Structured Finance Manager

Main Purpose:

As Trafigura continues its dynamic growth, we are expanding our Structured Finance team to support and enhance our core trading activities. This team plays a pivotal role in the financing and risk management of Trafigura's global operations, covering crude oil, petroleum products, metals, and minerals. In this role, you will be responsible for structuring and executing complex financial solutions that facilitate the sourcing and trading of these commodities across international markets. You will work closely with producers and consumers worldwide, ensuring efficient risk mitigation while driving financial performance.

The Structured Finance Manager will:

• Provide tailored financial solutions to counterparties, enabling the procurement of additional commodity volumes. Solutions may include pre-payments, tolling, and complex financing structures such as pre-export arrangements where exports are executed by banks and Trafigura acts as the 100% off-taker.
• Act as a crucial link between traders, banks, and counterparties to source, structure, document, fund, and sell structured financial deals to banks.
• Add value to the business by offering services when traditional banking facilities are unavailable and accelerating decision-making through close proximity to trading activities and deep understanding of client needs.
• Collaborate with Trade Finance and Corporate Finance teams where necessary. While Trade Finance may handle day-to-day transactions, more complex financing requests from the same customer will require Structured Finance involvement.
• Adapt to regional variations: In more corporate-driven markets like the USA, the role may focus on higher-level financing, while in regions like South America or Africa, the role requires deeper involvement due to the more intricate nature of financing arrangements.

Knowledge Skills and Abilities, Key Responsibilities:

The ideal candidate will be a finance professional with a strong background in the oil and gas or metals and mining sectors, gained through experience in banking, industry, or consulting. A solid foundation in project finance or structured trade and commodity finance is essential, along with a thorough understanding of the financial, operational, and geopolitical risks inherent in the natural resources sector.

In addition to fluency in English, French language is a plus.

Key Qualifications and Skills:

• Education: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in finance, economics, or a related field.
• Languages: Fluent in English (French is a plus).
• Regional Expertise: Familiarity with the African commodity sector is preferred.
• Financial Expertise: 5-7 years of relevant experience in project finance, commodity finance, or a related field.
• Risk Management: Strong understanding of credit risk, contract documentation, and operational risks such as distribution, logistics, and commodity storage.
• Technical Credibility: Expertise to effectively engage on the trading floor and in high-level negotiations.
• Analytical Skills: Ability to conduct detailed project evaluations and identify key issues material to the success of a transaction.
• Problem Solving: A creative and practical thinker with the ability to navigate complexity and find solutions.
• Sound Judgment: Capable of balancing caution and negativity when dealing with emerging market risks.
• Attention to Detail: Strong numerical aptitude (cashflow modelling experience is a plus) and a meticulous approach to financial analysis.
• Personal Qualities: High levels of drive, flexibility, and adaptability, paired with common sense and a practical outlook.
• Confidence and Credibility: Able to perform under pressure and maintain authority in a fast-paced trading environment.
• Willingness to Travel: Open to frequent international travel to engage with clients and stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities:

• Deal Management and Execution:
  • Manage bank-sourced deals: Collaborate with banks on deals where Trafigura acts as the offtaker for producers. Engage with traders and clients to negotiate and agree on margin and risk parameters.
  • Manage trader-sourced deals: Assess the risks and financial terms of deals brought by traders, reviewing counterparties' annual reports, credit risk, profit and loss statements, and exposures. Work with traders to revise terms as necessary.
  • Manage self-sourced deals: Leverage your regional exposure and commodity expertise to identify new deal opportunities. Handle recurring deals, such as re-financing existing transactions.
• Risk Management and Credit Approval:
  • Oversee the credit committee approval process for structured deals, working closely with regional CFOs and management to secure sign-offs.
  • Monitor counterparty risk—including performance, payment, and political risks—in coordination with the Credit Risk Management and Trade Finance departments. Set up and monitor group-level insurance needs as necessary.
• Business Development:
  • Actively develop new business opportunities through your own network, while responding promptly to requests from trading departments. Cultivate and maintain a systematic financial coverage of key clients.
  • Serve as a key intermediary between trading and credit teams, helping to streamline the credit decision-making process.
• Structured Finance & Deal Structuring:
  • Handle all aspects of structured commodity finance, including origination, structuring, syndication, documentation, and risk participation.
  • Structure and negotiate complex long-term transactions, such as term commodity contracts backed by banking syndicates.
  • Install value into transactions by creating financial solutions that meet customer needs and distinguish Trafigura from competitors.
• High-Level Negotiations and Relationship Building:
  • Negotiate at senior levels, including with government officials and ministers, to secure strategic deals.
  • Develop innovative deal structures that address solvency concerns or extend credit terms, when required.
• Risk Distribution & Reporting:
  • Distribute risk within the banking market, leveraging Trafigura's relationships and financial strength.
  • Provide comprehensive risk and trading position reports to the Head of Department and the Trafigura board.

Key Relationships and Department Overview:

Key Relationships:

• Internal: traders, operations, deals desk, other finance departments;
• External: Trading counterparties, banks, institutional investors, insurers.

Department Overview:

The Structured Finance (STF) Department in a commodities trading company plays a critical role in securing and managing the financial arrangements necessary to support the company’s global trading activities. The department provides tailored financial solutions to facilitate the sourcing, trading, and distribution of commodities such as oil, gas, metals, and minerals. These solutions often involve complex financing structures like pre-payments, tolling agreements, and pre-export financings, enabling the company to optimize liquidity, mitigate risks, and strengthen relationships with producers and counterparties.

The STF team serves as a bridge between traders, banks, and counterparties, structuring, negotiating, and managing deals that ensure the company's access to commodities, even in challenging markets. They are responsible for risk management, including credit, geopolitical, and operational risks, working closely with credit risk management and trade finance departments to monitor and mitigate exposure. The department also leads in business development, identifying new opportunities through their global network and deep understanding of the commodity markets.

In addition to executing financial transactions, the STF department engages in high-level negotiations with banks, government entities, and other stakeholders to secure favorable financing terms. By ensuring efficient capital deployment and risk mitigation, the department is pivotal to sustaining the company’s trading operations and competitive positioning in the global market.

Reporting Structure:

• Reporting directly to the Head of Structured Finance EMEA

Equal Opportunity Employer:

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and take pride in a diverse workforce. We do not discriminate in recruitment, hiring, training, promotion or other employment practices for reasons of race, colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, marital or veteran status, medical condition or handicap, disability, or any other legally protected status.