General Manager, Investment and Portfolio Operations

• Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA)
• Lead operational excellence across ARENA's investment delivery
• Sydney based

About ARENA
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is a Corporate Commonwealth entity established to improve the competitiveness of renewable energy technologies and increase the supply of renewable energy in Australia. ARENA has received significant additional funding over the past three budget cycles and is trusted by government to deliver many of its most impactful emissions reduction programmes. ARENA supports the government's emissions reduction goals through its focus on technology innovation and commercialisation to the benefit of Australia.

About the Investment and Portfolio Group
The Investment and Portfolio Group plays an integral role within ARENA by working collaboratively with industry, research institutions and government to support initiatives that accelerate the reduction of Australia's emissions through technology innovation. The Group designs and implements funding programmes, appraises funding proposals, coordinates external due diligence, negotiates and manages funding agreements, manages ARENA’s diverse portfolio of active projects, and shares insights and lessons learnt across the portfolio.

The Role
As General Manager, Investment and Portfolio Operations, you will play a critical leadership role ensuring consistency, quality and acceleration of investment practices and the systems that support them. Working within a Group of approximately 80 people, you will be a key member of the investment leadership team, overseeing portfolio and investment operations across Impact Teams.
You will act as the Chief Investment Officer's delegate in ensuring operational performance, surfacing risks and enabling success through best-practice tools, standards and support services. You will drive operational governance processes across contracting, portfolio management, due diligence and investment reviews, whilst overseeing implementation and evolution of core systems including grant management and portfolio monitoring tools. This role requires strong integration with Strategy, Legal, Policy, Finance, Risk and other corporate functions to align delivery with strategic objectives, and includes representing ARENA's investment delivery function in internal and external forums.

What We're Looking For
You will bring deep expertise in investment operations, operational KPIs and portfolio governance frameworks. You understand the investment cycle, with the ability to embed consistent standards and uplift delivery maturity across large portfolios.
You possess exceptional operational leadership skills with a proven ability to manage systems, standards and continuous improvement in complex, high-stakes environments. You demonstrate collaborative leadership with strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, skilled in workforce planning and capability development within matrixed environments. You are adaptable and delivery-focused, able to manage ambiguity whilst maintaining discipline and rigour, and can translate operational complexity into actionable insights for executives.
Knowledge of the clean energy transition and innovation funding mechanisms is desirable but not essential. Most importantly, you are deeply aligned with ARENA's mission - motivated by accelerating technology innovation to reduce Australia's emissions and position Australia as a renewable energy superpower in a net zero world.

Australian citizenship essential.

Location: Sydney

How to apply: Please click on the "Additional Information" button to download a copy of the Candidate Information Pack. For more information, please contact Andrew McEncroe at publicsector@derwentsearch.com.au or call 02 9223 1855 quoting reference number: 34013.

To apply: Please provide a cover letter highlighting your suitability for the role and a resume by the due date.

Applications close: Sunday 1 March, 2026.