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By John Stabinger
Posted on 2 April 2020 | 2:40 pm
Alumni / Benefits & Services / Alumni Career Services

Alumni Career Services

Portfolio Manager and Valuations Lead - Octopus Renewables
Octopus Investments
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Portfolio Manager and Valuations Lead - Octopus Renewables

Octopus Investments

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Details
Posted:
February 20, 2021
Location:
London, United Kingdom
Salary:
Open
Type:
Full Time
Company Description
Octopus is a group of companies which invests in the people, ideas and industries that will help to change the world.

We believe that the companies serving two of our most important needs - our financial wellbeing and our planet's future - are failing. And we want that to change. We want everything we do, whether that's in financial services or energy supply, to have a positive impact on the people it touches.

In our financial services business, we care as much about the impact our investments have, as we do about the returns that we generate for our investors. We manage more than £9.1 billion* on behalf of retail and institutional investors, specialising in renewable energy, real estate, smaller company and venture capital investing.

Our energy supply business - Octopus Energy, is one of the fastest growing companies in the UK. It has grown from start-up to more than 1.7 million customers over the last four years and is now the #1 rated UK energy supply business, and the only one to be recommended by Which? three years in a row.

Octopus Energy, Octopus Giving, Octopus Investments, Octopus Renewables, Octopus Real Estate, Octopus Ventures, Seccl Technology and Octopus Wealth are all part of Octopus Group. Visit octopusgroup.com.


Job Description
Octopus Renewables is a leading specialist renewable energy investment manager for retail and institutional clients. We currently manage investments in energy generating assets valued in excess of £3.4 billion. The assets we invest in and manage are across a range of geographical locations and include solar power parks, wind farms, reserve power plants (gas fired generators), biomass and landfill gas projects as well as anaerobic digestion systems. Our mission is to accelerate the transition to a future powered by renewable energy.

About the role:

We are seeking a Portfolio Manager to join the Octopus Renewables Fund Management and Operations Team, reporting to the Fund Management and Operations Director. For your assigned portfolios, you will be responsible for the quality and delivery of all fund management processes which includes Investor (Equity) and Lender (Debt) Management. You will also be responsible for leading the Renewables valuation process across all portfolios, currently valued at c£3.4bn. You will be an experienced people manager and have at least two direct reports

In this role, you will use your experience and skills to deliver accurate and quality outputs for existing and new investors whilst seeking to continuously improve our fund management processes. This is an exciting opportunity work with the Fund Management and Operations Director to build a platform for growth, ensuring that that we can onboard, manage and value £bns of assets over the next 5 years.

Core responsibilities will include:
  • Valuations process lead: You will lead the process to perform bottom up asset level valuations on a quarterly basis across all of our renewables portfolios. You will manage the delivery of accurate and timely quarterly valuations through benchmarking, transactions data, undertaking detailed assumptions reviews and sense checking outputs from financial models owned by the team to ensure our renewables portfolio valuations reflect current market value. You will work collaboratively with Product Heads to balance needs of our portfolios and build consensus on consistent assumptions. You will manage the approvals process, presenting the final valuations to the investment committee and valuations committee. You will lead external valuation model audits and engagements with external valuers.
  • Fund, Equity and Debt Modelling: You will proactively monitor and have oversight of your assigned funds and all underlying assets through equity and debt financial models. You will challenge, oversee and explain investor returns, valuations, track record and other fund KPIs, working collaboratively with other teams, ensuring accurate data and informative forecasts. You will be an experienced modeller and will look to innovate and optimise our modelling approach, seeking opportunities for consolidation, simplification and automation whilst mitigating risk.
  • Investor relationship management: You will understand the requirements and needs of investors within a fund and apply commerciality to our fund management processes, working alongside the appropriate Product Head. You will establish relationships with the investors and be a first point of call of inbound investor queries and deliver excellent customer service to them. You will oversee the creation of investor deliverables that we are proud of with insightful and thoughtful KPIs and narrative, integrating ESG and impact. You will lead on any operational due diligence requirements for the fund.
  • Risk Management: You will ensure that your fund is governed correctly, ensuing that the appropriate information is provided to enable decision making / focus on key issues. You will understand the key risks associated with the portfolio (WEP, FX, Economic, Asset Level, HSE, ESG) putting in place suitable policies and working collaborative with teams ensure that appropriate mitigation strategies are in place. A core focus will be on FX hedging strategy and derivative management.
  • Asset Onboarding and Financial Processes: Alongside the funds finance team, you will establish appropriate governance, processes and procedures to manage new assets on an ongoing basis (e.g. drawdowns, portfolio models and NAV calculations, distributions, client reporting). Working with relevant 3rd party service providers, you will ensure that funds are managed with robust controls and that the needs of investors are met efficiently and effectively. You will have efficient processes to onboard new investments quickly into your funds. You will build a strong relationship with the relevant Product Heads and the transactions team. You will seek to automate and utilise technology where possible.
  • Fundraising: You will work with the Fundraising team to understand the needs, structure and mandate of new investors and support in the provision of information during fundraising processes.


Qualifications
Ideally, you'll have all of the following qualifications, skills and job-related experience
  • Knowledge, understanding and experience of managing infrastructure valuation processes. Experience of managing model / valuation audits and/or working with 3rd party valuers
  • Previous experience of working in the renewables sector with an in-depth knowledge and skillset in renewables cash-flow modelling, debt modelling and distribution forecasting
  • A good understanding of fund management processes for debt and equity across investment trusts, listed funds and partnerships
  • Experience of fund financial processes and managing 3rd party outsourcers
  • You should understand how derivative products can be used for the purposes of efficient portfolio management, including the processes for ongoing management of those
  • Experience of fund structuring and set up with understanding of the requirements of different structures would be advantageous
  • Experience of leading the production Interim and Annual reports
  • Excellent financial acumen, CFA qualification considered advantageous
  • Experience of improving / automating processes using technology


And to really stand out from the crowd, you will display the following qualities and characteristics:
  • Thrive in a fast moving business, able to see solutions where others see problems, passionate about improving processes, models and customer outcomes. Excited, not overwhelmed by a challenge.
  • Excellent verbal and written skills, able to distil and seek out insightful analysis and present this persuasively and build consensus at a senior level.
  • Active listener and communicator, able to extract and gather information and provide excellent stakeholder management at all times. Experienced in communicating to senior stakeholders.
  • Passionate about the detail, taking accountability for the accuracy of every output.
  • Highly organised, able to plan ahead but also work under pressure, always delivering to deadlines.
  • A team player, flexible in approach and able to support others as necessary.


Additional Information
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 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.

- 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.

Internal Number: 10316502
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