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Middle Office - Risk and Operations
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Middle Office Risk and Operations Analyst – Physical Commodities
London | Financial Services / Commodities
A leading global financial markets business is looking to hire a Middle Office Operations Analyst to join its Risk function, supporting a growing commodities trading business.
This is a specialist opportunity for someone with genuine experience of physical commodity trading and the operational lifecycle of physical trades.
We are particularly interested in individuals who have worked within an energy trading house, integrated energy company, oil major, commodity merchant or similar physical commodities environment, with a strong understanding of how physical trades are booked, managed, valued and ultimately delivered.
This is not a traditional financial services Middle Office role. Hands-on experience of physical commodities and trade booking is essential.
The Role
Working within the Risk function, you will provide oversight and control across the physical commodities trading lifecycle, working closely with Trading, Operations, Finance and other control functions.
You will be responsible for ensuring that physical commodity transactions are accurately captured and reflected within the firm's trading and risk systems, with appropriate consideration given to pricing, volumes, delivery terms, logistics and associated costs.
The role will involve:
- Reviewing and validating the booking of physical commodity trades within the relevant ETRM/trading systems
- Ensuring trade economics, volumes, prices, delivery locations and contractual terms have been captured accurately
- Understanding the end-to-end lifecycle of physical commodity transactions
- Reviewing trade amendments, cancellations and booking changes and ensuring appropriate controls are maintained
- Identifying discrepancies between physical contracts, trade bookings and operational records
- Working with Trading and Operations to investigate and resolve booking and lifecycle issues
- Understanding the impact of freight, shipping, transportation, storage and other physical costs on trade economics
- Supporting the accurate reflection of physical fees and charges within trading and risk systems
- Monitoring trading activity and identifying unusual or potentially incorrect bookings
- Supporting risk reporting, exposure analysis and P&L processes
- Performing reconciliations and investigating breaks between trading, operational and risk systems
- Working with Finance and Operations around settlements, invoices, accruals and physical commodity costs
- Supporting appropriate controls around physical trade capture and lifecycle management
- Helping to identify process weaknesses and implement improvements
- Providing effective challenge where trade bookings or operational processes do not accurately reflect the underlying physical transaction
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What We're Looking For
We are looking for someone who understands physical commodities from an operational perspective, rather than someone whose experience is limited to financial products.
You are likely to have gained your experience within:
- An integrated energy company or oil major
- A physical commodity trading house
- An energy merchant
- An oil, gas, LNG, power or refined products business
- A commodity-focused financial institution with significant physical trading activity
Relevant backgrounds could include companies operating across oil, refined products, gas, LNG, power, freight or other physical energy commodities.
Essential Experience
- Experience in Middle Office, Trade Operations, Commercial Operations, Trading Operations or Risk Operations
- Strong understanding of physical commodity trading
- Practical experience of trade booking / trade capture
- Understanding of the physical trade lifecycle from execution through to delivery and settlement
- Experience working with an ETRM or commodity trading system
- Understanding of physical commodity pricing, volumes and delivery terms
- Exposure to freight, shipping, transportation, storage or other physical trading costs
- Strong reconciliation and control skills
- Ability to investigate discrepancies and understand the underlying commercial reason for a break
- Experience working closely with Traders and other front-office stakeholders
- Strong Excel and analytical capability
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The Ideal Candidate
The ideal candidate will be someone who can look at a physical commodity trade and understand what has actually been traded, how it should be booked, what the associated physical costs are and how the transaction should flow through the firm's risk and operational infrastructure.
You don't necessarily need to have worked in a financial institution previously.
In fact, we are particularly interested in candidates who have developed their expertise on the physical commodities side of the market and now want to bring that knowledge into a sophisticated financial markets and risk environment.
Why This Role?
This is an opportunity to join a growing commodities business where your physical commodity expertise will be highly valued.
You will sit close to the Risk function while working across Trading, Operations and Finance, giving you genuine exposure to the full trading lifecycle and the opportunity to play an important role in strengthening the control environment around physical commodities.
If you have genuine physical commodities experience and understand trade booking, physical flows and associated costs, we would like to hear from you.
Please note: this is a specialist position and applications will be considered from candidates with directly relevant physical commodities / energy trading experience.
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