Head of Risk

Job Summary

The Head of Risk is responsible for establishing, leading, and overseeing the end‑to‑end risk management framework for the petroleum and energy commodity trading business. The role ensures that market, credit, liquidity, operational, and compliance risks are identified, measured, monitored, and controlled in line with the company’s risk appetite, governance standards, and regulatory requirements.

This position plays a critical role in supporting sustainable trading performance while safeguarding the company’s capital, reputation, and compliance posture.

Job Responsibilities 1

1. Market Risk Management

• Monitor commodity price exposure, volatility, and position limits.
• Assess Value at Risk (VaR), stress testing, and scenario analysis.
• Ensure compliance with approved trading mandates and exposure limits.
• Provide independent oversight of trading positions and hedging strategies.

2. Credit Risk Oversight

• Evaluate counterparty creditworthiness and recommend credit limits.
• Monitor exposure to counterparties and ensure adherence to approved limits.
• Coordinate with Finance on collateral management and guarantees.
• Identify and escalate potential credit risk concerns.

3. Operational & Settlement Risk

• Review trade lifecycle processes to identify operational risk gaps.
• Monitor documentation accuracy, settlement integrity, and reconciliation controls.
• Collaborate with Operations to strengthen internal controls.

4. Risk Reporting & Analytics

• Produce daily exposure, pricing, and P&L statements for the trading team, as well as weekly and monthly risk and P&L reports for senior management.
• Provide analysis on portfolio exposure, profitability risk, and liquidity risk.
• Present risk dashboards and metrics to executive leadership.

5. Hedging & Risk Mitigation

• Evaluate effectiveness of hedging instruments and strategies.
• Support traders in structuring risk-balanced deals.
• Ensure hedging policies are consistently applied.

6. Governance & Compliance

• Ensure alignment with internal risk frameworks and regulatory standards.
• Support internal and external audits related to trading risk.
• Maintain documentation and risk control policies.

7. Strategic Advisory

• Provide risk insights to support expansion into new commodities or markets.
• Advise leadership on risk appetite calibration and capital allocation.
• Contribute to continuous improvement of risk management frameworks.

Job Responsibilities 2

Additional Responsibilities 3

Job Knowledge & Skills

Market risk analytics and exposure measurement

Commodity derivatives and hedging instruments

Credit risk assessment and counterparty analysis

Financial modeling and quantitative analysis

Strong analytical and problem-solving capability

High integrity and independent judgment

Excellent stakeholder communication skills

ERP knowledge, preferably SAP functional skills, is a requirement to be successful in this role (this point applies to all roles that have SAP access)

Job Experience

• Typically 10–15 years of progressive experience in risk management within energy or commodity trading.
• Strong background in petroleum, energy, or commodities markets, including derivatives and physical trading.
• Proven experience leading risk functions in trading houses, energy companies, or financial institutions.

Competencies

Education