Trading Operator

A. Trading Operator Responsibilities

As a Trading Operator, the Job Holder will:

• Coordinate logistics for all loading/discharging operations by sea and/or overland, anticipating, avoiding and mitigating any potentially hazardous or costly situation.
• Follow up on vessels chartered by the company (spot, COA or T/C) and optimise rotations and loading plans.
• Nominate essential service providers (independent inspectors, loss controllers, additive suppliers, etc.) and ensure the accuracy and consistency of the results obtained.
• Diligently manage storage and process contracts (quantities, qualities, financial exposure, customs, etc.).
• Identify the cause of any operational problems encountered and ensure resolution through coordination with all affected stakeholders, mitigating costs and consequences for the company.
• Obtain financial guarantees from counterparties, control and/or amend them before cargo loading/unloading, in conjunction with the Credit department.
• Evaluate all costs derived from transactions and communicate all operational data having a financial impact on trading results (prices, hedges, freight, currency, etc.).
• Verify the coherence and feasibility of trading negotiations and formalise commercial contracts.
• Submit damage reports to insurers, compile and follow claim files.
• Ensure compliance with all regulatory aspects (REACH, Customs, VAT, sanctions, etc.) in collaboration with respective support departments.
• Ensure compliance with vetting procedures for seagoing vessels and barges.
• Manage the invoicing and payment process and recovery of funds when applicable.
• Where applicable, manage and optimise equity lifting through an in-depth understanding of Lifting Agreements and Terminal Procedures (Availabilities, Payment Quantities, etc.).
• Adhere to HSE, Code of Conduct, Business Integrity and all other applicable company policies and procedures at all times.

B. Digital, Data Analytics & Automation Responsibilities

In addition to the operational scope above, the Job Holder acts as a digital referent within the Trading Operations team and contributes actively to the following areas:

1. Automation & Digitalisation

• Design, develop and maintain automation scripts, workflows and internal tools supporting post-deal activities (Python, SQL, VBA, Power Automate, APIs, OCR / RPA-type solutions).
• Build dashboards, monitoring tools and data pipelines enabling faster, more accurate and more transparent operational follow-up (cargoes, freight, demurrage, costs, exposures).
• Introduce digital solutions to reduce manual and repetitive workload (auto-checking of contractual data, reconciliation of quantities and pricing, email parsing, AI-assisted anomaly detection, etc.).

2. Data Analytics & Decision Support

• Structure, clean and analyse large operational and commercial datasets to support trading and operational decisions (freight optimisation, rotation planning, cost analysis, supplier / counterparty performance, etc.).
• Design and maintain data-visualisation tools (Power BI, Tableau, Looker) providing management and traders with real-time operational KPIs.
• Leverage statistical and machine-learning techniques where relevant to improve forecasting, exposure monitoring and operational risk detection.

3. Process Optimisation & Continuous Improvement

• Analyse Trading Operations processes end-to-end to identify bottlenecks, redundancies and error-prone steps.
• Propose and implement process re-engineering initiatives aligned with the OTS objective of handling greater complexity with the same or fewer resources.
• Establish KPIs and performance metrics to track process improvements and automation benefits.

4. Operational Support & Change Management

• Train the Trading Operations team on newly deployed tools, automation solutions and digital workflows.
• Act as a referent for technological topics, supporting colleagues in tool adoption and digital upskilling.
• Document new processes, maintain procedures and ensure proper governance for automated tasks.

5. Innovation & Cross-functional Projects

• Benchmark new technologies (AI, RPA, data analytics, workflow automation) to continuously challenge the status quo.
• Collaborate with IT, Digital Factory, Data teams and other OTS departments on transversal digital projects.
• Drive a culture of operational excellence, data-driven decision-making and agility within the team.

Objectives

Trading Operator Objectives

• Coordinate the operational and financial aspects of post-deal trading activity and ensure all execution steps run smoothly.
• Contribute to accurate income collection and payment execution within contractual timelines.
• Mitigate operational, financial and compliance risks associated with physical flows.

Digital & Data Analytics Objectives

• Reduce manual workload by developing robust automation solutions.
• Improve processing capacity and enable scalable growth (more transactions / same or fewer resources).
• Increase data quality, reduce operational errors and enhance transaction tracking and transparency.
• Support the team in adopting a more digital, data-driven operating model.