Job Description
Senior Metals Trader - Aluminium
Department: Petrochemicals
Employment Type: Full Time
Location: London, UK
Reporting To: General Manager of Petrochemical
Who We Are
PetroChina Company Ltd is a state-owned business and the publicly listed arm of the China National Petroleum Corporation “CNPC”, one of the world’s largest global commodity trading companies. PetroChina International a subsidiary of PetroChina Company Ltd serves as the international trading arm and was founded in 2002 based in Beijing and has setup multiple subsidiaries and offices in 20+ countries, including three major Oil and Gas Trading and Operation Hubs in Houston (covering the Americas), London (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Singapore (Asia).
PetroChina International is actively exploring international markets, developing value added trades, extending the value chain, innovating in trade models, and continuously enhancing trade methods.
The Company’s trading activities are now covering more than 100 kinds of products and through merger, acquisition, investment and equity participation, several business centres have been formed and integrated with storage facilities, refining capabilities, oil tanks and terminals as well as transportation capabilities in global main energy producing areas. All these investments provide strong continued support for the steady development of the Company’s international businesses.
Who You Are / Your Next Challenge
As part of our continued expansion into the Green Energy Transition Metals, we are building a dedicated Aluminium trading capability. We are seeking a highly entrepreneurial and commercially astute individual to be our Senior Metals Trader, Aluminium to join our ambitious Petrochemicals Team at PetroChina International London (PCIL)
While this is a new Aluminium desk, the successful candidate will join an ambitious Petrochemicals Team and operate within an established global trading organisation, with existing systems, risk frameworks and operational support already in place.
Based in our London, Charing Cross office, you will report directly to the General Manager of Petrochemicals with a dotted line into the CEO, Netherlands / SVP of Petrochemicals, and will collaboratively build our Green Aluminium trading desk from the ground up, with a strong emphasis on physical trading supported by derivatives to grow a profitable portfolio with long-term scale potential. The dotted reporting line reflects the strategic importance of Aluminium within the wider European and Global Petrochemical platform.
The primary products you will be highly experienced trading with are Alumina and Primary Aluminium although exposure to other Aluminium products including the raw material Bauxite is desirable, as the business will have a global market focus on both downstream and upstream commercial activities. This necessitates ownership for origination, managing trading flows, developing relationships with key market participants and actively managing market risks.
You will also be responsible for developing executive trading strategies, identifying and executing profitable trading opportunities across the value chain, optimising the trading books, driving P&L performance that will contribute to the growth of our wider Green Metals business.
Current State of Play
By way of context, while this is a new Aluminium desk, it is not a greenfield start-up. The business has already got the following infrastructure in place:
- Established systems and frameworks in place from active participation in the metals international trading market including LME and CME.
- Access to PetroChina’s global logistics, credit and counterparty platform.
- 1x dedicated Trading Operator to support from day one, allowing the successful candidate to focus primarily on commercial activity, execution and portfolio development.
Initially as a senior individual contributor, once you have been successful in setting up a customer base, corresponding logistic flow and actively trading, there will be the opportunity to grow a team over time. Therefore, we require an experienced Trader comfortable building a business with this current infrastructure in place.
Ideally, you will have significant exposure and working capability overseeing negotiations processes, i.e., preparation, identification and evaluation of potential sources of new business by leveraging PetroChina’s global footprint/ platform for maximum synergistic opportunities. The successful candidate will need to be a self-starter, and solution-focused in approach, and be able to communicate effectively with a range of stakeholders (internally and externally).
This is a fantastic and unique opportunity to build a scalable Aluminium trading franchise with a highly respected company brand behind you. The role is available immediately and there is a massive opportunity to make an immediate and tangible impact in a well-established global oil and energy trading company. So, if you’re open to a new challenge, in a fast-paced environment, which brings extremely high rewards, we would like to hear from you.
Key Responsibilities
- Analyse global and regional Aluminium markets, track price movements, and identify market opportunities for profitable trades.
- Build and maintain strong relationships with suppliers, and consumers for a variety of Aluminium products, ensuring the best possible trading terms.
- Develop and implement hedging strategies to manage exposure to price volatility using financial derivatives pursuant to company policies.
- Identify and open new trading opportunities to source Aluminium products from across the global market, negotiating and structuring deals to expand the trading portfolio.
- Ensure efficient management of the supply chain, from procurement to final delivery, while optimizing costs.
- Maintain full compliance with local and international trading regulations, reporting standards, and ethical guidelines.
- Monitor market trends, supply and demand dynamics, and geopolitical factors affecting Aluminium, and other related products such as Gold and Silver.
- Work closely with internal teams, such as finance, logistics, risk management, and compliance, to manage and ensure smooth trade execution, portfolio risk and, optimise trade performance in adherence to company policies.
- Track market movements and manage risks associated with price volatility, credit, counterparty exposure, and logistics complexities.
- Provide market insights, strategic analysis and trade reports to senior management to support informed decision-making and align with broader business objectives.
What we’re looking for / Skills that will help you in the role
- Significant trading experience and knowledge of the physical and derivatives Aluminium market (including Bauxite, Alumina, Primary Aluminium, and other Aluminium products), with a demonstrable focus on global physical trading.
- Proven track record successfully generating revenue / growing a physical and derivatives trading book in a sensible and enduring way, effectively leveraging capabilities.
- Extensive pre-existing network amongst consumers of Primary Aluminium and Alumina as well as producers, and knowledge of typical trading counterparties and supply chain.
- Deep understanding of the Aluminium markets, trading regulations, fundamentals, products, grades, qualities, geographies, and environmental influence on the market.
- Solid analytical and numerical skills with the ability to interpret and assess market trends, news to make informed data-driven decisions.
- Programming skills (e.g., SQL, Python etc.) and experience of utilising large data sets is advantageous.
- Excellent negotiation skills with a proven track record of closing complex transactions.
- Confident commercial risk-taker with conviction for commercial strategies and frameworks, including derivatives trading and hedging techniques.
- Understanding of Aluminium market pricing dynamics, price exposure, risk profiles, all trading instruments and technical trading including establishing the necessary risk management frameworks.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills and proficient at building relationships at all levels and influencing a range of senior stakeholders, challenging decision making to help drive continuous improvement.
- Previous work experience in a small, high-performance team with a collaborative approach, can-do attitude.
Please note This is a full-time, permanent position with the job based in either Charring Cross, London, UK. The role is available to be worked in a hybrid capacity of 4 days in the office / 1 day from home.
Benefits
What you get in return
This role offers a competitive salary (commensurate with experience), plus a comprehensive benefits package including Insurance coverage; Private Medical (for self and family); Travel (for self and family); Dental (for self); Life Assurance, Gym membership, Pension contributory by Company, up to 30 days holiday allowance per annum rising after service (in addition to bank holidays), discretionary performance related bonus and more. Note This role offers a relocation package and/or VISA sponsorship.
Interested?
If the role sounds like you, we encourage you to upload a copy of your CV by clicking on the Apply button.
Start Date ASAP
Strictly No Recruitment Agencies; any submission of CV’s without prior request/ engagement from PetroChina International / Petroineos will not be deemed as an introduction and therefore will not warrant an introduction fee.
