Project Finance SME / Drawdown Management (Sao Paulo, Brazil)

Context

We are supporting a consulting firm delivering a major international infrastructure project and are looking for an experienced Project Finance Controller / Drawdown Management SME to reinforce the existing project team.

The assignment concerns a large greenfield infrastructure project financed through a project finance structure involving an international consortium of lenders.

Financial Close has recently been achieved and the project has entered its first lender reporting cycles. The client already has a local delivery team in place and is looking for one highly experienced operational specialist to take ownership of the drawdown management process.

This is not an executive or management role. We are looking for a hands-on individual contributor with extensive operational experience in project finance execution.

Responsibilities

• Structure and operate the drawdown management process.

• Prepare and coordinate lender drawdown packages.

• Produce and review all supporting financial documentation required for disbursement requests.

• Maintain and update CAPEX trackers and project S-Curves.

• Ensure consistency between construction progress and financial reporting.

• Coordinate with technical reviewers and project stakeholders.

• Verify compliance with financing agreements and drawdown conditions.

• Anticipate lender comments before formal submissions.

• Ensure complete audit trail and documentation quality throughout the process.

Profile

• 8+ years of experience in PMO and/or complex project management

• Proven hands-on experience in project finance with multilateral and/or development finance institutions (IFC, BNDES, or commercial banks)

• Direct operational experience managing drawdown processes with lenders — not limited to senior oversight

• Demonstrated command of CAPEX Tracker and S-Curve (ideally built from scratch, not just used)

• Direct experience interfacing with an Independent Engineer

• Deep understanding of lender-side contractual requirements, covenants, and disbursement conditions

• Prior work experience in Brazil highly desirable — Portuguese fluency strongly preferred

Strong plus:

• Experience on greenfield industrial infrastructure projects (mining, energy, oil & gas, steel) during construction/EPC phase

• Exposure to financing consortia with multiple multilateral lenders simultaneously

Important: candidates with a predominantly executive track record (CFO, Finance Director) without day-to-day operational drawdown experience will not be considered.

Assignment

• Freelance

• Approximately 4 months

• Full-time

• Based in São Paulo

• Immediate start