CRO – Enterprise Risk — Transport-Assets Portfolio

The mandate

An institutionally backed Australian transport portfolio is preparing assets for refinancing, partnership, sale or continued ownership. Risk oversight grew within separate project, concession and functional teams, making it difficult to see correlated exposure or challenge transaction assumptions consistently. The board has created a Chief Risk Officer role to provide independent portfolio judgement before balance-sheet rotation fixes obligations into deal structures.

The perimeter covers approximately A$24,500 million of projects and operating assets and 1,825 employees and material partners. Accountability includes enterprise risk, appetite, investment challenge, operational and project risk, resilience, insurance oversight, transaction risk, control assurance and risk talent. Executives remain first-line owners, and safety, legal and compliance functions retain their specialist mandates. The CRO owns aggregation, independent escalation and the effectiveness of the risk system.

Transport exposure crosses boundaries. Patronage or traffic weakness can coincide with refinancing pressure; asset condition can affect service, claims and buyer price; technology concentration can disrupt operations across concessions. Entity registers rarely describe these connections. The CRO must build a portfolio view that supports decisions without replacing detailed asset judgement.

Balance-sheet rotation requires careful independence. A transaction team may frame risk as transferable because a contract contains an indemnity, while residual reputation, service or enforcement exposure remains. The CRO will distinguish legal allocation, practical control and economic consequence, then advise the board before terms become difficult to change.

Why this seat is open

This urgent new appointment has no predecessor. The rotation programme exposed a level of cross-portfolio complexity not anticipated in the organisation plan, and distributed risk leaders lack authority across transactions and retained assets. Selection is targeted within six to eight weeks. Interim committees preserve current approvals but cannot provide permanent independent ownership.

What you will own

• Set portfolio appetite, limits and escalation linked to strategy.
• Aggregate correlated asset, project, financing and operating exposure.
• Challenge investment, refinancing and transaction cases independently.
• Govern resilience, insurance and control assurance by consequence.
• Define retained, transferred and transitional risk through asset rotation.
• Build risk leaders with authority close to assets and projects.

Risk appetite will be expressed through decisions, not adjectives. The CRO will translate board tolerance into exposure limits, minimum controls and approval thresholds for leverage, construction, availability, demand, counterparties, technology, insurance and concentration. Exceptions will state duration, compensating control and accountable owner. Repeated exceptions will trigger a strategy or capital discussion rather than silent normalisation.

Aggregation will use scenarios that can travel across entities. Extreme weather, power loss, industrial action, cyber disruption, contractor failure, interest-rate stress and regulatory intervention may affect several assets simultaneously. The function will reconcile asset data and surface dependency without forcing false comparability. Where evidence remains weak, uncertainty will be visible in decision papers.

Transaction challenge begins at perimeter definition. The CRO will test warranties, indemnities, insurance, guarantees, transitional services, stranded systems, key suppliers, licences and customer obligations. A sale may remove ownership while leaving contingent claims, brand association or service dependency. Retained exposure will have a costed owner and monitoring route before board approval.

Control assurance will focus on consequence and change. High-risk assets, major projects, new systems and transaction preparation receive deeper testing than stable low-exposure areas. Assurance providers will share a coordinated plan while preserving independence. Findings close only when operating evidence confirms the control is used; a revised policy or management representation is insufficient.

Resilience work will connect response with investment. Scenario exercises must identify decision authority, operational alternatives, communications, interdependencies and recovery limits. Lessons will influence maintenance, supplier, technology and capital plans. The CRO will ensure insurance choices reflect loss prevention and balance-sheet capacity rather than annual premium optimisation alone.

The first 12 months

Within 75 days, the CRO will map the 20 largest exposures, reassess transaction assumptions and evaluate risk leadership. The board committee will receive immediate appetite breaches, correlated scenarios and decisions required before the next capital gate.

By month eight, three priority assets should use decision-linked appetite, two rotation candidates should carry approved retained-risk schedules and the first portfolio stress exercise should reconcile operational and financing consequences. Assurance coverage will be reallocated to material exposure.

At year-end, 95% of high-severity actions should close by approved dates, appetite exceptions older than 90 days fall 50% and every material transaction carry independent risk sign-off before binding commitment. Critical resilience actions should achieve 90% completion, with no unowned contingent exposure identified after transaction approval.

What the board will measure

• Independent risk challenge before capital decisions harden.
• Correlated exposure visible across assets and project companies.
• Clear retained and transferred obligations through rotation.
• Assurance and resilience investment directed by consequence.
• Credible risk leaders and sustained first-line ownership.

The person

You are a CRO, enterprise-risk executive or infrastructure assurance leader with 18–22 years of experience. You have carried accountable scope above A$14,200 million and led at least 1,275 people. Your career includes transport, infrastructure, regulated assets or comparable portfolios with project, operating and financing risk.

The board will probe a transaction you challenged after identifying retained exposure, a cross-entity scenario that changed capital allocation and a control issue you refused to close on paper evidence. You must combine independence with practical operating understanding. Candidates whose experience is limited to reporting or compliance coordination will not meet the standard.

This onsite Sydney role requires asset, lender, investor and project travel. The CRO has direct access to the relevant board committee and must be available during major events and transaction gates.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is A$520,000–700,000 plus annual incentive and LTI. Measures include appetite discipline, transaction challenge, assurance, resilience, issue closure and succession. Long-term participation follows standard vesting and confirmed scope.

Confidentiality

The sponsor, assets, transactions, incidents, lenders and risk positions remain confidential. Identifying detail follows qualification and mutual confidentiality. Composite context and rounded values prevent the portfolio from being triangulated.