Middle Office Manager (Metals)

We are supporting a leading global commodities trading house with the appointment of a Metals Middle Officer.

Sitting closely alongside the trading desk, the successful candidate will be responsible for daily P&L and position control, exposure monitoring, hedge reconciliation and ensuring the accuracy of trading activity across physical and financial metals positions.

This is a highly visible role requiring regular interaction with traders, operations, finance, risk, credit and settlement teams.

Key Responsibilities

1. Produce, review and explain daily P&L across physical and derivative metals positions.
2. Monitor trading positions, exposures and risk limits, escalating material discrepancies where required.
3. Reconcile physical positions against futures, swaps and other hedging instruments.
4. Review trade capture and ensure transactions are accurately reflected within the relevant trading systems.
5. Validate pricing, valuations, premiums, quotational periods and mark-to-market calculations.
6. Investigate and resolve P&L, pricing, position and reconciliation breaks.
7. Monitor open pricing exposure and ensure physical activity is appropriately aligned with the desk’s hedging strategy.
8. Support month-end closing activities and ensure accurate reporting across trading, finance and risk functions.
9. Work closely with traders to understand the commercial drivers behind desk performance.
10. Coordinate with operations, accounting, credit, settlements and compliance throughout the trade lifecycle.
11. Maintain and improve internal controls, reporting processes and middle-office procedures.
12. Support the development and automation of P&L, exposure and risk reporting tools.

Candidate Profile

1. 5+ years experience within middle office, trade control, product control, P&L control or a commercially focused commodity operations role.
2. Strong understanding of physical commodity trading and the associated trade lifecycle.
3. Metals experience is preferred, particularly across refined metals, base metals or concentrates.
4. Exposure to other physical commodity markets, including oil or agricultural products, may also be considered where the candidate has strong P&L, hedging and position-control experience.
5. Experience producing or reviewing daily P&L and investigating performance drivers.
6. Understanding of physical-versus-paper exposure and derivative hedging.
7. Strong numerical, analytical and problem-solving capability.
8. Comfortable working directly with traders and challenging discrepancies where required.
9. Experience using ETRM or CTRM systems.
10. Advanced Excel skills; VBA, Python or other automation experience would be beneficial.
11. Strong communication skills and the ability to work effectively across front, middle and back-office functions.