Associate Financial Modeller – Octopus Australia

This is an opportunity to join the Octopus Australia team in our Melbourne office. The successful applicant will be able to join the Octopus Australia team on their mission to accelerate Australia's transition to a future powered by renewable energy.

We’re looking for an Associate Financial Modeller to work within the Business Intelligence unit of the Strategic Finance team at Octopus Australia. The core responsibility of this role is to develop insights into the fund management, investment, asset management and development businesses of Octopus Australia, whilst operating maintaining and further developing the suite of models that underpins these businesses.

This role will be focused on financial modelling but will have touch points throughout different parts of the business and will provide an in-depth understanding of operating renewable assets and funds management. The candidate will also be exposed to various aspects of the energy transition currently happening within Australia.

About Octopus Group

Octopus Group is one of the largest owners of renewable energy projects in Europe and Australia. It owns some 260 assets, on behalf of wholesale and institutional investors. Domestically, Octopus Australia is responsible for managing over $1 billion of assets for local and international investors.

Octopus Australia

Established in 2018, Octopus Australia is a dynamic multi-disciplinary team of over 55 highly skilled people which spans the expertise required to realise and operate a renewable energy and storage portfolio.

With an existing multi-GW portfolio of operating and development assets, including solar, wind and battery storage across the country. We are continuing to grow to create a long-term business that can deliver a firmed energy product to meet the evolving needs of Australia’s energy future.

About the Role

• Consolidation of asset performance and macro inputs to drive insights into past and forward estimates of performance for Octopus’s funds.
• Performing scenario and sensitivity analysis at a portfolio level to assess impact of the various equity exposures in Octopus’s asset portfolio. Clear articulation of key messages and insights to internal and external stakeholders.
• Provide support in maintaining and operating the various asset, and fund level models that have been developed by the business to be used in the planning process ensuring reliability, accuracy, and suitability for use. This requires integrating oneself with all aspects of the business to understand the needs and challenges of the business and how the right tools can be used and further developed to support the business.
• Ensuring that the various financial models used in the business integrates with each other and will result in insights that support the business in making key decisions. 
• Onboarding new assets into the operating asset models from their relevant investment models’ post-acquisition.
• Refreshing models with updates to economic, pricing, cost, and generation level inputs, whilst ensuring rigor and best practice, along with (and championing the discipline of) proper version control in models used within the business.
• Assisting in liaising with model auditors, answering audit questions and making relevant changes to models.
• Ad hoc requests.

Qualifications

Ideally, you will have the following qualifications, skills and experiences:

• Fluency in Microsoft excel, VBA and financial modelling best practices.
• Previous experience in a professional services modelling team / formal training in modelling best practices.
• Experience in real asset (infrastructure, real estate, renewable energy) model development and operations (will be considered favourably).
• Accounting qualification or similar.
• Must be comfortable using technology and leveraging digital applications and media platforms.

What we offer

• 💰 A competitive salary package including bonus and medical insurance benefits
• ✈️ Extra Annual Leave entitlement
• Ongoing learning and career development opportunities

Octopus has built an exciting and inclusive high-performance culture where employees feel empowered. We also understand the value of diversity, and we are dedicated to creating an inclusive workplace environment. We would welcome people of all backgrounds to apply. 

Our Values 

At Octopus we don’t just focus on what we do but also how we do it. Everyone to shares our values of being straightforward, helpful, and bold. Our culture is critical to our success and is built around three principles that underpin how we pursue our goals:

• Be Bold – We like people who make decisions quickly and are OK changing their mind if it turns out there’s a better way of doing things.
• Be Helpful – We like People who behave like it always day one and who remember without our customers there is no business.
• Be Straightforward – We like people who have opinions and express them in a way that’s respectful and easy to understand.