Senior Associate - CrossBoundary

CrossBoundary is recruiting a full-time Senior Associate to join our Power & Infrastructure Advisory Team in West Africa with primary responsibility for transaction advisory. Additionally, the Senior Associate will support company strategic initiatives, sector analysis, and advisory work for other industries or regions, as needed. As a member of the team, you will actively contribute to a powerful intervention that has the potential for significant positive impact on investment into developing markets, in particular, investment that will improve power generation shortfalls and electricity access in the region.

Who We Are

CrossBoundary operates in frontier markets that also hold immense investment opportunities. The CrossBoundary team is a unique group made up of people who are genuinely excited by the opportunity to make a difference in some of the most challenging yet exciting markets in the world. Team members come from diverse backgrounds, but share a number of qualities: curiosity, humility, integrity, a drive for excellence, and a bias for action.

Primary Responsibilities

• Support early and late-stage (solar, hydro, wind, gas) projects to reach financial close
• Directly advising power project developers and managing other clients, including on engagement strategy with governments, risk mitigation, and other transaction-related matters 
• Project managing transaction advisory engagements, often several in parallel
• Managing more junior team members in the execution of transaction advisory engagements
• Advising on the project’s optimal capital structure and supporting fundraising processes from both private sector investors and development finance institutions

• Building and reviewing bankable project finance models and drafting of investment memorandums
• Identifying financing barriers and thinking creatively to find solutions around them
• Advising on project risk allocation and legal agreements including PPAs, implementation agreements, EPC, and O&M contracts 
• Project managing reporting obligations for the Team’s donor-funded
• Assisting in business origination efforts for transaction advisory engagements
• Market assessment and analysis; including review of integrated resource plans and national renewable energy policies
• Proactively find opportunities to complete work to conserve the time of other team members 

Qualifications

The ideal candidate will have the following skills and qualifications:

• Native-equivalent English fluency; strong French proficiency
• 4-8 years of experience at one of the following:
  • the project finance team of top-tier investment or commercial bank or specialist advisor;
  • an asset manager investing in energy or infrastructure; or
  • a clean energy project developer with sizable project portfolio
• Experience in, understanding of, and interest in working in African markets, ideally West or Central African markets, including power procurement and power auction processes
• A critical thinker, current on global events, who is intellectually stimulated to work at the confluence of energy and power, geopolitics, economics and the environment 
• Experience with development finance institutions, e.g., IFC, AfDB, OPIC, etc., is imperative  
• Experience working with governmental clients and stakeholders
• Excellent analytical ability and discipline, ability to think clearly and communicate effectively, solve problems, and a voracious hunger to learn in complex situations
• Demonstrated ability to project manage complex transactions and team members
• Demonstrated attention to detail while maintaining a holistic picture of overall goals
• Experience with transmission or distribution projects or intermittent-generation projects with storage capacity regarded particularly favorably
• Extensive travel will be required