Richard James Recruitment Specialists Ltd
Commodity Strategist & Strategic Initiatives
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Commodity Strategist & Strategic Initiatives
Senior Product Strategist & Strategic Initiatives
A leading global energy commodities company is seeking a Senior Product Strategist & Strategic Initiatives professional to drive strategic direction at the intersection of technology, trading, and business growth.
This is a high-impact role that combines strategic ownership of ETRM systems with the delivery of critical commercial initiatives. You will collaborate with Front Office, Risk, Operations, Finance, and Technology teams to:
- Enable new trading activities
- Enhance systems
- Support expansion into new markets, products, and asset classes
Ideal candidates are commercially minded, technically strong, and thrive in fast-paced trading environments—this role offers exceptional exposure to global energy markets and complex business initiatives.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Initiatives & Business Growth
- Lead and execute onboarding and strategic projects across the global trading footprint, including:
- New trading desks
- Asset businesses
- Market and product expansions
- Manage new business & asset implementation, including:
- Documentation of business and system requirements
- Cross-functional facilitation
- System setup and testing
- Project planning
- Coordinating task completion across Trading, Risk, P&L, Tax, Technology, Operations, and Accounting
- Establish operational risk and control processes and metrics for new business and trading activity
- Support commercial business diligence and approvals for new initiatives
- Onboard and support new commercial resources, including traders
- Ensure cross-functional coordination across support groups, linking new initiatives into global processes
- Empower functional leads to define and implement non-standard workflows where needed
- Undertake ad-hoc strategic and corporate projects as required
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ETRM Product Strategy & Ownership
- Collaborate and lead initiatives to design and implement solutions supporting organizational needs, such as:
- New product configuration
- Trading reference data architecture and setup
- Process and data flow analysis
- Oversee configuration, integration, and optimization of ETRM systems to support:
- Front office, middle office, and back-office functions
- Liaise with developers for IT development and support
- Develop and maintain reporting and analytics solutions in Power BI
- Leverage Python for automation, data integration, and analytics
- Facilitate user acceptance testing, deployment, and training for new system features
- Maintain enterprise-wide data accuracy and compliance understanding
Qualifications & Requirements
Education
- Bachelor’s degree in:
- Accounting
- Finance
- Economics
- Engineering
- Information Technology
- Computer Science
- Related field
Experience
- 8+ years in a combination of:
- ETRM product ownership
- Business analysis
- Project management
- Cross-departmental business management
- Trade support, risk, or operations within the energy and commodities industry
- Commodity lifecycle experience, with strong preference for:
- Electricity
- Oil
- Natural Gas
- Experience with:
- European Power and Gas
- Physical Oil Trading
- Structured Transactions
- Hands-on experience across the commodity transaction lifecycle:
- Trading
- Positions
- Mark-to-market and P&L management (including FX exposure)
- Confirmations
- Credit and margin management
- Scheduling
- Settlements, invoicing, and accounting
- Understanding of:
- Forward pricing
- Settlement pricing
- FX
- Interest rates (IR)
- Volatilities
- For US and European power, gas, and oil liquids:
- Futures, swaps, physicals, and options
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Technical Skills
- Proven ETRM system experience required
- Experience in:
- Business Analyst, Product Owner, or Project Management roles
- Power BI proficiency for reporting and visualization
- Python experience for automation, integration, and analytics
- Familiarity with Agile methodologies and product Model approaches
Soft Skills
- Ability to communicate effectively with:
- Commercial teams
- All levels of management
- Must lead meetings and initiatives autonomously
- Strong stakeholder influence within the organization
- Demonstrated ownership and accountability for complex, cross-functional initiatives
- Analytical mindset with meticulous attention to detail and risk orientation
- Adaptability to fast-paced, high-intensity trade environments including:
- Maintaining timely responsiveness
- Flexibility to work beyond standard business hours when necessary
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