Senior Partner – Capital and Deals — Refining And Marketing System

The mandate

Capital sponsors are reconsidering how refining, logistics and marketing assets should fit together as margins normalise and transition expenditure competes with maintenance and growth. The advisory firm has clear demand for sector-specific judgement but is preparing an orderly succession from a Senior Partner whose relationships and transaction memory have shaped the franchise. The incoming leader must preserve that confidence while giving clients a more integrated route from portfolio thesis through execution and post-deal value.

The relevant refining and marketing perimeter is approximately £26,650 million, with about 575 employees and material partners affected by the advisory programme and its decisions. Potential assignments range from carve-outs and joint ventures to terminal rationalisation, retail partnerships, capital recycling and selective acquisitions. Each carries operational dependencies that a conventional transaction timetable can overlook.

The Senior Partner will sit in London, reporting to the Global Managing Partner and regional partner council. The chair, executive committee and principal capital sponsors expect candid advice on whether a deal should proceed, not advocacy designed to maximise transaction volume. Board access, conversion discipline and value after completion are the defining outcomes.

Why this seat is open

This is a planned replacement. The current partner continues to lead during an agreed succession window and will introduce priority relationships, explain unresolved commitments and support a controlled transfer of engagement accountability. The four-to-six-month timetable protects continuity through a commodity-cycle repositioning. It is not an accelerated exit, and the successful candidate will be expected to respect rather than erase the incumbent’s institutional contribution.

What you will own

• Build a capital-and-deals thesis for refining and marketing assets, distinguishing structural advantage from temporary cycle earnings and regulatory or environmental liabilities.
• Lead the earliest board conversations on strategic alternatives, including hold, improve, partner, separate, acquire and close; make the cost of delay visible alongside execution risk.
• Set independent challenge on valuation, synergies, stranded-cost assumptions, working capital, separation complexity and transition capital before an investment case advances.
• Coordinate commercial, operational, financial, tax, legal, technology and people specialists around one decision narrative rather than parallel diligence reports.
• Maintain clear acceptance boundaries where financing, audit or other relationships create conflicts, ensuring client confidentiality and regulatory obligations are never subordinated to revenue.
• Convert signed transactions into governed value-capture programmes with named owners for Day One, stranded cost, customer retention, supply continuity and capital delivery.
• Steward succession across the client book, introducing at least two credible relationship leaders to every strategically significant board and sponsor.
• Own pipeline quality, engagement economics, collections, claims exposure and talent deployment for the deals team serving this market.

The first 12 months

The first quarter is about transfer and truth. Review active pursuits with the incumbent, meet capital sponsors and client chairs, and classify opportunities by decision maturity rather than headline value. Identify where the current book depends on personal history, where post-deal work has been fragmented and where the firm should decline participation because independence cannot be protected.

By month seven, establish a sector deal screen that tests cycle-normalised cash, asset integrity, transition liabilities and operational separability before resources are committed. Take at least two strategic-option assignments from board question to an executable route, and install a post-deal office on any completed transaction where the firm influenced the value case.

By the first anniversary, priority relationships should have accepted the succession, the qualified pipeline should be larger and more diverse, and every completed deal should carry a board-agreed value bridge. The practice must demonstrate that conversion and post-deal outcomes reinforce each other rather than compete for attention.

What the board will measure

• Retention of at least 90% of the transferring client book and completion of documented multi-partner succession for all priority accounts.
• Three board-level strategic-options mandates, with at least two progressing to a funded decision or clearly evidenced no-deal conclusion.
• Deal conversion at or above the agreed annual plan without weakening conflict, acceptance or quality-review standards.
• A value-capture office mobilised within 20 working days of each relevant completion, tracking synergies, stranded costs and capital commitments.
• Forecast accuracy within 10% across two consecutive quarters and no aged high-severity engagement risk without regional-council action.
• At least 70% of direct reports covered by credible succession, with critical sector and execution skill gaps addressed.

The person

You are a Senior Partner, Deals Leader or Investment Committee adviser with 22–28 years in energy, oil and gas, chemicals, utilities, infrastructure or industrial services. You have advised boards through transactions where operational reality changed the preferred answer. Your record includes saying no, reshaping a deal or changing consideration when evidence did not support the original thesis.

The minimum accountable scale is a £15,450 million P&L, book, budget or portfolio and leadership of at least 400 people, or equivalent responsibility for complex capital advice. You should have personally led multi-jurisdictional diligence and stayed involved after signing. Familiarity with refining economics, distribution networks, retail or business-to-business marketing, environmental obligations and separation design is important.

The role is hybrid but anchored in London, with international relocation supported. Regular client travel and availability around transaction milestones are inherent; permanent remote delivery is not compatible with the succession requirement.

Compensation and terms

The indicative package is £210,000–280,000 base plus annual incentive. Partnership economics will reflect final account responsibility, experience and current mix. The transition can accommodate up to six months for notice, client handover and conflict resolution, subject to an agreed sequence with the incumbent.

Confidentiality

The firm, incumbent, clients and prospective transactions are unnamed to protect succession and market integrity. Identifying information is released only following qualification, reciprocal interest and appropriate confidentiality commitments.