Senior Project Finance Model Review Principal

The mandate

An industrial development investment case relies on a financial model assembled from several specialist workbooks, with no independent check of how construction timing, funding drawdowns and operating assumptions interact. The senior principal owns independent testing and the scoped financial review conclusions, delivered in a Project Finance Model Review File. Sponsors retain investment decisions; the specialist provides reliable evidence rather than certification that the development will achieve its projected returns.

The four-month project starts on 26 October 2026 and requires three protected working days each week. Deliverables include a source-assumption register, a reviewed reference model and a scenario evidence book. The review distinguishes calculation integrity, source support and commercial uncertainty, so a mathematically corrected workbook is not mistaken for validation of technical, legal or market conclusions it merely incorporates.

The first milestone, dated 30 November 2026, supplies the model inventory and material source reconciliation. The second, on 15 January 2027, provides the corrected model and construction, demand and financing sensitivity evidence. The final milestone on 26 February 2027 delivers the independent findings report, model-owner replay and operating review instructions spanning the full agreed project term.

The Investment Director and CFO accept the three stages jointly. Acceptance requires source-to-model traceability for material inputs, reproducible debt and cash waterfall calculations and test results that show the documented response to timing changes. An internal modeller must replay the agreed adverse case and explain the resulting financing need. Payment cannot depend on lender approval, transaction close or a legal or technical outcome outside this scope.

The sponsor supplies feasibility reports, draft financing assumptions, cost schedules and access to technical evidence owners, together with three available analysts. Accepted stages release 30%, 35% and 35% of the project fee. New projects, replacement of specialist feasibility work and negotiation of financing documents are excluded; additional model perimeter or source remediation requires a signed scope and price change before work begins.

What you will own

• Inventory the model components and specialist sources, defining material interfaces and a review boundary that makes clear which feasibility conclusions are incorporated rather than independently certified.
• Reconcile construction expenditure, commissioning dates and operating assumptions to the supplied evidence, preparing a source register that identifies conditional inputs before the first acceptance discussion.
• Test funding drawdowns, interest calculations and cash waterfalls under the reference case, documenting formula defects and treatment choices with enough detail for an internal modeller to reproduce each finding.
• Build interdependent timing and demand sensitivities that reveal peak funding need, highlighting cases where a delay changes several assumptions rather than merely shifting revenue into a later period.
• Prepare the second-stage reviewed model with a controlled issue log, separating corrected defects, unresolved evidence limitations and alternative commercial cases that require sponsor judgement rather than consultant approval.
• Draft the final review opinion using precise scope and confidence language, ensuring directors can distinguish calculation reliability from the uncertainty of projected operating performance or specialist feasibility inputs.
• Conduct a model-owner replay of the agreed adverse case, repairing unclear instructions and recording acceptance evidence before the final artifacts and maintenance responsibility are transferred.

Candidate qualifications

• Demonstrate extensive project finance modelling or senior corporate finance review experience in industrial, engineering or energy-related development. Provide a case where interacting construction and funding assumptions materially changed an investment view, identifying the calculation defect or unsupported source you found and the decision evidence your review produced.
• Bring detailed knowledge of project cash waterfalls, debt drawdowns, interest treatment and sensitivity design. You should be able to explain why a timing change affects peak liquidity differently from project return, and show how you tested that relationship. Experience must include a reproducible review trail, not only building sophisticated workbooks that others could not maintain.
• Show independence and judgement when reviewing assumptions sponsored by experienced development leaders. Describe how you distinguished a model error from a commercial disagreement and how the relevant owner accepted or retained the latter. The role requires respect for specialist technical and legal boundaries while making their financial implications explicit enough for investment review.
• Establish capacity for a four-month, three-day-week engagement and a controlled internal transfer. Evidence should include advance acceptance criteria, materiality decisions and an owner replay that revealed a weakness in your documentation or model design. Professional finance standing and clear written findings must support the scoped review responsibility without implying a financing guarantee.

Application

Applications for this mandate are received in one way only: through the India Board Terminal's application process. It is automated end to end. Your Executive Passport travels to the mandate holder in its confidential form, your answers to the three questions below are read before anything else in your file, and every stage that follows is recorded on your applications page.

There is no address to write to and no intermediary to call. The mandate holder reads what the Terminal delivers and nothing else, which is what keeps the process the same for every applicant and keeps your name out of it until you release it. Applications close on 8 October 2026. Mandate reference CVU-CON-2026-IND-193.