Commodity Head

Ssutra Consultancy; South Africa; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,300,000; Full time

Job summary

Ssutra Consultancy is seeking an Operator for the New Ventures Commodities Trading Desk in Johannesburg, South Africa. This role spans the full trade lifecycle, from sourcing and logistics to financing, sales and operations, executing trades hands-on under senior leadership.

You will help grow traded volume and margin per tonne while maintaining disciplined counterparty credit and compliance, acting with commercial hustle and initiative in year one.

Qualifications

• 3–5 years' experience in physical commodity trading, with exposure to sourcing, logistics, trade finance, or sales.
• Hands-on involvement in trade execution or support.
• Familiarity with trade finance instruments (LCs, PXF, warehouse receipts).
• Knowledge of South African logistics infrastructure and its friction points.
• Entrepreneurial, high-agency mindset and initiative.
• Strong communication and negotiation skills.

Responsibilities

• Sourcing & origination: identify and build supplier relationships in SA and the region.
• Logistics & execution: coordinate movement, liaise with freight forwarders, ensure quality control.
• Trade financing: assist structuring financing alongside partners and treasury.
• Sales & marketing: build offtake book and negotiate terms.
• Operations & trade management: manage contract to settlement and ensure compliance.

Skills

Sourcing & Origination

Logistics Management

Trade Financing

Sales & Marketing

Commercial Negotiation

Entrepreneurial Mindset

Communication Skills

Job description

Function: New Ventures Commodities Trading Desk

Location: Johannesburg, South Africa

Reports to: CEO, New Ventures and/ or CFO

Role type: Full-time, individual contributor

Role Summary

welooking for an Operator someone who can work across the full trade lifecycle (sourcing, logistics, financing, sales, and operations) and execute individual trades hands-on under the guidance of senior leadership, with the judgment to flag issues early and pull in specialist support (legal, treasury, compliance) when needed.

The core success measure for this role is simple: contribute to growing traded volume and the spread captured per tonne, without compromising counterparty or credit discipline. This means the person must think and act with commercial instinct and hustle, not just administer trades someone else has structured.

Key Responsibilities

1. Sourcing & Origination

• Help identify, qualify, and build relationships with producers, mines, and intermediate suppliers across target commodities in South Africa and the broader region.
• Support negotiation of supply terms (price mechanism, quality specs, tonnage, delivery terms) under guidance from senior members.
• Keep a continuous eye on the market for arbitrage, quality-blending, and origination opportunities worth flagging.
• Maintain and update a pipeline of supply relationships, not just one-off transactions.

2. Logistics & Execution

• Coordinate the physical movement of product — rail, road, port, warehousing, and vessel where applicable — ensuring cost-efficient and reliable delivery.
• Liaise with freight forwarders, clearing agents, surveyors, and port/terminal operators.
• Manage quality control, weighbridge, and sampling processes to protect against disputes and claims.
• Support real-time resolution of logistics disruptions (demurrage, delays, quality disputes, force majeure situations), escalating where needed.

3. Trade Financing

• Support structuring of financing for individual trades (LCs, trade finance facilities, warehouse receipt financing, pre-export finance) alongside banking partners and treasury.
• Help track counterparty credit exposure and payment terms to protect working capital.
• Work with finance/treasury to keep the desk's use of facilities organized across concurrent trades.

4. Sales & Marketing

• Help build and maintain a book of offtake customers/traders across relevant commodities and geographies.
• Support negotiation of sale terms that lock in or improve spread against the sourced cost base.
• Represent Alfeco commercially at industry events, with customers, and with trading counterparties.
• Help widen the customer base over time to reduce single-buyer dependency.

5. Operations & Trade Management

• Manage the trade from contract to settlement: documentation, contract compliance, invoicing, and reconciliation.
• Maintain accurate position and exposure tracking per trade and in aggregate.
• Help ensure contracts, financing, and logistics stay compliant with South African regulatory frameworks (customs, exchange control, relevant sector regulation) and any cross-border requirements.
• Contribute to building and refining the operating processes and controls for the desk as it scales — this is a hands-on, build-as-you-go role in year one.

What Success Looks Like

• Volume growth: visible contribution to month-on-month and year-on-year growth in tonnes traded across the desk's commodity mix.
• Spread capture: consistent attention to margin per tonne, with clear visibility into what's driving it (sourcing edge, logistics efficiency, financing cost, sales price realization).
• Book quality: helping build a diversified, creditworthy counterparty base on both supply and offtake sides.
• Operational integrity: trades settle cleanly, disputes are rare and resolved fast, and financing facilities are used efficiently without breaches.
• Commercial instinct: proactively surfaces new trade opportunities and flags risks rather than only executing what's handed down.

Candidate Profile

Essential:

• 3–5 years' experience in or around physical commodity trading, with exposure to at least one of: sourcing/origination, logistics, trade finance, or sales — ideally within metals, minerals, or ferro-alloys.
• Demonstrated hands-on involvement in trade execution or support, even if not yet running a book independently.
• Working familiarity with trade finance instruments (LCs, PXF, warehouse receipts) and how they interact with physical trade structuring.
• Working knowledge of South African logistics infrastructure (rail, Transnet ports, road freight) and its practical friction points.
• Entrepreneurial, high-agency operator mindset — comfortable owning ambiguity and taking initiative without waiting for a fully built-out back office.
• Strong communication and negotiation instincts, with room to grow into full ownership of counterparty relationships.

Preferred:

• Early relationships or exposure within South African ferrochrome, manganese, chrome ore, or steel producers and/or regional/international offtake buyers.
• Exposure to commodities beyond metals (e.g., agro-industrial or energy-linked products) given Alfeco's broader portfolio.
• Prior experience in a trading, trade support, or trade operations function.
• Familiarity with South African regulatory context relevant to trade (customs, exchange control, mineral sector requirements).