Middle Office Analyst

JERA Trading Pte Ltd.; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

JERA Global Markets Group in Houston is seeking a Middle Office Analyst to support US gas and power trading activities, including daily P&L reporting and trade book validation. You will interact with Front Office, Risk, Treasury, and Finance to ensure accurate pricing, settlements, and risk controls.

The role requires a degree in accounting, business, or engineering and 3–7 years of experience in a middle-office or risk environment within energy trading.

Qualifications

• Between 3 and 7 years of work experience in a Middle Office or Risk role.
• Experience in US gas and power markets is preferred.
• Degree in accounting, business or engineering required.

Responsibilities

• Produce daily P&L reports and consolidate all trade book reports with precision and consistency.
• Resolve queries from traders or other departments related to P&L.
• Maintain price curves and the associated calendars; understand funding needs for futures and forwards.
• Support Market Risk, Credit Risk, Treasury, and Finance in monitoring and month-end processes.
• Collaborate with Front Office and London-based teams to gain broader insights.

Skills

Strong communication

English proficiency

Quantitative analysis

Risk mindset

Education

Accounting, Business or Engineering degree

Tools

ETRM/EKA system

Excel

Job description

The JERA Global Markets Group (JERAGM) is a leading utility-backed energy trader specialising in LNG, power, coal and freight.

As JERA’s exclusive trading and optimisation platform for majority shareholder, JERAGM operates one of the most exciting energy portfolios in the world, which gives it an in-depth understanding of the way local, regional and international energy markets behave. This expertise enables us to capture trading opportunities, optimise portfolios, create value and enhance security of supply for our customers.

Headquartered in Singapore, JERAGM has a global talent pool of about 400 people across offices located in five strategic locations: Singapore, the UK (London), Japan (Tokyo), the US (Houston) and Australia (Brisbane).

Position Description

This role forms part of JERA's growing North American Gas Trading business, which is expected to transition onto JERAGM’s trading platform. This business is wholly owned by JERA Co., Inc. and will focus on US natural gas trading, optimisation and market development across North America. Successful candidates will join during the build-out phase ahead of the business's planned operational launch.

Within JERAGM’s US business (GMA), the Middle Office function is responsible for all aspects of Product Control and Trade Control.

As a global trading business, JERAGM has counterparty exposure in Asia, EMEA, the U.S., and Latin America. The quality of our counterparties ranges from large, listed utilities and global trading companies to small single ship owning organisations. Trading relationships range from bilateral commodity sales and purchases to complex structured transactions with SPVs (IPPs for example).

The Middle Office team is responsible for:

• Production of daily profit and loss for the trading books, ensuring its consistency and integrity
• Resolving any queries from traders or other departments relating to P&L, and escalating as required to the Head of Risk
• Validation of internal trade physical and paper marks
• Validation of all physical commodity and derivative deal entries to ensure accurate capture into the ETRM system
• Forward curve and algorithm maintenance
• Contract and confirmation management for financial trades.
• Daily reconciliation of internal system vs clearing banks for exchange traded products
• Management of the relationship with clearing brokers and clearing banks
• Monitoring the trading activity; highlight and report unusual activity.
• Supporting the Market and Credit risk monitoring
• Supporting the Treasury team in margin management
• Supporting Finance in month-end financial closing processes
• Summary reporting (e.g. weekly, monthly) on key analytics
• Active discussions with Front Office, Market Risk and Credit Risk around trading strategy, positions, and the overlap with other management and risk reporting

Role Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

The Analyst, Middle Office's responsibilities will cover BAU reporting:

• Production of daily P&L reports and consolidation of all trade book reports, ensuring its precision, consistency and integrity
• Resolving queries from traders or other departments relating to P&L impacting topics
• Raising queries to traders when proposed booking changes or business practices are unclear
• Bringing awareness and understanding to the impacts of deal changes or bookings to different departments, considering how it will impact them
• Validation of physical commodity (US Gas and Power) and derivative deal entries ensure an accurate valuation within the ETRM System (EKA)
• Maintaining price curves and the associated calendars
• Understanding the different funding requirements for futures and forwards and how it impacts various stakeholders
• responsibility of the relationship with clearing brokers and clearing banks
• Monitoring the trading activity; highlighting and reporting unusual activity.
• Supporting the Market Risk and Credit Risk team’s monitoring
• Understanding and ability to calculate the impacts of IR and FX on P&L, working with the Treasury team to ensure the impacts are expected and hedges are correct or executed when required
• Supporting Finance in month-end financial closing processes explaining any provision requirements for the business
• Summary reporting (e.g. weekly, monthly) on key analytics
• Synergize with other teams based in London to add value to each other’s tasks as well as gaining a greater insight for colleagues based in Singapore
• Proposing and implementing innovative, more accurate and more efficient processes and calculation methods
• Ownership of the Contract and confirmation management for financial trades.

Key Qualifications & Experience

Experience

• Between 3 and 7 years of work experience, preferably with a degree in an accounting, business or engineering discipline or similar;
• Experience in a Middle Office or Risk role in another energy or commodity trading firm, preferably with US gas and power experience. Experience in other commodities (LNG, coal, freight or other gas/power markets) would be beneficial;
• Ability to engage with commercial teams and other internal stakeholders, to provide firm but constructive challenge and ensure adherence to the control framework and the associated policies / processes

Technical

• Educated to degree level or equivalent professional qualification;
• Excellent understanding of risks in trading businesses and a strong risk mindset;
• Strong understanding of the physical commodity trade life-cycle and derivative products;
• Ability to engage and empathise with stakeholders across the Supporting Functions;
• Good negotiation skills and understanding of contractual frameworks;
• Knowledge of US gas and power products, and an understanding of Oil, Coal, LNG, Dry-Freight, Emissions, and/or Power products will be beneficial;
• Strong communication skills in the English language (verbal and written) are required;
• Strong quantitative analysis skills, including the ability to structure clear, but concise answers to complex problems, often involving large data-sets;
• Structured and methodical approach to problem solving and systems testing.

Person Specification

• Confident personality, with the ability to communicate effectively in English;
• Attention to detail and the ability to work logically, quickly, and accurately;
• Computer literate, numerate, and comfortable handling varied and complex data sets;
• A commercial approach to their duties, a flexible approach to problem solving, and the ability to work effectively as part of a small, culturally diverse team;
• Proactive, independent and delivery-focused;
• Collaborative and able to build trust quickly with colleagues and stakeholders;
• Ability to absorb pressure, transmit clarity and communicate the path forward;
• Structured, organised and accountable;
• Capable to work autonomously is important but also to function as part of a cross-functional team;
• Ability to work within strict and tight deadlines and within policies;
• Ability to influence and persuade - to communicate effectively as well as positively interact with a variety of JERAGM functions, ultimately contributing to the success of the transformation projects;

This role offers an excellent opportunity to grow, and further apply and develop skills and responsibility within a growing and successful commodity trading business.