Sr. Operations Controlling Associate

RWE Americas, LLC
To start as soon as possible, full time, permanent

Functional area: Finance / Controlling
Remuneration: Exempt

The Senior Associate, Operations Controlling is a key role, serving as a trusted financial partner and advisor to RWE Americas (RWEA) Operations leadership to support in delivering on their core financial targets. This role drives the financial reporting and forecasting for a 13 GW portfolio of Onshore Wind, Solar, and Energy Storage operating assets, analyzing asset performance and cost drivers to explain results and identify opportunities to improve financial and operational outcomes.  It also plays a critical role in driving process improvements and solutions that are scalable with RWEA’s ambitious growth targets.

Role Responsibilities:

• Lead monthly and quarterly financial reporting activities for a portfolio of Onshore Wind, Solar, or Energy Storage operating assets and internal support teams, ensuring accuracy and completeness of actuals, commentary, and KPIs (OpEx, Ops CapEx, Inventory)
• Manage the full forecast lifecycle for a portfolio of operating assets-from collecting assumptions to inputting and analyzing data to review
• Conduct deep-dive variance analyses to explain trends in operating costs, equipment maintenance, lost production, and asset underperformance
• Coordinate with other Controlling sub teams to ensure alignment on performance reporting standards, intercompany allocations, and consolidation of local and global KPIs
• Present performance results and forecasts to Operations and Asset Management leadership, offering insights into asset performance and strategic recommendations
• Track ongoing optimization efforts for operating assets to evaluate cost saving ideas, performance improvement initiatives, and capital expenditures
• Support initiatives to improve automation, reporting consistency, and data quality in SAP, Power BI, and other planning tools and systems
• Act as a trusted financial partner to Site Operations and Asset Management leads helping translate operational plans into KPIs

Job Requirements and Experience: 

• Bachelor’s degree in finance / accounting / economics / business or equivalent professional experience
• CPA is preferred, but not required
• Minimum 4 years of relevant experience
• Experience in an FP&A role and/or within the renewable energy sector preferred, but not required
• Basic knowledge of the core accounting concepts and principles; advanced knowledge is a plus
• Strong communication skills (written and verbal) and comfortable interfacing with senior management
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Actively drives collaboration across functions; explains findings clearly to internal stakeholders; acts as finance partner with asset managers and technical teams
• Proven ability to empathize, build relationships, and effectively communicate with people from a diverse set of backgrounds
• Focuses on building relationships to standardize processes and solve problems
• Applies strong conceptual and analytical thinking; independently runs forecasts and builds models; explains financial trends effectively to business partners; interprets financial data in light of business dynamics
• Proficient understanding of forecasting, variance analysis, asset performance metrics and systems/reporting tools (e.g., Power BI)
• Strong technical background, with advanced proficiency in Excel, SAP, SAC, PowerBI, and/or Tableau a plus
• Detail-oriented, has strong business acumen and analytical mindset, and a sound understanding of business concepts
• Motivated self-starter, goal-oriented, and strong problem-solving abilities
• Strong organizational skills and ability to coordinate multiple tasks and deliverables
• Identifies issues and modifies processes and methods as needed
• Demonstrated desire to learn about the Company and the renewables space
• Responds well to direction, is easy to challenge and develop, and is coachable
• Leads assigned tasks with management direction/guidance
• Guides interns/graduates/new joiners
• This position is an office-based role with some travel and visits to other RWE Americas offices and field