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Career opportunities

Thank you for your interest in a role at Castalia. We recruit and onboard new team members quarterly, and the next round of career opportunities will be posted by 5 July 2024 (for a 3 October 2024 start date).

In the meantime, please feel free to submit your materials to our talent pool using the link below. We will notify you if we have an opportunity that may be a good match.

Submit your interests here.

Castalia advises on New Zealand Hydrogen Roadmap

Castalia is preparing detailed modelling for to inform New Zealand’s hydrogen pathway for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
April 13, 2020/by Site Admin

Ophthalmologists’ Price-Fixing Prosecution, New Zealand

Castalia provided expert evidence in a successful case against anti-competitive behavior by ophthalmologists in New Zealand.
June 13, 2019/by Site Admin

Otago River Control Scheme, New Zealand

We analyzed the economic benefits of a flood control scheme to determine a fair cost allocation between two regions in New Zealand that are protected by the scheme. One region’s ratepayers were paying an unfair share of the costs for flood control compared to their share of the benefits.
July 18, 2019/by Site Admin

Spreadsheet-based pandemic model for COVID-19

Clive Harrison is an old friend and a water sector professional…
April 22, 2020/by Site Admin

Performance-based Contract for Water and Sanitation Utility, Mexico

Mexico City was experiencing inadequate water service quality and poor technical and commercial efficiency. SACMEX, the public utility providing water and sanitation services to Mexico City, sought to replace existing commercial out-sourcing contracts with performance-based PPP contracts to improve service quality and affordability.
March 2, 2023/by Oxygen Digital

Pharmaceutical Procurement of Targeted High Cost Medicine, New Zealand

Castalia developed proposals to incorporate targeted high-cost medicines into the public health system’s pharmaceutical benefits scheme. New Zealand’s pharmaceutical procurement model favors medicines that provide broad-spectrum benefits to larger population groups. Patients have significantly lower levels of access to high-cost targeted medicines compared to Australia.
July 17, 2019/by Site Admin

Pharmacy Guild Policy Paper, New Zealand

We identified how pharmacists and District Health Boards could work together to reduce healthcare costs in New Zealand. District Health Boards considered spending cuts to reduce the cost of healthcare in New Zealand. This would result in lower dispensing fees, so the Pharmacy Guild of New Zealand hoped to identify additional services that could be purchased from pharmacists to preserve financial viability of pharmacies.
July 11, 2019/by Site Admin

Pipeline of Climate-friendly Municipal Infrastructure Investments, Peru

IFC wanted to support strategic, bankable infrastructure projects that provided sustainable, reliable, and competitive services to Peru’s cities with the goal of addressing rapidly increasing urban populations and mitigating GHG emissions. The sectors included energy, transport, green buildings, water, waste, and telecommunications.
March 2, 2023/by Oxygen Digital

Pipeline of Viable Clean Energy Projects, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama

The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) wanted to support clean energy investment in Central America and the Caribbean by funding feasibility studies but needed help identifying which project proposals to fund.
March 2, 2023/by Oxygen Digital

Pipeline of Viable Renewable Energy Projects, Chile

USTDA wanted to help Chile move away from fossil fuels toward cheaper, more efficient sustainable energy sources by funding feasibility studies for renewable energy projects.
March 2, 2023/by Oxygen Digital

Pipeline Regulation to Support a Liquid Wholesale Gas Market

Castalia found that the AEMC’s market access regime was not the right tool to create an efficient gas market on Australia’s East Coast, and that additional regulatory powers were needed. A spike in domestic gas prices as a result of increased LNG exports led to the realization that reforms where needed to create a more liquid wholesale gas market. It was not clear that AEMC’s existing powers were adequate for the task.
July 17, 2019/by Site Admin

Ports PPP Feasibility Study, Ukraine

Castalia helped to develop a viable concession transaction for the Government of Ukraine for the Ports of Olvia and Kherson. Ukraine’s seaports play a key role in export and trade, and the Government intended to involve the private sector to improve the country’s port infrastructure. It needed help to secure a private partner for the country’s first private concession in the port sector.
June 24, 2019/by rebecca

We look for candidates who are:

competent

Competent

We are experts in finance, economics, law, and policy applied to infrastructure, natural resources and social service provision. You’re a great fit for us if you can demonstrate excellent technical and analytical abilities, and if you’re willing to learn new skills.

creative

Creative

We’re passionate about solving the infrastructure and resource problems of the world in creative and innovative ways. We’re building a team that is insightful, resourceful and visionary. You’re a great fit for us if you’re a creative problem solver.

consistent

Consistent

Castalia is respected for the quality of our work. We’ve achieved this by being reliable, organized and efficient. You’re a great fit for us if you’re conscientious, reliable and keep your promises.

concientious

Conscientious

We’ve nurtured a culture of excellence, but we’re able to maintain it because our team is made up of disciplined self-starters. You’re a great fit for us if your passion and creativity is matched with discipline, commitment and follow-through.

committed

Committed

It takes focus and hard work to be successful. Solving the world’s most difficult problems is never easy! You’re a great fit for us if you want to put achievement of team goals above personal interests, know how to work in a team, and can persevere through set-backs.

collaborative

Collaborative

Consulting demands a lot from the individual and the team. We are looking for team members who are patient, approachable, good-natured and willing to work with others to solve big problems. You’re a great fit for us if you bring empathy, humility and excellent communication skills and would like to help the team achieve our mission.

Collectively, these are known as our ‘6 C’s’ and they encompass the qualities that lead to success at Castalia.

We look for candidates who are:

competent

Competent

We are experts in finance, economics, law, and policy applied to infrastructure, natural resources and social service provision. You’re a great fit for us if you can demonstrate excellent technical and analytical abilities, and if you’re willing to learn new skills.

creative

Creative

We’re passionate about solving the infrastructure and resource problems of the world in creative and innovative ways. We’re building a team that is insightful, resourceful and visionary. You’re a great fit for us if you’re a creative problem solver.

consistent

Consistent

Castalia is respected for the quality of our work. We’ve achieved this by being reliable, organized and efficient. You’re a great fit for us if you’re conscientious, reliable and keep your promises.

concientious

Conscientious

We’ve nurtured a culture of excellence, but we’re able to maintain it because our team is made up of disciplined self-starters. You’re a great fit for us if your passion and creativity is matched with discipline, commitment and follow-through.

committed

Committed

It takes focus and hard work to be successful. Solving the world’s most difficult problems is never easy! You’re a great fit for us if you want to put achievement of team goals above personal interests, know how to work in a team, and can persevere through set-backs and pain.

collaborative

Collaborative

Consulting demands a lot from the individual and the team. We are looking for team members who are patient, approachable, good-natured and willing to work with others to solve big problems. You’re a great fit for us if you bring empathy, humility and excellent communication skills and would like to help the team achieve our mission.

Collectively, these are known as our ‘6 C’s’ and they encompass the qualities that lead to success at Castalia.

Recruitment FAQs

  • Intern
  • Research Associate
  • Economics and Financial Analyst
  • Senior Analyst
  • Manager
  • Senior Management (Directors, Practice Leaders, CEO/COO/ED)
  • Corporate Services

We’re glad you’re interested in working with us. Please click on the job posting above and start your application.

Once we have screened for candidates, had the informational interview and we’re ready to start with interviews, we aim to have each candidate’s recruitment process completed in 2 weeks.

Informational interview:

This is an introductory interview with someone from the team you’re likely to work with. You have an opportunity to ask questions about Castalia, the work environment and the kind of work you can expect to do. You will also be asked general questions about yourself and your professional education and experience. After this you decide if this is the job for you and if you want to go through our formal assessment process. At this point we also give you feedback on whether we think you’d likely be a good fit for the role.

Team interviews:

These interviews are designed to test your knowledge, based on the position you are applying for. Your understanding and application of finance and microeconomics will be tested if you are applying to be part of our team of analysts. All candidates will have an interview to discuss Castalia’s 6Cs, which is a discussion about our values and the types of candidates we’re looking to hire.

Final interview

The final interview will be with a member from our Senior Management. It will cover all elements mentioned above. Managers and above will have an additional interview with the CEO.

We suggest that you read the following materials in preparation for the interviews. This is what we expect our team to know. If you’re unfamiliar with these concepts and the material, your application is unlikely to be successful.

Interview on microeconomics:

  • Basic Microeconomics, you’d want to brush up by reviewing an introductory microeconomic text book. The interview will typically cover the following areas:
    • Supply and Demand, price formation, market equilibrium
    • Utility maximization, profit maximization, equalization at the margin as a concept
    • Perfect competition model and monopoly models
  • A good Public Finance/Public Economics textbook should cover: these, e.g. Rosen’s textbook:
    • Part 1: Getting Started
      Chapter 1: Introduction
      Chapter 2: Tools of Positive Analysis
      Chapter 3: Tools of Normative Analysis
    • Part 2: Public Expenditure: Public Goods and Externalities
      Chapter 4: Public Goods
      Chapter 5: Externalities
      Chapter 6: Political Economy
      Chapter 7: Education
      Chapter 8: Cost-Benefit Analysis

Interview on finance:

The interview will cover:

  • Financial statement analysis
    • Reading and understanding financial statements (balance sheet, cash flow statements, income statements). You should know the differences, what information can be found on what statement, correct way to record transactions and interpret information from these statements, etc.
    • Calculating and comparing relevant financial ratios
  • Corporate finance – we suggest reviewing:
    • How to value companies including DCFs and calculating present value, WACC and the CAPM model
    • Capital structure and managing risk, financing versus valuation and key differences between debt and equity
  • The Corporate Finance textbook we recommend is written by Myers and Brealey. 

Myers, Brealey. Principles of Corporate Finance (11th Edition). New York: McGraw-Hill, 2014.

  • Part 1: Value
    Chapter 1: Introduction to Corporate Finance
    Chapter 2: How to Calculate Present Values
    Chapter 3: Valuing Bonds
    Chapter 5: Net Present Value and Other Investment Criteria
    Chapter 6: Making Investment Decisions with the Net Present Value Rule
  • Part 2: Risk
    Chapter 7: Introduction to Risk and Return
    Chapter 8: Capital Asset Pricing Model
    Chapter 9: Risk and the Cost of Capital
  • Part 3: Best Practices in Capital Budgeting
    Chapter 10: Project Analysis
  • Part 4: Financing Decisions and Market Efficiency
    Chapter 13: Efficient Markets and Behavioral Finance
  • Part 5: Payout Policy and Capital Structure
    Chapter 17: Does Debt Policy Matter
    Chapter 19: Financing and Valuation

Why choose Castalia?

Interested in learning more?

Interested in learning more?

Pharmacy Guild Policy Paper, New Zealand

We identified how pharmacists and District Health Boards could work together to reduce healthcare costs in New Zealand. District Health Boards considered spending cuts to reduce the cost of healthcare in New Zealand. This would result in lower dispensing fees, so the Pharmacy Guild of New Zealand hoped to identify additional services that could be purchased from pharmacists to preserve financial viability of pharmacies.
July 11, 2019/by Site Admin

Design of Regional Utility Regulator for the Eastern Caribbean

We advised Eastern Caribbean nations on establishing a regional electricity regulator. Island states in the Eastern Caribbean face high electricity costs, but are too small to justify a regulator for each country.
July 11, 2019/by Site Admin

Guidance for the Regulation of Mini Grids

We wrote a report that will help governments scale-up electricity access with privately-financed mini-grids by selecting the appropriate regulatory, contract and subsidy designs. The World Bank identified that although creating mini-grids could accelerate the pace of electrification, information about best practices for regulating mini-grids wasn’t widely available.
June 29, 2019/by Site Admin

Advice to Spark on Proposed Telco-Pay TV Merger, New Zealand

Telecommunication company Vodafone and pay-tv company SKY Television wanted to merge. Castalia’s analysis helped convince the Commerce Commission, the competition authority in New Zealand, that the merger was anti-competitive. What are the potential effects on competition when content providers (those who produce programs) and delivery platforms (broadband and mobile services) propose vertical integration? We analyzed the implications and were able to provide a good test of the effects of vertical integration between content and delivery platforms in telecommunications.
June 29, 2019/by Site Admin

Northern Parishes PPP Pre-Feasibility Study, Jamaica

Castalia appraised several options to reduce the water shortage in Jamaica’s North Coast and recommended an economically feasible and financially viable project to increase water supply and meet growing demand. Growing demand for water services driven by hotel developments along Jamaica’s North Coast was putting a strain on existing supply systems, leading to water shortages for residents and tourists.
June 29, 2019/by Site Admin

Umbulan Springs Project

Castalia appraised the Umbulan Springs Bulk Water Supply Project and found that it was economically and financially viable with Viability Gap Funding. We recommended that the IIGF provide a guarantee if the Provincial Government implemented our recommendations that would mitigate the residual Project risks that we identified. The Umbulan Springs Bulk Water Supply Project would increase water access for residents of the East Java Province, but it needed payment guarantee to attract a PPP company. The Indonesian Infrastructure Guarantee Fund (IIGF) would only provide a guarantee if it were satisfied the Project risks were well managed.
June 29, 2019/by Site Admin

JPS Tariff Submission, Jamaica

We argued that Jamaica’s national electricity utility needed a tariff increase to earn an adequate return on capital. Jamaica’s national electricity utility was not earning an appropriate return on capital, while being exposed to an inadequate level of risk.
June 29, 2019/by Site Admin

Malawi Water Sector Investment Plan

We prepared an optimized investment plan for Malawi’s water sector, together with a financing plan Projects in Malawi’s water sector were scattered and largely donor-driven, so the government needed a strategy to prioritize investments.
June 29, 2019/by Site Admin

Merging an Existing Cable TV Network Into a National Ultra-Fast Broadband Network, Australia

Castalia helped a client prepare a rationale for freeing up capacity on its Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC) Cable network and incorporating it into the National Broadband Network. Our client, a cable TV company, aimed to create value by enabling its HFC network to form part of a government plan to create a universal fiber network. This could be made possible by switching delivery of TV from HFC to satellite.
June 29, 2019/by Site Admin

Regulatory and Monitoring Framework for Small Private and Community Based Water and Sewerage Providers

Castalia proposed a new regulatory framework for small private and community-based water and sewerage service providers in Jamaica. After Jamaica’s water sector was liberalized, small water and sewerage service providers developed in communities that previously lacked access to piped water supply and sewerage and sprang up to serve new housing developments and resorts. However, the water regulator did not know how best to regulate these newly created entities.
June 29, 2019/by Site Admin

California Power Market FERC Refund Proceedings, USA

Castalia developed a counterfactual market model of fair market electricity prices in California to assess evidence of market manipulation during the California power crisis. After power marketers disputed FERC-ordered refunds to power purchasers, expert testimony was needed to identify which price spikes were a result of market manipulation.
June 29, 2019/by Site Admin

PPP for Energy Efficiency and Solar PV in Schools, Jamaica

We structured a public-private partnership to finance and install solar photovoltaic systems and energy efficiency retrofits in schools in Jamaica. The Government of Jamaica knew that rooftop solar photo-voltaic systems and energy efficiency retrofits could cut electricity costs at public schools, but lacked the finance and expertise needed to implement its ideas.
June 28, 2019/by rebecca