Head of Settlements - Oil, Gas, Power & LNG

Job Description

Our client is a successful, renowned Global Commodity Trading house. This role is based in the Finance team here in London, where they trade various products including Oil, Gas & Power.As Leader of Finance Operations in London, you will be accountable for the end-to-end settlements process for all London Trading Desks within the Oil, Gas, Power & LNG Group. You will be accountable for ensuring that all settlements targets and KPIs aremet. The role will sit within the Finance function and report to the Global CFO.Duties and responsibilities as follows:

• Accountable for the management and performance of the team, including personnel development, performance management and day to day workload management
• Ensuring resolution of any day-to-day operational issues
• Reporting and monitoring workload as requested
• Ownership of the end-to-end invoicing process, including:
• Physical Receivable Invoice Management (including provisional and prepayment invoices): Create and dispatch receivable invoices (with support from other functions as required) across physical trades and secondary costs
• Physical Payable Invoice Management (including provisional and prepayment invoices): Receive, validate and process payable invoices (with support from other functions as required) across physical trades and secondary costs
• Brokerage Payable Invoice Management: Receive, validate and process broker statements
• Errors and Invoice Amendment Management: Manage all invoice errors and amendments (with support from other functions as required)
• Receivable Management: Manage receivables, including cash application and debt management
• Intercompany Management: Manage intercompany balances and invoicing processes
• Liaising with internal desks/teams and external parties on the resolution of Finance Operations enquiries
• Managing the resolution of queries from internal desks/teams and external parties
• Identification and management of settlement disputes
• Resolving settlements issues to improve our balance sheet position on all settlements runsincluding working with Finance teams to continuously evolve ways of improving the cash conversion cycle
• Overseeing counterparty information and ensuring that their billing and settlements information is in line and up to date, with support from other support functions as required
• Creating and reviewing internal processes, ensuring compliance with the Group and wider industry requirements as well as continuous improvement and efficiencies, in collaboration with regional offices
• Contributing to continuous improvement initiatives within the scope of Finance Operations, to drive efficiency and improved performance (for example, system enhancements, workflow, and automation), in collaboration with regional offices
• Setting and evolving KPIs for the team in line with management expectations and Finance Operations performance targets, in collaboration with regional offices
• Identify, design, and implement operational and management reporting requirements, including KPIs and key analytics
• Periodic and ad hoc management reporting
• Accomplishing other ad-hoc duties as requested by the Global CFO

The ideal candidate disposes of:

• Experience in managing a settlements team, ideally for a global commodities / energy company
• Knowledge of trading
• Knowledge of physical commodities (desirable)
• Knowledge of accounting and reporting standards (desirable)
• Focus on operational improvement
• Ability to work well under pressure
• Good attention to detail (analytical, methodological and tenacious)
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Ability to prioritise and manage the teams workload effectively
• Willing to learn new subjects and acquire new skills
• Comfortable working in a dynamic and constantly evolving environment
• Good knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite, especially excel