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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 8 July 2025 (for a 7 October 2025 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.

Economic analysis of resource management reforms, New Zealand

Castalia advised New Zealand’s Ministry for the Environment on the economic impact of proposed reforms to the Resource Management Act, estimating $14.5 billion in net benefits through reduced compliance costs and improved infrastructure, housing, and environmental outcomes.
May 7, 2025/by admin

Economic Expert Witness for Telstra Duct Access, Australia

Castalia provided expert testimony and helped Australian telecommunication company Telstra to demonstrate that its duct access pricing was fair. Telstra owns Australia’s copper network. A competitor claimed that Telstra was overcharging the ACCC for access to its telecommunications ducts.
June 19, 2019/by sophie

Economic Policy Analysis for Pharmaceuticals, Canada

Castalia analyzed outcomes under the New Zealand pharmaceutical public funding scheme so that we could advise if the model should be followed by Canada. Canadian national and provincial governments were considering whether to adopt New Zealand’s model for driving down pharmaceutical prices and wanted to know if health outcomes would suffer if they did.
June 19, 2019/by sophie

Education PPP Training, Uruguay

Castalia trained Uruguay government officials on managing PPP contracts for education facilities. The Government of Uruguay needed to build capacity after signing the country’s first education PPP.
February 10, 2020/by Site Admin

Educational Institution Financial Strategy for Open Polytechnic

Castalia carried out a cost review of Open Polytechnic’s loss-making programs to identify eight least-profitable programs. The government-owned tertiary education institution wanted to become financially sustainable
June 19, 2019/by sophie

Effect of Carbon Tax on Small and Medium Enterprises in Australia

Castalia assessed the effects of a proposed carbon tax on the small and medium-sized trade-exposed manufacturing firms in Australia, and the likely costs to the economy. Australian small and medium sized manufacturing businesses face strong competition from Asian and other firms. A unilateral carbon tax in Australia would increase costs only for Australian businesses reducing investment and employment in Australia without reducing global emissions.
July 17, 2019/by Site Admin

Elderly Care Sector Assessment, China

Castalia proposed ways to address the mismatch in demand and supply of elderly care accommodations in Yichang City with the use of private sector participation. The PRC has become one of the world’s largest infrastructure markets, driven by strong economic growth and rapid urbanization. Demand for expanded and effective elderly care services has been increasing as 34 percent of the population is expected to be above the age of 60 by 2050. Further demand arises from government efforts to address regional disparities and ensure the availability of elderly care and services to its people, including the less privileged.
June 21, 2019/by sophie

Comparing electric utility responses to COVID-19

Electricity plays a critical role in the fight against the…
May 11, 2020/by Site Admin

Electricity Distribution Proposal Review for Orion, New Zealand

Castalia helped Vector, New Zealand’s largest electricity distribution utility, ensure that the regulatory regime made suitable provision for recovery of rebuilding costs following an earthquake, through regulatory advice to the Vector and a submission to the Commerce Commission. A series of earthquakes in Christchurch had damaged much of the electricity distribution system. The local utility requested a customized price control path to enable it to recover rebuilding costs. Vector also operates in earthquake-risk areas and wanted to be sure that precedents created after the Christchurch earthquake would be suitable if it or other distribution companies were hit by a serious earthquake.
July 17, 2019/by Site Admin

Electricity Generation Expert Testimony for Transpower

Castalia gave expert testimony before the High Court to show that the operator of New Zealand’s national transmission grid was not behaving in an anti-competitive manner. A generation company alleged that Transpower, operator of the national transmission grid, was being anti-competitive by refusing their request to set charges for a small distributed power plant as though it was connected directly to the transmission grid.
June 24, 2019/by rebecca

Electricity Market and Carbon Tax Advice, Mexico

Mexico’s Ministry of Finance, supported by the French Development Agency, was considering a carbon tax to reduce its GHG emissions by 22 percent to meet its 2030 target. It also wanted to reform its electricity tariffs and subsidies to avoid impacting the affordability of electricity under the new tax.
March 2, 2023/by Oxygen Digital

Electricity Market Security of Supply, New Zealand

Castalia advised on the optimal level of security of electricity supply for New Zealand, and how best to achieve it. Variations in rainfall and snow-melt exposed New Zealand’s hydro-dominated electricity system to risk of energy shortages.
October 15, 2019/by Site Admin

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?

NZ Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment publishes Castalia’s economic model for New Zealand Hydrogen Roadmap

August 31, 2020/by Site Admin

Webinar on financing facilities and non-revenue water performance-based contracts

Shannon Riley and Lisa Nations delivered a webinar on the topics…
July 20, 2020/by Site Admin

Force majeure in the power sector

July 2, 2020/by Site Admin

Frequently Asked Questions about designing a liquidity facility

Last week Castalia posted a blog about how Liquidity Facilities…
June 12, 2020/by Site Admin

Second update on the spreadsheet-based pandemic model for COVID-19

This is Clive Harrison's second update to his spreadsheet-based…
June 10, 2020/by Site Admin

Water utilities strapped for cash? Liquidity facilities could be the solution

Water utilities are critical for fighting COVID-19
In the absence…
June 5, 2020/by Site Admin

The power sector and COVID-19: Planning for a sustainable recovery

[This post first appeared on World Bank Blogs on June 3.]
A…
June 4, 2020/by Site Admin

Operating license awarded for 6MW solar project in Bermuda

May 29, 2020/by Site Admin

Optimal lockdown restrictions in the Antipodes

As New Zealand implements further relaxation of lockdown restrictions…
May 14, 2020/by Site Admin

Comparing electric utility responses to COVID-19

Electricity plays a critical role in the fight against the…
May 11, 2020/by Site Admin

Update on the spreadsheet-based pandemic model for COVID-19

Clive Harrison has updated his spreadsheet-based pandemic model…
May 4, 2020/by Site Admin

Checklist for identifying risks to water service provision

Water providers are on the front line fighting COVID19.…
April 29, 2020/by Site Admin