Debtís scarce, but infrastructureís powering

Forget the credit crunch ñ infrastructure recruitment is continuing as if it never happened.

ìEveryoneís hiring in that space at the moment,î Melissa Tal, a recruiter Michael Page, tells eFinancialCareers. Local and global banks are chasing Macquarie and Babcock & Brownís lead.

Others in the sector agree: ìWe definitely see it as an important part of our future,î says Mark John, head of infrastructure and utilities at Westpac. ìItís an asset class thatís global with significant demand, with many clients involved in offshore infrastructure projects. Australia has the skills. We need human capital in those offshore areas and we will move people, plus recruit, to fill the need.î

ìIt is a particular focus for us,î says Mark Siebert, head of project finance at NAB Capital. ìWe want senior people with legal, accounting and engineering backgrounds, and postgraduate finance, but weíre mostly hiring juniors because weíre building our teams.î

Cameron Robertson, Deutsche Bankís head of infrastructure and utilities, says, ìDeutsche and many other global banks have a very material presence in the space,î and adds that there is lots of hiring at all levels. ìThere is a huge shortage of people with engineering skills, especially with finance. There has been a slowdown in some sectors, but infrastructure is so diverse, it has been largely insulated.î

Christine Kwan at recruiter Derwent Executive confirms there are plenty of hires at associate and director levels. Tal says a good analyst gets AU$60k-$90k, a senior manager $120k, an AD $150k-$180k and a director $250k . Bonuses vary widely.