Elías Molina

Elías Molina, Ph.D.

Cloud Operations & FinOps Manager

Iberdrola | AWS & Azure

I lead Cloud Operations and FinOps at Iberdrola. My work spans AWS and Azure reliability, cloud governance, and helping engineering and finance teams use cloud cost data to make decisions.

Location

Bilbao, Spain


Current Focus Areas

CloudOps & AI-Enabled Operations

Reliable platforms and practical automation

Governance, observability and automation, with AI-assisted analysis and documentation woven into day-to-day operations.

Related skills:
Observability
AI Operations

FinOps Practice

Cost allocation, forecasting and optimization

Making cloud spend understandable by team and workload, and turning usage and cost data into decisions shared by engineering, finance and business.

Related skills:
Data Warehouse & Analytics
Business Intelligence

Skills

Cloud Platforms & Tooling

AWS
Azure
Terraform
GitHub Actions
Linux
Docker, Git, Ansible

Data & FinOps Tooling

FOCUS
Databricks
Oracle Cloud
Data Warehouse & Analytics
Business Intelligence
MySQL, PostgreSQL & Redis

Engineering Foundation

Industrial IoT
Networking
Cybersecurity
Python
C/C++
JavaScript

Languages

English (C1)
Spanish (native)

Work

Iberdrola

January 2021 - Current
Bilbao area, Spain

Cloud Operations & FinOps Manager

July 2025 - Current

Following my promotion, I lead Cloud Operations and FinOps, connecting reliable cloud operations with financial accountability and practical governance.

  • Drive Cloud Operations practices for AWS and Azure environments, with emphasis on reliability, visibility, governance, and continuous improvement.
  • Promote FinOps practices that make cloud consumption understandable, accountable, and aligned with business priorities.
  • Use AI-enabled workflows to speed up operational analysis, documentation, support, reporting, and optimization decisions.

Cloud Operations Engineer

January 2021 - June 2025

Operated enterprise cloud environments, with a focus on AWS, platform reliability and operational visibility.

  • Operated and supported cloud environments with a focus on reliability, maintainability, and operational visibility.
  • Strengthened the bridge between infrastructure, operations, automation, and governance.

R&D Engineer

August 2017 - January 2021
Location

Zamudio, Spain

Focus

Industrial IoT, DevOps, platform engineering

As part of the OWASYS R&D team, I worked on Industrial IoT solutions across embedded software, platform engineering, and operational practices.

  • Designed and deployed a device management platform as a full-stack developer.
  • Developed embedded software in C/C++ for industrial IoT devices.
  • Helped design new firmware architectures and reusable libraries.
  • Implemented DevOps practices to improve delivery, reliability, and operations.
Related skills:
Industrial IoT
Linux
Docker, Git, Ansible
C/C++
Networking

R&D Engineer

September 2016 - July 2017
Location

Biscay, Spain

Focus

Industry 4.0, R&D, Cybersecurity

I participated as a researcher in European industrial R&D projects focused on Industry 4.0 and cybersecurity.

  • Participated in AUTOWARE, a H2020 project focused on wireless autonomous, reliable, and resilient production operation architectures for cognitive manufacturing.
  • Contributed to ODSI, a Celtic-Plus project focused on on-demand secure isolation.
  • Connected technical research with practical industrial requirements and project delivery.
Related skills:
Industrial IoT
Cybersecurity
Networking

Ph.D. Student

December 2012 - August 2016
Location

Biscay, Spain

Lab

I2T Research Lab

Focus

Software-Defined Networking, Smart Grids

At the I2T Research Lab, I studied connections between industrial environments, especially Smart Grids, and Software-Defined Networking approaches for highly available and resilient networks.

  • Researched resilient networking architectures for industrial environments.
  • Authored several research papers related to Software-Defined Networking and industrial communications.
  • Built technical depth across networking, systems, and applied research.
Related skills:
Networking
Linux
Python

Research Grant

October 2011 - October 2012
Area

eHealth - Health Technologies

Focus

Hybrid and interactive TV for people with special needs

Worked in eHealth and health technologies, applying hybrid and interactive television to services for people with special needs.

Related skills:
Java
MySQL, PostgreSQL & Redis

Training and Specialization Grant

October 2010 - October 2011
Area

Health Technologies

Focus

Accessible applications for interactive TV

Developed accessible applications for interactive television in the health technologies area.

Related skills:

Training Grant

July 2009 - August 2009
Location

Seville, Spain

Focus

Telematics testing

Analyzed the Eurofighter Typhoon C-16 communication buses during a training grant at Morón Air Base.

Related skills:
Networking

Education

Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Telecommunications Engineering

January 2013 - January 2017
Thesis

A study of the applicability of Software-Defined Networking in industrial networks

Doctoral research focused on the applicability of Software-Defined Networking in industrial networks.

Related skills:
Networking

MSc in Information and Communication Technologies in Mobile Networks

January 2011 - January 2012
Programme

Inter-university MSc: Cantabria, A Coruña, Oviedo, Basque Country and Zaragoza

Honors

Top of the class, 9.01/10.00

Master’s degree in information and communication technologies with a focus on mobile networks and telecommunications.

Related skills:
Networking
Wireless Communications

Telecommunication Engineering

January 2005 - January 2010
Area

Computer Systems Networking and Telecommunications

Engineering degree focused on computer systems networking and telecommunications.

Related skills:
Networking
Wireless Communications

Achievements

Spanish National Cybersecurity Institute (INCIBE)
March 2018

Training focused on cybersecurity for control systems and industrial automation environments.

Related skills:
Cybersecurity

Course focused on cloud service development using HTML5, JavaScript, and Node.js.

Related skills:

College of Computing at Georgia Tech
May 2013

Course focused on Software-Defined Networking principles and architectures.

Related skills:
Networking

Graduated at the top of the class of 2012 - Honors Scholar (9.01/10.00)
MSc ICTs and Mobile Networks
May 2012

Academic honor from the MSc ICTs and Mobile Networks programme.

Related skills:
Networking

Honorable Mention at Zitek Business Idea Competition
Emprendedores Zitek
May 2013

Honorable mention in a business idea competition.


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