Portfolio Management, Assistant Director

Role closes: midnight 09 July

Job purpose

The UKIB is actively building out its Portfolio Management (PM) function and anticipates adding several members to the PM team.

Overall, the PM team will oversee the Bank’s growing portfolio of loans, guarantees and equity assets in the five priority sectors identified in the Bank’s framework (clean energy, transport, digital, water and waste).

The PM team will also provide guidance and portfolio input into the Risk function and will influence UKIB’s pipeline of new transactions with the aim of delivering a positive financial return. Collectively, the PM team is fundamental to the UKIB achieving its mission of investing profitably to reduce UK carbon emissions and local growth.

Core role accountabilities

• Monitor progress on key projects, engage with project sponsors and equity fund managers and use specialist expertise to identify when projects are at risk and as needed be accountable for accurately implementing the appropriate and necessary mitigating action to protect the interests of the Bank.
• Provide expert portfolio analysis, identify concentration risks, propose risk mitigation strategies and accurately monitor portfolio returns to successfully meet the objectives of the Portfolio Management team and the wider mission of the Bank.
• Actively contribute to the design and implementation of the Bank’s strategic Portfolio Management system to ensure the infrastructure supporting the business is reliable and sustainable.
• Build internal models, interrogate external models, provide support to the team with sensitivity analysis, analysing outputs and performing high level due diligence of financial models so as to ensure risks are managed and problems identified early.
• Manage or be an integral member of a high performing a team of portfolio managers with the core objective of driving high returns for the Portfolio function as well as fulfilling the strategic objectives of the wider bank.
• Attend site visits and engage with the respective management team and effectively scrutinise management to ensure the project is performing as per the business plan.
• Negotiate and coordinate any required documentation, test covenant compliance, test future financial projections and financial accounts to ensure that deals remain financially sound and aligned to the mission and objectives of UKIB.
• Accountable for the approval of required documentation, covenant compliance, testing future financial projections and financial accounts to ensure that deals are legally compliant and will withstand financial scrutiny and thus align to the mission and objectives of UKIB.
• Utilising industry expertise and knowledge, be confident in securing appropriate technical support if projects run into difficulties or delay to avoid exposing the Bank to a high degree of risk of loss.
• Lead or contribute significantly to the preparation of reports for Investment Committee and Credit Committee to inform the Committees about the risks presented by new projects, how those risks should be mitigated and how pricing should be structured.

Knowledge, Skill and Experience requirements

• Established portfolio and people management skills in an infrastructure context.
• Demonstrable commercial expertise and perspectives combined with a high degree of accountability for high value and sensitive projects.
• Relevant sectorial experience across the broader infrastructure spectrum, which could include the energy, power, transport, construction or social infrastructure sectors.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills with evidenced ability to display the requisite gravitas, credibility and commercial intelligence to proactively and constructively engage both internally and externally across government departments, co-investors as well as the commercial leadership of the businesses/assets receiving debt and equity.
• Excellent consultancy and project management skills, whether internal or external; evidence of ability to quickly understand and digest complex and detailed information in order to offer advice and expertise.
• Substantial debt experience, ideally gained in a banking or project finance environment, encompassing debt structuring, refinancing, credit analysis, and monitoring/management of loan portfolios. A deep understanding of financial ratios and its implications. Equity experience in an infrastructure context would also be advantageous.
• Product experience relevant to the Bank’s product offering: fixed and floating loans, guarantees (including inflation linked debt guarantees), direct equity investment and equity funds.
• A robust understanding of due diligence requirements associated with infrastructure financing including reconciliation of financial models to commercial documentation.

This role is open to full-time, part-time or job-share applicants. Job-share applicants should supply individual CVs and a joint cover letter.