Facility Trade Manager
About The Position
The Facility Trade Manager develops and executes regional trade strategies to improve profitability and optimize space utilization across a group of facilities. The role partners with Trade, Origination, and Operations teams to align commercial decisions with facility capabilities, execute sales and contracts, coordinate outbound logistics, manage local customer and supplier relationships, and oversee forecasting and profit-and-loss reporting. As a player-coach, the manager is responsible for team staffing, talent development, and establishing trade discipline for facility trade and regional origination teams. This regional leader interprets markets, formulates and communicates market opinions, and takes disciplined risk/reward positions for Scoular. The role strengthens the division’s cross-country book in partnership with enterprise rail and truck teams, leverages company trading resources, participates on Product Line Teams, and ensures inventory risks and premium and spread perspectives are communicated consistently across the region. The position connects business-unit strategy, operational execution, and enterprise initiatives by establishing trading discipline, identifying growth opportunities, and building strategic partnerships. Success requires market insight, leadership capability, commercial acumen, and the ability to drive profitable growth in a dynamic agricultural marketplace.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics, Business, Finance, Supply Chain, Transportation, or a related field; equivalent industry experience may be considered.
- At least 7 years of progressive experience in agricultural commodity trading, grain merchandising, freight trading, or a closely related commercial role.
- Strong understanding of rail freight markets, railroad operations, freight contracts, rail logistics, and agricultural commodity flows.
- Demonstrated record of profitable commercial decision-making and risk management.
- Collaborative, enterprise-first mindset to drive company results.
- Critical thinking skills and ability to develop, communicate, and implement trade strategy.
- Experience leading teams and developing high-performing commercial talent.
- Strong negotiation, communication, analytical, and relationship-management skills.
- Ability to make sound decisions in a fast-paced, changing market environment.
- Strong financial acumen, including the ability to evaluate margins, spreads, exposure, and risk/reward tradeoffs.
Responsibilities
- Define and communicate a regional facility trade strategy aligned with regional and enterprise objectives, with accountability for profitability, space utilization, contract execution, and other key performance metrics.
- Partner with Facility Merchants and divisional Trade teams to develop merchandising and commodity trading strategies, including hedging and futures spread management, that maximize revenue and achieve profit objectives within established risk limits.
- Collaborate with Origination, Trade, and Operations teams to improve trade-unit efficiency and profitability, optimize facility space and supply, expand existing markets, and develop new market opportunities.
- Identify, analyze, and execute profitable trading opportunities and facility sales with Facility Merchants and Trade teams, using market intelligence and risk-management tools and strategies.
- Communicate market intelligence, trends, and trade strategies to Origination teams, and lead options and futures spread deployment planning.
- Manage counterparty relationships to enable timely, opportunistic trading and make final decisions regarding time value and quality arbitrage.
- Develop accurate and timely forecasts and budgets, and explain and articulate variances.
- Assess freight spreads, basis movements, geographic dislocations, transportation constraints, seasonal patterns, weather, crop conditions, and demand to identify market opportunities.
- Build strategic relationships with customers, suppliers, brokers, and transportation partners, representing the company in key commercial and industry engagements.
- Partner with Operations, Origination, and Trading teams to align customer needs with market opportunities and negotiate profitable commercial and transportation agreements.
- Lead, coach, and develop trade and origination teams through clear expectations, accountability, mentoring, market education, and progressively complex assignments.
- Foster collaboration, curiosity, disciplined risk-taking, continuous improvement, and effective sharing of market intelligence across commercial functions.
- Build succession plans and develop future leaders within the rail trading organization.
- Coordinate outbound logistics and manage local customer and supplier relationships.
- Oversee forecasting and profit-and-loss reporting.
- Support team staffing and establish trade discipline for facility trade and regional origination teams.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Manager
