Manager, Advisory (Project Finance & Commercial)
AECOM · Los Angeles, California, United States · hybrid
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AECOM Advisory is seeking a dynamic Manager to support our growing global Advisory business line with a particular focus on commercial infrastructure advisory engagements. We are seeking talented management consultants to join AECOM Advisory who are mission-driven for the role of our clients in supporting economic, environmental and social vibrancy. We are recruiting for this role in the following locations: Los Angeles, CA; Seattle, WA; San Francisco, CA; Dallas, TX; Austin, TX; Chicago, IL.
Building off AECOM’s considerable expertise in infrastructure design and implementation, AECOM Advisory is a trusted adviser to senior level clients and executive teams on their most pressing enterprise and strategic needs. Projects range from supporting on a State DOT P3 procurement as the commercial advisor, advising public agencies on affordable housing procurement on publicly owned land, developing funding and financing strategies for major capital programs, supporting private-sector clients and investors with commercial and financial due diligence to assess the feasibility, viability and investment potential of infrastructure projects. Our work spans the project lifecycle, from early-stage feasibility and investment decision support through procurement strategy, commercial structuring and transaction execution, to commercial delivery support and the reassessment through delivery.
We serve the full value chain of clients active in infrastructure, the built environment, and community vibrancy, including: national governments, regulatory entities, city agencies, utilities, transit agencies, infrastructure operators and investors. Our team of 400 staff globally comprises transaction advisors, business and policy analysts, economists, commercial strategists, technology architects, as well as human capital and change management practitioners. We help our clients generate value for their stakeholders and impact for their communities.
We are a new category of consulting firm; one that builds off true operational and technical expertise of our broader platform to bring industry depth and capability-driven insight to the clients we serve.
You will join a fast-paced and supportive team of diverse consulting professionals. We pride ourselves on our strong culture of mentorship and collaborative problem-solving, our mission of addressing our client’s most complex and impactful problems, paired with career pathways that nurture professional development and personal growth.
Role:
As a Manager in AECOM Advisory, your day-to-day role will be to develop, lead and manage client engagements. These tasks will include, but not be limited to:
- Building client relationships and managing interactions throughout the engagement lifecycle, bringing clients into engagement delivery and iteratively building their buy-in.
- Upwardly and laterally manage the inputs from regional leadership, Directors, Principals, Client Account Managers, and technical experts to flag key delivery choices, considerations and risks as they relate to technical scope, client satisfaction, and commercial constraints.
- Independently tailor existing/proven analytical frameworks and methodologies for client-specific needs.
- In collaboration with leadership, architect new analytical frameworks and methodologies for novel client-specific needs.
- Advising clients on funding, financing and delivery strategies for capital projects and programs, including P3/PPP, concessions and alternative delivery.
- Building and reviewing the financial case for a project:- business cases, feasibility studies, value-for-money analyses and economic cost-benefit analyses
- comparisons of delivery options
- Developing blended funding and financing plans that combine diverse public and private sources. These include federal and state grant and loan programs, municipal debt, availability payments, revenue concessions and private equity.
- Build and run project finance, corporate finance and asset models, including scenario and sensitivity analysis.
- Supporting procurement and transactions from start to financial close:- procurement strategy
- RFQ and RFP documents
- market soundings with bidders and capital providers
- evaluation of bids and developer proposals, covering financial capacity, models, governance and structure
- negotiation support
- Advising on commercial structuring and risk allocation in project agreements, together with legal, technical, tax and valuation specialists.
- Writes memos, reports, board and executive presentations and financial analysis, and owns their quality.
- Drive (outline, supervise, and provide quality control over) delivery teams comprised of 2-5 Consultants and Senior Consultants across multiple and inter-dependent workstreams.
- Proactively coach and mentor junior staff on developing core consulting skills.
In addition, you will also have the opportunity to contribute to business development, through:
- Supporting Capture Managers with specific elements of proposal responses, including: narrative development, technical solutions development (incl. technical writing), pricing, team definition, subcontractor engagement, internal risk review, and compliance procedures.
- Creating pitch decks and defining AECOM Advisory’s value proposition.
- Bringing commercial acumen around client needs, budgetary requirements, researching client contexts.
Required competencies include:
- Strong interpersonal skills, client-service mindset and ability to act as a trusted adviser to clients.
- Ability to collaborate with internal teams across broad geographies and numerous different business lines
- Work in a high-tempo, high-context client-facing environment, with the ability to maintain poise, maturity and work well under pressure.
- Able to be self-directed, anticipatory and responsive to iterative feedback.
- Outstanding attention to detail.
- Exceptional numerical reasoning and quantitative skills.
- Sharp analytical, logical reasoning and structured problem-solving skills, employing abstraction techniques to solve ambiguous client problems, and ingest and parse out large volumes of client information.
- Strong commercial acumen and willingness to have an informed point-of-view, grounded in an interest in enterprise challenges (people, process, technology) and solid understanding of client industries and their context.
- Solid verbal communication and narrative development skills, with the ability to summarize and convey key insights to C-suite and senior management audiences.
- Collegial team-player who can work within a small, motivated team of diverse consulting professionals.
Desired competencies include:
- Functional experience in at least one of the following areas desired, but not required:- Proficiency in financial modelling and investment appraisal, including developing and reviewing Excel-based financial models, cash flow analysis, sources and uses of funds, scenario and sensitivity analysis, and evaluating the financial feasibility of infrastructure projects an