Technical Asset Manager/Asset Engineer- Octopus Australia – Sydney Melbourne

This is an opportunity to join the Octopus office in Melbourne 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 – Closer to the Assets:

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

About the role

You will be responsible for the successful delivery of our renewable projects during operations, starting with a solar farm in northern NSW and then likely moving into projects in Queensland and Victoria. This role will report into our Senior Portfolio Manager, who leads operations and our in-house asset management business (OSCAR) in Australia. The role can be based in either Melbourne or Sydney, with site visits, where required, and occasional travel between offices required.

Essential Job Functions

The role will be primarily focused on technical asset management of renewable assets including solar, wind and storage. The role will at times become ‘hands on’ in solving issues, and at other times require technical and contract oversight of service providers. Applicants must be confident and comfortable in this role and effective at delegating and then managing the underlying technical activities carried out by third parties.

Key job functions include:

• Fostering a culture that prioritises safety and ensuring all projects are delivered to the highest health and safety standards.
• Ensuring high quality and timely delivery of services under Asset Management and O&M contracts.
• Site attendance (where required) during key operations milestones.
• Schedule and contract management.
• Managing projects to operational financial targets, looking at areas to optimise performance through revenue generation or cost savings.
• Forming and maintaining strong relationships with key project participants, including O&M contractors, investors, lenders, local authorities, and community members; and regularly attending periodic meetings with these project parties.
• Preparing and presenting reports on asset performance to our investors, lenders, and investment committee.
• Running tender processes and selecting advisors, contractors etc (typically O&M).  
• Preparing and managing budgets for Opex and project schedules.

Qualifications

Outline of skills/experience required:

• Eligibility to work in Australia – visa sponsorship is not offered.
• Experience. Prior (at least 5 years) experience working on renewable energy projects with a strong preference for candidates with experience on Australian projects through which technical knowledge was acquired.  
• Qualifications. Candidates should have a tertiary qualification in project management, engineering, or a related discipline.
• Contract and project management skills.
• Understanding of Health, Safety and Environmental practices, legislations, and requirements.    
• Knowledge of generator interconnection processes in the Australian market.
• Can build strong relationships with key project partners.
• Candidates must demonstrate a commercial mindset, and in particular be able to consider technical challenges in a broader commercial and investment context.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
• An understanding of core legal concepts, particularly those relating to contracts for the operation and management of renewable energy projects.
• An ability to understand risks, reach a balanced appraisal of probability and severity and build workable risk mitigation strategies.
• A self-starter with high energy levels, tenacity, initiative, and a willingness to commit whatever it takes to deliver the required results.

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 or part time work. 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.

Our Values and DNA

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. 

And while these are the fundamentals that guide us as an organisation, our DNA goes even further, by revealing our inner strengths: 

• 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 were always learning, adapting and improving.

Octopus Australia cultural norms:

Feedback and question everything

Everyone to contribute with an equal voice. We value constructive conflict and understand we have an obligation to speak up if something just isn’t right.

• Flexible working incorporating Face to face interaction is key to building a strong team connection.  We like to grab every opportunity to meet face to face and start each conversation with “How are you?”. We are also great at asking for help and sharing problems. We love flexible working, but we also choose to work in the office a minimum of 3 days per week.
• WEACH day (or Work Elsewhere and Clear Head Day) – means no meetings on Wednesdays please.  WEACH day is our day to reflect, think of a new business idea, our career development, paint a picture, take the kids to school, take our partners out for brunch, go for a run.
• We are ambitious.  We talk openly with our managers about career development, compensation, training, and what the future holds for our company.
• It’s just life!  Exercise, family time, hobbies, charity work, social time can all make up part of our normal ‘working’ day at Octopus Australia.
• More holidays  We take at least 4 weeks holiday minimum every year you are eligible for an extra 5 days leave.

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.