Merchant II

Cargill • Fort Dodge, IA

2d

About The Position

Cargill is a family company committed to providing food and agricultural solutions in a safe, responsible, and sustainable way. This position is within the Food Enterprise, which serves food manufacturers, food service customers, and retailers with ingredients and branded products, including poultry, beef, egg, alternative protein, salt, oils, starches, sweeteners, cocoa, and chocolate.

The Merchant II executes and monitors merchandising strategies for a specific commodity or market by originating, buying, and selling commodities to support target volumes, margins, and business performance. With limited supervision, the role monitors physical positions, contract exposures, and lower-risk cash positions; gathers and analyzes market, customer, and supplier information; and coordinates with cross-functional and cross-business teams to support efficient execution of physical flows and contracts within defined risk parameters.

Requirements

• At least 2 years of relevant work experience; the role typically reflects 3 years or more of relevant experience.
• Flexibility to work off-hour activities and events as necessary, up to 10%.

Nice To Haves

• Commodity merchandising experience.
• Agriculture industry experience.
• Customer service experience.

Responsibilities

• Execute short-term merchandising strategies by originating, buying, and selling commodities to optimize margins, achieve target volumes, and support business performance for a specific commodity or market.
• Monitor physical positions, contract exposures, and lower-risk cash positions, including futures hedges, and ensure transactions meet timing, volume, quality, specification, and cost requirements.
• Gather and analyze supply-and-demand trends, pricing dynamics, logistics constraints, customer requirements, product specifications, sustainability considerations, and market movements to support merchandising decisions and identify opportunities.
• Develop and maintain relationships with customers, suppliers, brokers, and market participants to support transactions, understand needs, identify opportunities, and create value.
• Implement and monitor short-term merchandising plans for a specific commodity or market, contributing ideas and insights to broader merchandising strategies.
• Monitor market, credit, price, volume, and operational risks associated with cash positions, futures hedges, contracts, and physical flows; escalate or recommend mitigation actions in accordance with business guidelines and risk expectations.
• Collaborate with logistics, supply chain, plant operations, finance, pricing, technical, trading, commercial, analytics, and operational teams to support execution of physical flows, contracts, and merchandising activities.
• Engage with market participants and industry networks to gather customer, supplier, and market insights that support market intelligence and business opportunities.
• Work off-hours activities and events as necessary, including corn harvest and producer marketing meetings, up to 10%.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed