Director, Project Finance

Apex Clean Energy•Charlottesville, VA

13h•Hybrid

About The Position

We are seeking a Director of Project Finance to help us accelerate the shift to clean energy by leading both the strategic direction and hands-on execution of our project finance modeling function. Reporting to the EVP, Head of Project Finance, this role sits at the center of every wind, solar, and storage financing transaction Apex closes. The Director of Project Finance leads Apex's 4-person Project Finance analysis team—establishing priorities, setting modeling standards, reviewing team output, and managing workload and staffing across a live transaction pipeline—while also personally owning the financial model for a subset of individual project finance transactions each year, including deal structuring, base case development, and sensitivity and scenario analysis. This is a hybrid role: part team leadership, part hands-on modeling, and the balance will shift with deal flow and team capacity. Our ideal candidate has deep, current, hands-on financial modeling experience in renewable energy project finance—not only management experience—combined with a track record of leading and developing a team of analysts or associates. You are equally comfortable running a model yourself on a live deal and reviewing someone else's work with a critical eye, and you bring the judgment to know when a transaction warrants your direct involvement versus your team's.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, economics, or a related field; MBA or CFA a plus but not required
10+ years of experience in project finance, financial modeling, or valuation, including hands-on deal modeling experience that remains current—not solely managerial
Demonstrated experience personally building and defending complex financial models (tax equity, debt, M&A) through investor and lender diligence
Prior experience managing or mentoring a team of modeling experts in a finance-intensive function
Advanced Excel and financial modeling skills, along with familiarity with renewable energy tax credit structures (ITC/PTC, transferability) and financing structures
Strong project management skills, with the ability to prioritize across a live transaction pipeline and a personal modeling workload simultaneously
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to present financial analysis clearly to executives, lenders, and investors
A responsive, customer-service orientation to internal and external requests for information, analysis, and explanation of modeling concepts and sensitivities
Sound judgment and decision-making under time pressure, particularly near financial close
A collaborative, hands-on mindset—comfortable moving between individual-contributor and people-leader responsibilities day to day
Ability to work from Apex's headquarters in Charlottesville, VA; hybrid work considered for the right candidate.

Nice To Haves

Experience with employing artificial intelligence as a tool to streamline and add efficiency and accuracy to modeling activities is a strong plus

Responsibilities

Personally build, structure, and maintain financial models for a subset of individual project finance transactions—including tax equity, back-leverage debt, and M&A analyses—from initial screening through financial close.
Review, stress-test, and validate financial models produced by the Project Finance analysis team across all other active transactions, and set the modeling standards, templates, and methodologies used across the Project Finance function.
Manage day-to-day workload, staffing, and prioritization for the Analysis team across a live transaction pipeline, while coaching and developing analysts and associates through hands-on technical mentorship.
Serve as a point of contact for internal deal teams, lenders, and tax equity investors on modeling questions, for both team-led and self-led transactions.
Present model outputs and key transaction economics to executive leadership and, as needed, approval committees.
Identify and resolve modeling and structuring issues that surface during diligence, negotiation, or closing.
Drive continuous improvement in modeling tools, processes, and quality controls across the function.
Serve as the Project Finance team's subject matter expert on the technical mechanics of debt, tax equity, and hybrid financing structures—including partnership flips, back-leverage, sale-leasebacks, and transferability-based structures—and maintain current knowledge of how those structures, their pricing, and the underlying tax and regulatory landscape are evolving so that Apex's models and deal assumptions reflect current market terms.