Portfolio Manager – Octopus Australia – Sydney/Melbourne

This is an opportunity to join the Octopus office in Sydney or Melbourne office (Sydney preferred)  to focus on the launch and ongoing delivery of Octopus Australia renewable energy funds. The successful applicant will be able to join a team in Australia during an exciting period of growth as the country accelerates the transition away from coal towards renewables.

About Octopus

Octopus is a fast-growing company with more than 800 employees. From a standing start in 2010 Octopus grew its energy business rapidly to become Europe’s largest non-utility renewable energy investor. The core technology in this portfolio is solar PV – Octopus now manages over 1.3 GW of solar projects in the UK, France, Italy, and Australia on behalf of its investors and has the equivalent of nearly AUD 7 billion under management in the Energy team. We have one of the fastest growing energy retail businesses in the UK with almost 2 million customers.

The Brand – Octopus Australia:

Octopus Australia has a team of 40 plus across Melbourne, Sydney, and Auckland and growing rapidly. We have big ambitions to become the main catalyst in Australia’s transition to renewable energy by being the premier developer/owner/operator of renewable energy assets in Australia and have a strong national pipeline of projects across solar, wind and grid battery storage.

Our strategy for doing so is to bring all the key stakeholders (the community, government, energy buyers, and investors) in a renewables project “closer to the assets” in which they are involved. This means bringing transparency and openness to the long-term services, benefits and returns these assets provide. Alignment of these stakeholders we believe brings the greatest value to investors and will build Octopus Australia into a 100-year business.

About the Role

The role will sit in the asset management team and support Octopus’ in-house asset management business (OSCAR), giving the successful candidate wide exposure across the business. The role is based in Sydney, with occasional travel between offices or site, as required. We are open to accept offers for a role that is either part time (3 days a week) or full-time.  

The successful candidate will be responsible for driving governance, contract management, financial and operational performance of our portfolio assets and OSCAR business. This role will report into the Senior Portfolio Manager in the Sydney office.  

Portfolio companies

• Driving governance, contract management, financial and operational performance of our portfolio assets, with support from technical team.
• Leading all key project relationships, including but not limited to external asset managers, investors and banking groups.
• Understanding and driving obligations under key project contracts.
• Responsible for reporting on asset performance and valuations. 
• Preparing all portfolio company board and performance papers and attending meetings (as required).
• Implementing systems to monitor asset performance (third party asset management platforms, Power BI etc). 

OSCAR in-house asset management business

• Responsibility for OSCAR Profit & Loss and cashflow.
• Delivering OSCAR budget and business strategy.
• Regular review of pricing methodology for new assets in development, construction and asset management.
• Analysis of OSCAR revenue performance across existing portfolio assets.
• Working across teams to ensure data is accurate.
• Preparation and streamlining of OSCAR documentation across asset phases.
• Leading all presentations internally and externally.

Qualifications

• Qualified CA or CFA with at least 5 years’ experience in an accounting or finance role.
• Renewable energy or fund management experience is preferrable.
• Understanding of asset performance KPIs and commercial experience     
• Extremely well organised, good attention to detail, and ability to prioritise workload; always being one step ahead and anticipating needs and potential issues.
• A self-starter with high energy levels, tenacity, initiative and a willingness to commit whatever it takes to deliver the required results.
• Team player with a positive, can-do attitude.
• Highly proficient in MS Office Word/Excel/PowerPoint. For Excel, the candidate needs to be comfortable with financial modelling.
• An interest in implementing new technology and leveraging digital applications.
• Professional, trustworthy, acting with honesty and integrity always.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Confident with key stakeholders, has a strong service ethic, comfortable dealing with problems as well as difficult conversations.
• Passionate about improving processes through technology and leveraging digital applications.
• The resilience to work in a fast moving, changing environment, and able to cope with ambiguity.

What we offer

• 💰 A competitive salary package including bonus and medical insurance benefits
• ✈️ Extra Annual Leave entitlement
• 🏡 Flexible working 
• 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.

Our Values 
At our core, we believe that how a company behaves is just as important as what it does. That’s why we chose to become an accredited B Corp (the equivalent of a Fairtrade coffee stamp but for companies) and to change our Articles of Association so that the interests all our stakeholders – employees, customers, communities, environment and shareholders – are considered in every decision we make.   

We’re committed to creating a diverse and inclusive employee experience for all. We promote equal opportunities for growth and development regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability, or socio-economic background. We believe strongly that teams are at their best when every member of the team feels safe to bring their whole self to work.