Project Finance Associate

Department: Project Finance | Reports to: Managing Director, Head of Project Finance | Location: New York, NY | Travel: 0–25%

About the company

Recurrent Energy is a subsidiary of Canadian Solar Inc. and one of the world’s largest and most geographically diversified utility-scale solar and energy storage project development, ownership, and O&M platforms. With a strong track record of originating, developing, financing, and building nearly 11 GWp of solar and 4 GWh of battery storage power plants across six continents, Recurrent Energy has established a leadership position in both solar and battery storage project development. The total pipeline stands at 27 GWp in solar and 63 GWh in battery storage, and the services business manages 10 GW of solar and storage projects under operations and maintenance contracts.

About the role

We are seeking an Associate to join the Project Finance team at Recurrent Energy. This team member will be responsible for supporting and managing debt and tax equity capital raising for Recurrent Energy’s solar and battery storage projects as well as providing sophisticated financial modeling to identify creative solutions to profitability objectives. The role is highly visible within the organization and requires cross‑functional collaboration with many different internal and external groups. We are looking for someone with intellectual curiosity, high motivation, and excellent communication and process management skills who is pursuing a long‑term career in project finance.

Responsibilities

• Provide leadership of financial modeling and profitability analysis: take ownership of the project financing model’s content and output; guide and quality‑control junior analysts on inputs, structure, and best practices; ensure the model accurately reflects the underlying transaction, current market conditions, and optimized commercial results.
• Build bespoke structured financing models that capture terms of various financing vehicles and markets not covered by existing tools.
• Demonstrate a strong understanding of causal relationships between model inputs and outputs; identify multi‑dimensional improvements to overall project profitability.
• Model project profitability under various financing structures (tax equity and debt) and recommend optimal capital structures.
• Provide leadership and coaching to junior analysts on the team.
• Independently manage third‑party financial models and consultant reports; assist in negotiating transaction documents consistent with project objectives and financing strategy.
• Collaborate with the Business Analytics team to ensure development‑stage project models reflect current debt and tax equity market terms and structures.
• Support deal leads on project financing transactions: prepare accurate, clean marketing materials; review and assist in negotiating term sheets and definitive documentation; coordinate with third‑party financing providers on due diligence and documentation.
• Maintain responsibility for financial deal models for debt and tax equity transactions while working closely with external counterparties and internal teams.
• Create proposals, information memoranda, presentations, project schedules, and internal presentations.
• Assist with gathering and presenting information for financial partners performing due diligence on Recurrent Energy’s projects.
• Review key contracts, term sheets, and other documents for impact on profitability, financial modeling, and overall financeability.
• Facilitate information flow between finance, development, power marketing, legal, and engineering teams during transaction execution.
• Manage deadlines and maintain accountability across cross‑functional deal teams; lead peers with confidence and dedication.
• Interact and develop relationships with tax equity investors, lenders, and third‑party market consultants; coordinate and collaborate with all internal stakeholders representing all stages of the project lifecycle.

Requirements

• 3–5 years of relevant experience required.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience.
• Long‑term career interest in renewable project finance capital raising and investing.
• Strong financial modeling and analytical skills.
• Strong verbal communication skills with a collaborative mindset.
• Expertise in modeling and structuring tax equity transactions.
• Solid understanding of project finance and economic concepts.
• Expert understanding of power and financing markets.
• High proficiency in MS Excel, MS Word, and MS PowerPoint.
• Solution‑ and goal‑oriented with a growth mindset.
• Resourceful and comfortable working in an unstructured, entrepreneurial, transaction‑based environment where requirements and deadlines are driven by deal flow.
• Strong quantitative aptitude with an extremely high level of attention to detail.
• Interest in working in a fast‑growing industry making a tangible impact on climate change.
• Ability to translate complex quantitative analysis into written, deliverable insights.
• Highly driven, proactive, and hardworking; a self‑starter who takes pride in optimizing financial models and work products.