."
You’ll hear:
How to build a culture of accountability for cloud cost optimization
What security teams do better than FinOps—and how to apply it
How FinOps can approach SaaS spend like Snowflake and Datadog
Real-world FinOps for AI: what tracking and optimization looks like today
The role of anomaly detection, cost spikes, and "major incident" policies
If you're a FinOps practitioner, cloud engineer, or cost-conscious leader—this one’s for you!
Quote of the Show:
“ Security has done a great job of making sure that they are a priority, even though they might not be the purpose of the business, and that's something that FinOps can learn from.” - Victoria Levy
Links:
Website: https://www.alteryx.com/
In this episode of FinOps in Action, Victoria Levy, FinOps Engineering Lead at Alteryx, shares how her team drives accountability, improves forecasting, and aligns with engineering to manage cloud and SaaS spend. Drawing lessons from security practices, she explains why cost optimization should be treated as a risk to the budget—not an afterthought. From anomaly detection to real-world FinOps for AI, this conversation offers tactical insights for anyone serious about cloud efficiency.