Bonds & Guarantees Manager M/F

About the role

As an integral part of the Treasury & Financing team, the Group Bonds & Guarantee (B&G) team is responsible for the high-level governance and strategic management of bonding facilities and off-balance-sheet commitments, in particular:

• Negotiation & establishment of bonding facilities with financial institutions,
• Management of Group off balance sheet commitments, involving:
  • Early contractual assessment and advisory of bonding‑related Terms & Conditions during tender and contract phases,
  • Legal review and drafting of contractual clauses, and
  • Negotiation of financial security texts with financial institutions, beneficiaries and external partners to ensure feasibility, cost efficiency and controlled risk exposure.
• Structuring, issuance and management of Financial and Commercial Parent Company Guarantees (“PCGs”, €70bn),
• Within the annual DoA of Alstom Holdings, engages the Group balance sheet and represents Treasury B&G competence & expertise in trade and project business,
• Imposes and controls the Group governance instructions for Guarantees management to Regions and business units,
• Trains relevant internal stakeholders on bonds, guarantees and Parent Company Guarantees.

In the team, the Bonds & Guarantees Manager is responsible for:

• Assessing risks and advising contractual T&Cs in tenders, taking into account the diversity of applicable law of contractual structures and financial market constraints (compliance with local banking or insurance market regulation), with the objective of limiting Alstom’s exposure and risks while ensuring bankable solutions,
• Legal review and drafting of contractual clauses & guarantee wording in tenders,
• Structuring of guarantee solutions best meeting business requirements considering the constraints of the different stakeholders (customers, partners, financing institutions),
• Negotiation of financial security texts with financial institutions (banks & insurers), the beneficiaries (clients and/or their financial institutions in case of contract financing) & partners (external consortium structures),
• Negotiation of commissions with financial institutions,
• Allocation of capacity per project and country and issuance of guarantees through banks and insurers in line with approved structures,
• Developing analysis for the Management on the Group’s exposure, capacity requirements and financial costs and risk concentration,
• Driving the digital transformation of the department including definition of functional requirements and interfacing with financial institutions.

Key accountabilities

• Act as a business partner to the Regionals functions to provide guidance and solutions on tenders & projects from the pre‑qualification stage to the final reception of the contract including the release of all financial securities linked to the contract,
  • Analyze tender documentation, considering the requirements of the clients, project financing (own equity, ECA financing, PPP) and contractual scheme (i.e. Alstom alone, external consortium, joint venture with or without effective control)
  • Advise on proposed guarantee texts & contractual clauses based on financial local regulations and applicable law of the country, with the aim to structure bankable, cost‑efficient and risk‑mitigated bonding solutions, including:
    • Structuring optimal guarantee and surety issuance schemes to ensure feasibility of issuance in case of contract award, including selection of banks and insurers with sufficient capacity and backup options,
    • Ensuring contractual compliance with client restrictions (issuer rating, localisation, issuer type),
    • Obtaining flexible bonding conditions in line with market practices and local law by securing capacity with multiple financial partners, thereby enabling a range of alternative bonding solutions to be proposed to the client.
• Actively participate in customer & partner negotiations when required, inform Treasurer and Tender control of identified risks during negotiations on guarantees and contractual structures, and propose mitigation,
• Manage Alstom Group worldwide committed and uncommitted guarantee facilities ensuring:
  • Optimal allocation of the worldwide bank capacity (€45bn) between country bonding lines and central bonding lines,
  • Equitable distribution of the Group committed capacity usage among the participating banks,
  • Timely issuance of guarantees and amendments to ensure contractual compliance and cash objectives,
  • Timely processing by financial institutions of releases and reductions under central bonding lines, including challenging bank processes or legal positions when required, based on strong expertise in ICC demand guarantee rules and local banking practices,
  • Best pricing negotiated per project by challenging institutions and proposing alternative solutions to reduce costs and improve project margin,
  • Forecasted guarantee requirements are identified, monitored and communicated to the wider team.
• Engage financial institutions to negotiate and push back their restrictions to issue specific wording when the banks are not comfortable with the client requirements (guarantee texts, best pricing for Projects), and require banks to apply the contractual terms agreed with Alstom,
• Act & sign under delegation from Alstom Holdings to grant bonds, PCGs, deeds, agreements on behalf of the company and its subsidiaries, ensuring that the Group is not in breach of its financial documentation that could create a default and freeze of bonding capacity,
• Partner with Finance Law Department and bid/contract management, prepare documentation for Board validation of Parent Company Guarantees and new or amended bonding lines, and coordinate the issuance process accordingly.

Regional Business Partner

• Within the team, responsible for all matters related to the issuance and management of guarantees on behalf of specific countries and regions, including issuance, amendments, reporting and management of local or global bonding lines.
• Ensure that governance is maintained through the Bonds & Guarantees IT tool for issuance, amendments and release of guarantees, controlling subsidiary requests and interfacing with financial institutions to ensure timely execution.
• Be a guardian of rules by ensuring strict adherence to Golden Rules and approval processes by subsidiaries.

Best in class – management & development

• Drive design and worldwide deployment of digital guarantees management tools, including workflow processes, document management, approval governance, reporting and dematerialisation with financial institutions.
• Understand regional forecasted needs through regular contact with Treasurers and ensure sufficient guarantee capacity via corporate or local bonding lines to meet contractual requirements.
• Design, prepare and enhance management reports to support Regional Treasurers and Financial Directors in monitoring their guarantees portfolio and exposure.
• Pilot and supervise negotiation of bonding lines for local Alstom subsidiaries, negotiate Financial PCGs and ensure their issuance in due time.
• Arrange training material and train Alstom employees on Bonds & Guarantees instruments (Bonds & Guarantees, Sureties, Fees management, Parent Company Guarantees, process, Golden rules …)
• Drive development of resources and skills within the Global Service Centre to support streamlined and standardised guarantees administrative activities.

Profile & Qualifications

Education

Master 2‑degree level, with International Trade orientation and/or a Law degree / Legal or Contract Management background.

Experience

Mandatory

• 5‑8 years of experience in a trade, project finance or legal role with a bank, insurance company or a corporate role with complex structures and contracts
• Knowledge of banking market, regulation, international rules
• Experience with business‑oriented data tools (e.g. advanced Excel modelling, Qlik or Power BI) for financial analysis, forecasting and reporting.
• Data analytics (applied to financial exposure, capacity and cost analysis)
• Fluent in English with excellent verbal and written communication
• Second language (German, Spanish and/or French language skills)
• Excellent Communication skills to deliver presentation to company’s executives, position papers to the external auditors, trainings to the Alstom’s Finance community
• Proficient in the Microsoft Office suite, comfortable with digital finance tools and reporting interfaces (including ERP environments)
• Team spirit, transparent, self‑control on stressful situation, resistant to pressure from internal and external partners, capacity to work on different topics in the same time
• Proactive and can work autonomously, while managing priorities
• Ability to build effective working relationships across multiple sites, corporate functions and with external third parties
• Ability to influence people through developing persuasive arguments & negotiation
• Solution‑oriented who knows how to influence multiple projects while guiding and providing critical feedback to colleagues
• Quick in execution while being open to dialogue and listening
• Ability to translate banking and insurance market constraints into commercially acceptable and business‑oriented solutions
• Strong analytical mindset, able to interpret data and support management decisions related to bonding strategy, capacity allocation and risk exposure.

Important to note

As a global business, we’re an equal‑opportunity employer that celebrates diversity across the 63 countries we operate in. We’re committed to creating an inclusive workplace for everyone.