Asset Investment Planning Specialist (Infrastructure Sector)

Company Description

We believe in the power of ingenuity to build a positive human future.  

As strategies, technologies, and innovation collide, we create opportunity from complexity. 

Our teams of interdisciplinary experts combine innovative thinking and breakthrough technologies to progress further, faster. Our clients adapt and transform, and together we achieve enduring results. 

We are over 4,000 strategists, innovators, designers, consultants, digital experts, scientists, engineers, and technologists. And we have deep expertise in consumer and manufacturing, defence and security, energy and utilities, financial services, government and public services, health and life sciences, and transport.  

Our teams operate globally from offices across the UK, Ireland, US, Nordics, and Netherlands. 

PA. Bringing Ingenuity to Life. 

Job Description

Are you a brilliant asset manager who is passionate about the future of the infrastructure sector and can help guide our clients on developing investment plans, using the latest tools, systems and data insights? 

On the back of continued success across our infrastructure practice, we are looking for talented people to join our growing Asset Management team. We work very closely with all our clients, build strong interpersonal relationships and pride ourselves on our ability to ‘walk the talk’. Therefore, we are particularly interested in those who have practical ‘hands-on’ experience with infrastructure assets and an interest in: 

• Development of capital and operational investment plans (capex and opex plans – ‘totex plans’)

• Transition of an investment plan into portfolios and programmes of work for delivery 

• Implementation and adoption of systems and tools to support investment planning & management 

• Delivery of digital asset management transformation and change programmes 

While successful candidates will have a good technical understanding of their field, deep specialism is not the only facet of PA consultants; we also want ingenious people who can turn highly technical detail into simple concepts and communicate this clearly to anyone from boardroom to the operation. Our consultants should be able to adapt their style to work effectively with clients and inspire confidence. We’re looking for someone with these attributes: 

• Self-motivation and ability to manage their own workload effectively 

• Creative and open minded, enjoying learning and trying new ways of doing things 

• Strong communication, presentation creation, delivery and document writing skills 

• A great team member in multi-discipline teams 

Flexible working - We are guided by our client work and needs; however, you have autonomy to manage your time and diary to suit your work/life balance.

Qualifications

Business Processes:

• Strategic Planning – can create alignment between capital and operational investment plans and organisational, economic, and sustainability goals. This involves identifying long-term infrastructure investment needs, evaluating costs / benefits of potential investment pathways, and quantifying project / programme contributions to achieving those long-term goals.  

• Investment Planning – understands the processes for; capturing investment demand, developing a consistent set of metrics to quantify cost / risk / benefit, and trading-off constraints of the organisation (cost, resource, strategic goals) to develop an agreeable and actionable investment plan in the medium term. Requires engineering and financial literacy and communication with stakeholders from across an infrastructure organisation. 

• Investment Management – desirable: can take an investment plan approved by the leadership team and planning teams into the next stage of the asset lifecycle – work delivery processes. Understands Portfolio Management practices and principles, and the further optimisation of the investment plan that may be required to enable successful delivery (delivery, supply chain, locational, seasonal constraints etc.). 

• Business Planning – desirable: experience in supporting Price Reviews and business planning processes with knowledge and understanding of regulatory framework and future trends. Ability to translate this into identifying investment demands on the infrastructure to ensure long-term sustainability of the asset base. 

• Delivery Planning – desirable: would be to understand the development of asset management strategies and plans that take a business plan into a business delivery plan. Desirable would be to have experience in the use of systems to support these processes (asset investment planning tools, programme management systems etc.). 

Digital Tools & Systems 

• Digital Implementation & Adoption – first-hand experience specifying, designing and implementing a digital tool and / or enterprise system (examples listed below). Understands the basics of Business Analysis, Requirements Management, Testing, and Change Management. Has been involved in change management approaches for these tools / systems within the infrastructure sector. 

• Asset Investment Planning & Management (AIP) tools & systems – first-hand experience implementing and using AIPM systems, including; cost-benefit appraisal, portfolio & programme optimisation (e.g. Copperleaf), predictive / prescriptive modelling (Pioneer, Python, R Studio), systems modelling etc.. 

• Project & Portfolio Management (PPM) systems – desirable: first-hand experience implementing and using PPM systems such as Oracle P6, Microsoft Project, PlanView, ProjectWise, and other similar technology projects. Desirable would be to understand data management and governance of an investment plan, including the necessary integrations with other systems to maintain traceability from delivery to strategy. 

• Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) systems – desirable: first-hand experience implementing and using EAM systems such as IBM Maximo, SAP S4, Ellipse, and other similar technology products. It would be beneficial to have an appreciation of the challenges required to implement these systems and realise the full benefits case. 

Consulting Skills 

• High-quality outputs – this means report-writing and presentation skills need to be strong (e.g., an ability to distil complex insights into easy-to-understand presentations and reports that could be understood across all levels of an organisation). 

• Team management – able to lead small (2-5 people) teams deliver highly complex and strategically important assignments. This includes day-to-day activity management, project team wellbeing, and management of risks and issues on the assignment. 

• Analytics – a strong, logical and problem-solving mindset. Good working knowledge of statistics and modelling with Excel or other tools. Strong writing and authorship skills. 

• Future trends – an appreciation for new, and emerging sector capabilities such as smart infrastructure, digital twins, and whole life cost optimisation tools. Able to form views and discuss wider topics with our clients. 

We know the skill-gap and ‘somewhat need to tick every box’ can get in the way of meeting brilliant candidates, so please don’t hesitate to apply – we’d love to hear from you.

Apply today by completing our online application

Additional Information

Life At PA encompasses our peoples' experience at PA. It's about how we enrich peoples’ working lives by giving them access to unique people and growth opportunities and purpose led meaningful work. 

Our purpose guides how we work with our clients and our teams, and support our communities, to deliver insight and impact, solving the world’s most complex challenges. We're focused on building a workplace that values human difference and diverse mindsets, and a culture of inclusion and equality that unlocks the potential in our people so everyone can be their best self. 

Find out more about Life at PA here. 

We are dedicated to supporting the physical, emotional, social and financial well-being of our people. Check out some of our extensive benefits: 

• Health and lifestyle perks accompanying private healthcare for you and your family 
• 25 days annual leave (plus a bonus half day on Christmas Eve) with the opportunity to buy 5 additional days 
• Generous company pension scheme 
• Opportunity to get involved with community and charity-based initiatives 
• Annual performance-based bonus 
• PA share ownership 
• Tax efficient benefits (cycle to work, give as you earn) 

We’re committed to advancing equality. We recruit, retain, reward and develop our people based solely on their abilities and contributions and without reference to their age, background, disability, genetic information, parental or family status, religion or belief, race, ethnicity, nationality, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity (or expression), political belief veteran status, or other by any other range of human difference brought about by identity and experience. We welcome applications from underrepresented groups. 

Adjustments or accommodations - Should you need any adjustments or accommodations to the recruitment process, at either application or interview, please contact us on recruitmentenquiries@paconsulting.com 

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