Senior Trading Risk Manager

The Position and Responsibilities

The Senior Macro Trading Risk Manager will be the most senior position reporting to the Head of Macro Trading Risk. We are specifically seeking an individual to lead the risk management of our commodity trading books, which are uniquely informed by supply, demand, and storage dynamics. In addition to leading the risk management of commodity trades, we would expect and encourage the Senior Macro Trading Risk manager to become familiar with and oversee the risk of other asset classes and act as a backup to our Head of Macro Trading Risk.

• Develop an accurate understanding of and clearly communicate the loss potential for individual ‘bets’ (aka ‘alpha theses’), themes (e.g., ‘natural gas’), and commodity trading in aggregate. Interpret the results of existing stress tests in the context of the current market—and if needed, complement them with ad-hoc, prospective analyses—to develop and articulate a judgmental estimate of exposure/sensitivity to different markets and potential losses at different levels of confidence.
• Effectively engage with and act as a value-adding thought partner to both the Risk and Investment teams (Portfolio Managers, Head of Macro Trading Risk, and the CRO and CIO) in enhancing our understanding of key risks and developing strategies to mitigate them. Assist the Head of Macro Trading Risks and CRO in assessing whether to approve temporarily exceeding any investment team guidelines.
• Monitor the markets and the risk profile of the portfolio and take appropriate action as needed, including confirming the reasonability of assumptions, highlighting any changes or emerging risks, and ensuring the risk profile is within the risk appetite.
• Continue to improve and expand our trading risk analytics and ensure all risk calculation frameworks appropriately reflect the risk of the underlying positions. We use a broad set of analytics, including historical simulations, VaR and CVaR, sensitivities/Greeks, and stress tests. Perform ad-hoc, topical analyses of risk, such as drill-downs on more significant risk concentrations, scenario analyses, and any other analyses to complement routine reports
• Continue to improve and expand our understanding of market liquidity, including identifying and onboarding new data sources and improving our understanding of fluctuations in market liquidity, whether due to timing (e.g., seasonality, time to maturity) or under different market scenarios and stresses.
• Expand oversight beyond Commodities to other asset classes, and act as a backup to the Head of Macro Trading Risk, including overseeing the timely production of risk and guideline reporting, and acting as a thought partner to the CRO in evolving the market risk appetite framework as appropriate.

Required Skills

• Deep understanding of various commodities, commodity markets, and commodity trading strategies. Experience with other asset classes is a plus.
• Proven ability to engage closely and effectively with portfolio managers both as a thought partner and as an independent risk manager providing oversight; independent thinker, good listener, and persuasive and clear communicator who can gain the trust of senior leaders across both Risk and Investment Management teams.
• Distinctive conceptual and analytical capabilities; quickly understands the key defining features of a problem, develops a reasonable approach to new problems, effectively prioritizes research and analyses based on impact and required effort, and quickly converges to a reasonable conclusion.
• Understanding of and comfort with introductory probability and statistics and their application to financial risk management. Can identify and assess the importance of the shortcomings of an analytical model in the context of a specific portfolio.
• Able to work effectively in a fast-paced and entrepreneurial environment.
• Highly productive, diligent, and detail-oriented.

Experience

• 7+ years of professional experience in commodities trading and/or commodity risk management at a hedge fund or bank. Experience across various commodities, e.g., in risk management at a global macro or multi-strategy fund with an active commodity trading focus, is much preferred.
• First-hand experience with industry-standard multi-asset class risk systems (e.g., RiskMetrics and Aladdin) preferred.

Education

• Distinctive academic pedigree. Minimum bachelor’s degree in mathematics, physics, philosophy, economics, computer science, or engineering. Advanced degree preferred.
• CFA and FRM or PRMIA designations are a plus.