Senior Commercial Asset Manager (France)

At Octopus we’re transforming the industries we operate in and improving the lives of millions of people. We’ve built market-leading positions in a number of specialist sectors, including smaller company financing, renewable energy, healthcare and property finance. We employ in excess of 800 people and manage more than £9.1 billion on behalf of more than 50,000 investors. Our products don’t just help real people solve real life problems, they also make a positive impact on the world around us.

The Octopus Group incorporates Octopus Energy, Octopus Renewables, Octopus Real Estate, Octopus Investments, Octopus Ventures and Octopus Labs. Our aim is to have an impact in everything we do, and to make a vital contribution to the UK economy by helping people, companies and institutions generate wealth. And we’re always on the look-out for smart, talented people who share our values.

About the Role

Octopus Renewables

Octopus Renewables sources, invests in, and actively manages a wide range of utility scale energy assets. We are looking to expand our team as we continue to scale our investments base.

Since entering the renewables market in 2010, Octopus Renewables has grown to become the largest investor of solar power in Europe, and a leading investor in onshore wind. We currently manage a global portfolio of over £3bn renewable energy assets. The operational portfolio includes over 300 energy generating companies, delivering revenue in excess of £250m pa. The operational activities include solar power parks, wind farms and gas fired peaking generators.

Our energy investment and asset management team of c.70 professionals is one of the largest and most experienced in Europe. The team is structured to support our rapid growth ambitions and long-term ownership of energy assets.

About the role

We are looking for an experienced Senior Commercial Asset Manager to take a leading role in the management of Octopus Renewables’ generating assets in France. The growing French portfolio is a mixture of wind and solar assets with a current combined capacity in excess of 250MWs.

Reporting to the Wind Asset Director she/he will advise and be responsible for the commercial management of the French portfolio. He/she will be required to manage a range of outsourced partners and contractors to deliver the expected investment returns, resolve issues and de-risk the portfolio. The role will be London based and will require some travel to France.

Whilst we are looking for a permanent appointment we will consider fixed term contract. Please advise in your covering note whether you are looking for a permanent or fixed term contract.

Outline of responsibilities

• Manage contractual framework agreements across the portfolio to drive efficiency across the portfolio and allow swift upsizing of the portfolio.
• Use their expert understanding of wind technology and performance drivers to build the commercial strategy of plants.
• Drive issue resolution incl. commercial decision making and getting approvals from the relevant investment committee as appropriate.
• Drive portfolio optimisation through either operational or financial structuring; this could include repowering, contractual restructurings, PPA strategy, portfolio tendering or third party debt refinancing.
• Maintain and enhance the risk monitoring framework in place, designed to identify any issues early and resolve them in a timely fashion.
• Work closely with investment teams to identify contractual and/or commercial risks with new deals, in the process preparing the asset management teams for asset on-boarding.
• Liaise with the operators of the power plants to monitor and optimise performance throughout the life cycle of plants; gathering and managing detailed data for the portfolio companies.
• Support internal Octopus fund reporting, including periodic (quarterly) valuation of the portfolio companies.
• Review and critically analyse the management accounts of the project companies, reporting any issues to senior management and approving write offs as necessary.
• Will be familiar with the French Electricity Market, Grid and connection agreements.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience of French renewable energy market, with a particular focus on the wind industry.
• Significant knowledge of typical project contractual frameworks (including SPAs, PPA, O&M and EPC contracts), the regulatory environment and how the industry operates. 
• Have led complex contractual negotiations, taking into account commercial, legal and technical considerations.
• Ability to work under pressure to tight deadlines on multiple projects simultaneously.
• Excellent communicator at all levels, particularly when translating technical information for non-technical teams.
• Must be fluent in French and English.
• Flexibility and “can do” attitude.
• Willingness to train and support others.
• Able to critically examine and question information from a variety of sources.
• High commercial and numerical acumen.
• Will be knowledgeable of, and ensure compliance with, French Law.
• Will have experience of discharging Corporate Community Responsibilities.
• Will be familiar with International Standards particularly, ISO 9001, 14001 and 18001, EMAS and ESG.

Our Values and DNA 

At Octopus we don’t just focus on what we do but also how we do it. Everyone shares our values of being straightforward, helpful and bold. And while these are the principles that guide us as an organisation, our DNA goes even further, by revealing our inner strength: 

We are loyal: we fully buy-in to the company’s vision and believe in everything that Octopus stands for. We are respectful: we live and breathe the Octopus values of being helpful, straightforward and bold. We are resilient: we have an inner strength that means we never give in We are intellectually curious: we seek to understand how the world works and we’re always learning, adapting and improving We understand who our customers are: and because we know them really well, we always give them our very best. 

What we offer 

Octopus has built an exciting and inclusive high-performance culture where employees feel empowered. This means we welcome discussions around flexible working hours. We also understand the value of diversity, and we have a team dedicated to promoting gender, ethnic, socio-economic, LGBT and disability equality, to make sure we back up our words with actions. All Octopus employees are given the opportunity to develop new skills, aim higher and accelerate their careers.

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