Associate Director / Director - Infrastructure Economics

Are you interested in shaping economic advice to inform how we design, deliver and fund infrastructure projects to achieve real impact for the lives of New Zealanders?

KPMG’s Deal Advisory & Infrastructure team supports clients with high-value strategic, financial and commercial decisions. Through an experienced team that brings financial analysis skills, commercial acumen and strategic insights, we advise on large-scale infrastructure investment, public sector policy, commercial transactions, and mergers and acquisitions. Together we support sound investment decision-making to fuel New Zealand’s prosperity.

A collaborative and supportive environment, where we help our people to achieve personally and professionally, is really important to us. We’re proud of our working culture, as a team with diverse skillsets and backgrounds that enjoy working together on complex engagements for commercial and government clients.

The opportunity

Our Wellington Deal Advisory & Infrastructure team is looking for an Associate Director / Director to lead and grow our infrastructure economics capability. We are seeking a professional with a strong technical foundation and experience in providing economic advice on infrastructure projects, ideally in transport, water, or urban development and regeneration.

We are keen to hear from candidates with experience in building a team and organisational capability in practical economic analysis. Our clients value advice that can inform decisions and lead to action, and we are seeking a leader who can help turn complex economic concepts into practical next steps.

Our ideal candidate would bring excellent analytical, team leadership and problem-solving skills with a background in government policy, infrastructure, finance, economics, or professional services.

Your day-to-day work

As a senior member of the team, you will be responsible for leading and delivering high-quality economic analysis to inform large or complex infrastructure projects. This could include a mix of directly undertaking parts of the analysis, providing on-the-job guidance to the team, or completing quality assurance on the modelling and outputs before they are presented to clients. Your role would be client facing. It will require you to present your advice to client and to work collaboratively to respond to client request and questions.

As part of the Deal Advisory & Infrastructure team, you could be involved in:

• Strategy and planning – Supporting the development of new government policy or reform programmes, demand studies for new projects, or the development of programme business cases.
• Investment decision-making – Providing advice on government investment decisions, including economic analysis of options, benefit quantification and monetisation, risk modelling and scenario testing.
• Advice on infrastructure funding and finance – Providing independent advice on who will benefit from new infrastructure projects and using this to inform the design of funding streams and levies or the design of the finance solutions.

What you'll bring to the team

Technical expertise

• At least 10 years of relevant experience in applying economic frameworks and analysis to inform the development of infrastructure projects. This can include demand projections, cost-benefit analysis and benefit monetisation, economic beneficiary analysis and scenario testing.
• Minimum of 3 years leading or providing final quality assurance on projects incorporating economic analysis and advice, including policy development, Budget bids, business cases, or infrastructure funding and finance advice.
• Experience in economic frameworks and analytical methods ideally related to transport, water, and/or urban development projects.
• Expertise in using data and analytics tools to analyse large data sets and develop actionable advice.
• Strong writing and verbal communication skills, including communicating solutions to complex issues in a simple and accessible way.
• Experience and knowledge of the Machinery of Government is highly desirable. We will also consider candidates with experience in providing economic advice to inform private sector infrastructure projects or infrastructure finance proposals.

Team and clients

• Focus on business development across key accounts related to our infrastructure economics offering.
• Development of training material and guidance to lift team capability in core economic concepts.
• An ability to build authentic internal and external relationships to be responsive to client needs.
• Dedication to supporting a collaborative and positive team culture.

Recruitment Agencies: The recruitment for this role is being managed directly by the KPMG Talent Acquisition team. We will contact our preferred agency partners if we require agency assistance. Thank you for your understanding.

Life at KPMG

We offer rewarding careers to talented individuals and a range of benefits to help provide holistic support for your work life, whatever your circumstance. As a KPMG employee, we will offer you:

• Hybrid Working – a mix of working in the office and at home to enhance your work/life balance
• Access to ‘Whanau@KPMG’ – 18 weeks’ paid flexible leave for all new parents - primary and secondary carers
• Excellent learning and professional development opportunities, from online learning and in-house courses to external training and opportunities to work across our global network.
• An inclusive working environment that celebrates our diversity and reflects our communities.

We believe that diversity of background and experience strengthens relationships and delivers meaningful benefits to our people, clients and communities. Our goal is to be recognised as an employer of choice for all, irrespective of gender, ethnicity, generation, flexible work status, family circumstances, sexual orientation or disability. Further info can be found on our website.

For disabled and neurodiverse candidates, if you encounter accessibility barriers or if you have access needs and require support to participate equitably in the recruitment process, please email Emma at KPMGAccessibilityNetwork@kpmg.co.nz.

For any general questions about the role or recruitment process, feel free to reach out to our Talent Acquisition team at Jobs@kpmg.co.nz.