Director - Energy Transition

Job description

The Team
 
Infrastructure Advisory Group (IAG), a part of KPMG Deal Advisory in the UK, consists of c300 professionals and is widely recognised as a leading independent business, financial and regulatory adviser in the infrastructure space. The group has won many awards, including Financial Advisor of the Year (Infrastructure Journal) for several years. The group has presence across the UK and is organised on a national basis, operating under a single national cost centre.

We provide in-depth advice on strategic, financial, regulatory and commercial issues driving investments in infrastructure across Transport, Power & Utilities, and Social Infrastructure in the UK and globally. Our work includes market and policy design, economic and regulatory analysis, deal structuring and execution, as well as strategic and transaction advice to enable private and public capital to fund infrastructure. We work closely with other functions within KPMG to advise clients on mergers and acquisitions, valuations, tax, accounting, and due diligence.

Power & Utilities (P&U), led by Dr Matt Firla-Cuchra, is the largest business area of the IAG and encompasses work for major clients in the sector, including all UK utilities as well as some of the largest energy and water companies in Europe and beyond. We provide in-depth strategic and technical advice on strategy and business planning and analysis, corporate finance and corporate financial management, regulatory policy, cost assessment and benchmarking as well as in other areas to help our clients create value for both shareholders and customers. Our work combines elements of policy, finance, strategy and economics to assist our clients in structuring investments, securing financing, supporting regulatory regimes for the benefit of customers as well as maximising shareholder value. We are widely recognised by many industry stakeholders as market leaders influencing the future of the utilities sector.

Our P&U business is currently divided into 7 practices: Strategy, Regulation, Finance, Projects, Low Carbon, Transactions, and Benchmarking, and is continuously expanding with double digit growth over the last 10 years. As such we are looking for high quality candidates to support our growth and development of existing and new service lines, while building on the work already undertaken in the Group.

The Role

You would be joining the leading provider of business, regulatory, financial and economic consultancy services to the Power & Utilities sector with a focus on infrastructure-heavy part of the sector including transmission and distribution networks and large scale generation. The role is to maintain this position, and to grow the business further. This will include gaining further penetration in the sector with existing offerings as well as developing new service propositions to clients. 

The Energy Transition Director will provide senior leadership to the Energy Transition team, working closely with other Directors and Partners in IAG P&U, in particular Directors and Partners leading Energy Networks Regulation, Projects and Transactions teams in the P&U to lead our client engagements and business development activity. 

The position offers an opportunity to advance to Partner st performance and growth of the business.

The projects that you will advise on will be high profile and varied focusing on energy transformation of large and medium-size corporations. For example, the team has recently provided commercial advice on a takeover of a major energy company in Europe, advised on the gas market prospects and dynamics in the context of a takeover of a large gas distribution company in the UK, advised on the business options for unregulated businesses of water companies, advised gas network companies on the policy requirements for hydrogen, supported large regulated utilities on their strategies to deliver net zero and business plans more generally, and helped to consider business strategies on major nuclear projects.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Leading and managing our IAG Power & Utilities Energy Transition team (target size of 10-15 consultants) and contributing to other teams focused on the energy sector, including Energy Networks Regulation, Transactions and Projects.  
• Building enduring client relationships and becoming the go to person for our clients on projects and relevant market opportunities.
• Leading client engagements on a day-to-day basis.
• Working with internal teams, client project teams and other professional advisors.
• Producing, reviewing and overseeing development high quality documentation and presentations, from options appraisals, business cases, financial models, payment mechanisms and all other aspects of project work.
• Maintaining a good technical understanding of the key sectors, in particular the energy and water sectors including energy generation, transport and end use as well as policy, regulation, subsidies and commercial structures
• Ensuring KPMG's quality and risk management procedures are completed to the appropriate standard.
• Performance management, coaching and mentoring of team members.
• Being a role model for staff and for the firm's values.
• Developing sector specific market intelligence.
• Any other duties commensurate with the senior nature of the role.
 

The Person
 
Qualifications, Skills and Experience 

• Have significant experience in the energy sector, preferably covering both core utilities as well as disruptive, new business models;
• Have strong knowledge of business planning, strategic considerations, corporate decision making, scenario analysis, and investment appraisal;
• Understand how emerging Net zero technologies can impact businesses and how they can be successfully implemented;
• Have a good understanding and experience of working on at least some new and emerging value propositions in the utilities sector (such as electric vehicles, hydrogen, solar & storage or demand side response);
• Have experience and understanding of key elements of energy policy and economic regulation of utilities;
• A strong track record of working in advisory services, including leading a team, and both winning and delivering advisory services to large energy companies;
• Comfortable considering business drivers for energy and utilities companies from different perspectives including economic, business, regulatory, financial, and technical;
• Understand key value drivers in utilities including policy, regulation, financing, growth, technology etc;
• Experience of managing people and small to medium size teams;
• Assured and experienced in a client and market facing role;
• Have a go get attitude and a will to succeed, with experience of opening up opportunities;
• Be an independent thinker with the ability to identify and solve problems;
• Excellent presentation and communications skills;
• Skills successfully to develop and manage client relationships; and
• Strong commercial awareness.