Strategic Initiatives

Castleton Commodities International•Houston, TX

About The Position

CCI is hiring a Strategic Initiatives professional to support its commercial business across high-impact business initiatives, onboarding of new commercial talent, and ETRM trade lifecycle initiatives. The role partners with Front Office, Merchant Operations, Finance and P&L, Risk, Technology, and other cross-functional teams to deliver system enhancements; onboard trading desks and US asset businesses; and support expansion into new markets and products across CCI’s global energy commodity platform. The position manages new-business efforts from documenting business and system requirements through cross-functional coordination, system setup and testing, project planning, and task completion. It supports diligence and approvals, establishes operational risk and control processes, and connects new initiatives to existing global processes. ETRM responsibilities include configuring and optimizing systems, setting up forward price and volatility curves and settlement quotes, coordinating reference data and reporting solutions, facilitating user acceptance testing and training, and maintaining controls and documentation. The role also uses Python for automation prototypes, process maintenance, and analytics, and undertakes other strategic and corporate projects as needed.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Math, Economics, Engineering, Information Technology, Computer Science, or a related field.
At least 5 years of experience in a combination of business analysis, project management, cross-departmental business management, trade support, risk, P&L, physical scheduling, or operations within the energy and commodities industry.
Demonstrated trade lifecycle experience with one or more of Electricity, Oil, Natural Gas, or US Renewable Energy Credits.
Hands-on experience across the commodity transaction lifecycle, including trading, positions, mark-to-market and P&L management (including FX exposure), confirmations, credit and margin management, scheduling, settlements, invoicing, and accounting.
Understanding of forward and settlement pricing, including FX, IR, and volatilities, for valuation of US power, gas, and oil liquids futures, swaps, physicals, and options.
Strong technical and analytical skills and prior ETRM system experience.
Ability to communicate effectively with commercial teams and all levels of management, and to autonomously lead meetings and initiatives.
Excellent communication skills and ability to engage and influence stakeholders across the organization.
Strong attention to detail and excellent organizational skills.
Demonstrated ownership, accountability, and delivery on complex, cross-functional initiatives.
Ability to lead and execute.
Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, dynamic, high-intensity environment, including an open-floor-plan setting, with timely responsiveness and ability to work beyond normal business hours when required.

Nice To Haves

Past exposure to Physical Power and Natural Gas, Physical Oil Trading, and/or Structured Transactions is strongly preferred.
Python experience preferred.
Familiarity with Agile project management methodologies and product model approaches preferred.

Responsibilities

Assist with onboarding and strategic projects across the global trading footprint, with a focus on US offices and businesses, new trading desks, and market and product expansions.
Assist the Principal Investments team with Trade Operations and Finance deliverables for asset investments or divestitures.
Manage new-business efforts, including documenting business and system requirements, facilitating cross-functional work, system setup and testing, project planning, and coordinating task completion across relevant teams.
Establish operational risk and control processes and documentation for new business and trading activity.
Support commercial business diligence and approvals for new initiatives.
Onboard and provide ongoing support to new commercial resources, including traders.
Coordinate across support groups to connect initiatives to global processes and work with functional owners to define and implement non-standard workflows where applicable.
Undertake ad-hoc strategic and corporate projects.
Collaborate on and lead initiatives to design and implement organizational solutions, including new product configuration, trading reference data architecture and setup, and process and data flow analysis.
Oversee configuration, integration, and optimization of ETRM systems supporting front-, middle-, and back-office functions.
Set up new forward price and volatility curves and settlement quotes in the system.
Liaise with developers for IT development and support as needed.
Coordinate with the Data Integration team to streamline reference data and develop reporting and analytics solutions.
Use Python for automation prototypes, maintenance of Python-dependent processes, and advanced analytics initiatives.
Facilitate user acceptance testing, deployment, and training for new system features and enhancements.
Maintain understanding of enterprise data sources, uses, and controls, ensuring accuracy and compliance.
Document new products onboarded and areas where the team has supported efficiency or control improvements.

Benefits

Competitive comprehensive medical, dental, retirement, and life insurance benefits
Employee assistance and wellness programs
Parental and family leave policies
Two days annually allocated to volunteer at selected charities through office Charity Committees
Charitable contribution match program
Tuition assistance and reimbursement
Quarterly Innovation & Collaboration Awards
Employee discount program, including access to fitness facilities
Competitive paid time off
Continued learning opportunities