Senior Corporate Project Finance Manager

About Us

Highways England is the new Government company that operates, maintains and improves England's network of motorways and major A roads. This network is around 4,300 miles long and while it represents only 2 per cent of all roads in England by length it carries a third of all traffic by mileage as well as two thirds of heavy goods traffic. We have around 3,500 staff based in seven offices around the country including a uniformed Traffic Officer service in control centres and patrolling key areas of the network. Highways England is accountable to two bodies who act on behalf of the public - The Office of Rail and Roads monitor the performance of our highways and Transport Focus champion the needs of road users.

Job Description

Our Complex Infrastructure Programme includes two projects (Lower Thames Crossing and A303/Stonehenge) with total capital value of £5.3 billion and we are looking for Senior Corporate Finance Managers to help lead these projects over the next few years of development. This is an excellent opportunity to be part of one of the largest investment programmes at Highways England as well as contributing to a legacy that will transform Englands road network. You will be one of the main contributors to financial decision making for these projects and will be required to work closely with both internal and external stakeholders. We are looking for a candidate with experience in private finance and who has the proven capability to manage relationships with 3rd party investors.

These roles have been created specifically for these projects but your experience is likely to lend itself to the broader development and growth of financial capability across Highways England. This is an excellent opportunity for someone who is looking for a challenging role with real career prospects.

Key Project Activities:

• Market Engagement - This will be a significant activity during the pre-procurement phase of both projects to ensure that the proposed contract is attractive to financial markets and to ensure that we will be going to the market with a proposal that will attract a competitive number of bids.
• Manage Financial Advisors - Specialist financial advisors will be required and a key part of this role will be to focus the work of these advisors. This post will play a significant part in keeping costs under control and ensuring value for money.
• Engagement across HMT and DFT - These projects will be two of the largest infrastructure projects in the country. There will be a lot of interest across government and lot of effort will be required to engage with key individuals.
• Lead discussions on project financing issues - This is a complex project and a range of financing issues will need to be fully explored and conclusions reached to enable the framework for financing plans to be developed.
• Prepare Project and Highways England (HE) Executive Board papers - The Lower Thames Crossing and A303 Project Boards and HE Executive will need to be kept informed of progress and this post will be responsible for preparing and presenting all finance related material.
• Business Case preparation - You will play a key role in finalising the financial case for the projects.
• Prepare Procurement documentation - As the Senior Corporate Finance Manager all financing related information that will need to be included in the procurement documentation will be approved by you.
• Partake in competitive dialogue discussions - this post will play the lead role in addressing financing queries through the competitive dialogue process.
• Evaluation of bids - you play a lead role in the evaluation of financing plans and appraisal of bids.

Skills and experience required:

• You either will be a qualified accountant (ACA/ACCA) with corporate finance experience or have a similar level of Corporate Finance qualification
• We are looking for a candidate with experience in negotiating and dealing with privately financed projects
• Knowledge of financial capital markets and potential debt and equity providers
• An understanding of the European System of Accounts (ESA2010) and how this applies to private finance contracts
• You will either have worked with or have knowledge of the 5 case business model as you will be dealing with the investment of public funds and will be required to report on this as part of this role
• A good understanding of major projects project control frameworks
• A good understanding public sector procurement procedures.

All applications must be accompanied with a current CV which will be
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