Senior Director, Dairy Commodity Risk Management

Darigold • Seattle, WA

2d • $179,475 - $269,213 • Hybrid

About The Position

Darigold is seeking an experienced and motivated Senior Director, Dairy Commodity Risk Management to join our growing team. The Senior Director, Dairy Commodity Risk Management is a leadership role responsible for overseeing Darigold's Commodity Risk Management Program, executing authorized trading and hedging strategies and partnering closely with the B2B Commercial Team to protect and optimize company margins. This role operates within the governance framework established by Darigold's Corporate Risk Management Policy and reports functionally to the Chief Financial Officer, in close collaboration with the Vice President of B2B, B2B Portfolio Managers as well as the Head of Risk Management (Governance).

Darigold is the fifth largest dairy cooperative in the United States based on milk volume and one of the largest privately held organizations headquartered in the state of Washington. Since 1918, our producers have taken pride in producing dairy products with unsurpassed quality. Today, we are one of the nation's largest agricultural cooperatives, producing over 8.5 billion pounds of milk every year. Through innovative technology and our efficient, flexible production capabilities, we deliver value added products and customer-driven solutions. Darigold is now known throughout the world for bringing fresh, wholesome dairy products and ingredients from the Northwest to people all around the globe.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics, Agricultural Economics, or related field; advanced degree or CFA/FRM preferred.
• 8+ years of experience in commodity trading, risk management or derivatives, with dairy or agricultural commodities experience strongly preferred.
• Deep understanding of CME dairy futures and options markets, OTC swaps and related risk analytics including $VaR and mark-to-market methodologies.
• Experience with CTRM systems.
• Strong knowledge of CFTC regulations, CME Exchange rules and some knowledge of hedge accounting principles under ASC 815.
• Demonstrated ability to partner with diverse stakeholders across commercial, finance, and legal functions in a fast-paced commodity trading environment.

Nice To Haves

• advanced degree or CFA/FRM preferred

Responsibilities

• Maintain deep knowledge of and ensure compliance with Darigold's Corporate Risk Management Policy, all applicable CFTC regulations, CME Exchange rules and IRS requirements related to derivative trading and hedging activities.
• Support the Finance & Risk Committee, Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and Head of Risk Management in proposing amendments to the risk management policy as market and business conditions evolve.
• Coordinate with the General Counsel and Risk Management Governance to ensure all trading and hedging activities adhere to legal and regulatory obligations.
• Participate in Finance & Risk Committee reporting, providing timely updates on risk exposures, limit utilization and market conditions.
• Execute authorized derivative transactions — including exchange-traded futures, options, swaps, and OTC instruments — across approved dairy commodities (butter, cheese, whey, NFDM, milk powders, raw milk and natural gas).
• Manage net open positions daily within established $VaR limits, ensuring the total ingredient portfolio remains within defined $VaR threshold and individual commodity and book-level limits.
• Monitor and confirm mark-to-market valuations daily using approved methodologies (CME daily settle prices, Black-Scholes valuation) and take prompt corrective action when positions approach or breach risk limits.
• Adhere to the five-business-day grace period for returning positions to compliance when limits are exceeded and escalate promptly to SLT and the Finance & Risk Committee with documented business rationale when a limit exemption may be warranted.
• Enter derivative positions across the full book structure (forward sales hedging, inventory hedging and insight-driven books) in the Aegis CTRM system in accordance with the established deal entry and approval workflow.
• Design and execute hedging strategies to protect Darigold's margin from adverse market movements related to uncommitted inventory, fixed-price forward sales contracts and milk input costs.
• Manage inventory hedge timing and tenor in alignment with expected inventory turnover windows.
• Oversee forward sales hedges matched to the appropriate delivery months for butter, cheese, whey and NFDM. Mitigate risks and quantify impact to sales as appropriate.
• Evaluate and recommend use of NDA Forward Milk Pricing Contract Program (FMPCP) instruments as hedging tools within authorized position limits, ensuring daily position reporting reflects all accepted forward contracted milk.
• Identify and formally propose insight-driven trading strategies (e.g., expiration arbitrage, NDPSR/CME, NDPSR/GDT, crush spread) that leverage Darigold's market knowledge and position as a significant dairy market participant.
• Prepare written trading proposals using the approved template, including background analysis, data and fundamental analysis, trading plan, scenario analysis, risk factors and specific approval requests covering book, strategy, term, volume, capital and risk limits.
• Submit strategy proposals for review by the Risk Management Team and obtain approval from the CFO prior to execution.
• Monitor all active insight-driven strategies daily against assigned $VaR and stop-loss limits and escalate performance concerns promptly.
• Serve as a primary risk management partner to the Commercial Team (portfolio directors and governance), providing market risk analysis – internal and external, hedging recommendations and real-time position feedback to inform commercial decision-making.
• Collaborate with portfolio directors on commercial sales strategy to address basis risks that cannot be fully managed through derivatives (e.g., CME Spot vs. NDPSR basis exposure).
• Provide the Commercial Team with daily net position reports and $VaR analytics to ensure informed, risk-aware business and trading decisions.
• Engage proactively with B2B and B2C division leadership to align hedging strategies with forward sales pipelines and inventory management plans.
• Advise NDA on forward contracted milk volumes, ensuring daily acceptance levels remain within the 30-million-pound daily limit or are appropriately escalated to the CFO or CEO as required.
• Provide and implement cost saving or margin generating initiatives to help support company objectives.
• Oversee the accuracy of net position reports and $VaR calculations across all commodity books and strategies.
• Apply $VaR decomposition methodology (95% confidence level, 5-day holding period, historical simulation) consistently across all portfolios to ensure monthly updates to $VaR measurements incorporate current market price history.
• Identify and communicate market anomalies and risk-relevant developments – including fat tail scenarios – to senior management and the Finance & Risk Committee.
• Covert $VaR metrics to volumetric limits monthly to support practical trading operations.
• Oversee accurate and timely entry of all derivative transactions into the CTRM system, maintaining integrity of the front office/back-office segregation workflow.
• Ensure all OTC trades are manually entered and reconciled against counterparty reports and all exchange trades are properly loaded via API from ADM or other clearing files.
• Maintain the book structure in Aegis (hedging books and insight-driven books by commodity) to support accurate risk reporting, inventory reserve calculations and accounting/financial reporting requirements.
• Uphold strict separation of duties between the Commercial Team and Governance/Accounting functions; no risk management personnel shall conduct commercial duties or back-office functions.
• Cooperate fully with internal audit reviews and CME Group audits of Darigold’s hedging operations.
• Ensure all derivative transactions are executed exclusively with approved brokers.
• Comply with personal account trading restrictions – authorized commercial personnel are prohibited from trading personal accounts in products traded by the company.

Benefits

• 401k competitive employer matching
• Comprehensive medical, dental & vision benefits
• Employer paid life & disability coverage
• Paid time off and paid holidays
• 8 weeks paid parental leave
• Education assistance
• Employee assistance program
• Flexible hybrid working arrangement where it applies (up to 1 day/week after initial 90 days and approval by hiring manager and HR)

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director