Commodity Trading
Front-office experience in physical oil and derivatives trading, refinery margin hedging, structured commodity financing, inventory monetisation and optimisation, with direct trading book and commercial P&L responsibility.
Commodity Trading & Risk Management
Jay Nair
International commodity trading and risk management executive with experience across physical energy markets, investment banking and derivatives clearing. Combining enterprise risk leadership, quantitative risk expertise and front-office trading experience.
Professional profile
Disciplined risk leadership across global commodity markets
I am a senior commodity trading and risk management professional with experience leading enterprise risk functions across energy trading, investment banking and derivatives clearing. My international career spans Singapore, Europe and the Middle East, combining risk leadership with front-office trading and commercial P&L responsibility. My approach centres on giving trading businesses the clarity, discipline and control to pursue commercial opportunities with confidence.
This site offers executive recruiters, CROs and senior business leaders a perspective on where I have led, what I bring to a risk function and how I approach the balance between commercial ambition and institutional resilience. My experience brings together quantitative risk expertise, enterprise risk governance and business transformation across complex physical commodity and derivatives markets.
- Experience
- Global Markets
- Geography
- International
- leadership
- Trading & Risk
Capabilities
Areas of expertise
Market Risk
Leadership in market and quantitative risk management across physical commodities and derivatives, including VaR, Expected Shortfall, stress testing, margin models, hedging strategies and trading risk limits.
Credit Risk
Experience in counterparty credit risk management across commodity trading and financing, including credit assessment, exposure measurement, credit limits, collateral management and counterparty default risk.
Enterprise Risk Management
Oversight in enterprise and operational risk management, including risk appetite frameworks, board and risk committee governance, RCSA, control frameworks, regulatory remediation and business transformation.
Selected career achievements
Selected examples of commercial transformation, risk governance and structured commodity finance across international energy markets.
Commercial Transformation
Mabanaft Group — Led the UK operating model transformation, delivering a 20% reduction in operating costs and margin improvement exceeding 150 basis points, alongside broader commercial and P&L responsibilities.
Trading Risk Governance
Dubai Oil Trading Group — Established a Risk Management Committee with formal Terms of Reference and introduced a counterparty credit scoring framework and credit risk procedures, strengthening governance and decision-making across the group's physical oil trading activities.
Structured Commodities FInance & Trading
Essar Oil UK — Contributed to the structuring and execution of an approximately US$800 million inventory monetisation programme, significantly enhancing balance-sheet financing capacity and liquidity flexibility. Combined structured commodity financing with refinery hedging, inventory risk management and commercial trading expertise.
Risk Management & Quantitative Expertise
Combining quantitative risk modelling, enterprise risk governance and commercial judgement to manage complex exposures across physical commodities, derivatives and financial markets.
Quantitative Risk & Model Oversight
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) — Led a 12-member quantitative risk team overseeing initial margin models, back-testing, stress testing and default fund risk. Contributed to the successful completion of the Bank of England's clearing-house stress-testing exercise.
Regulatory Risk & Control Transformation
Macquarie Group — Completed a major regulatory-driven control uplift review across five commodity business areas: Oil, Agriculture, Metals, Uranium and Upstream Financing. Identified control gaps, introduced new controls and validated their effectiveness, strengthening physical commodity risk governance and control accountability.
Integrated Trading Risk & Capital Framework
Mabanaft Group & Dubai-based Trading House — Designed and implemented integrated risk frameworks covering VaR calibration, stress testing, counterparty credit risk, liquidity forecasting and trading drawdown limits. Established a risk appetite framework with aggregate exposure capped at 80% of balance-sheet capacity, supported by graduated early-warning thresholds and escalation protocols.
Trading Intelligence & Digital Transformation
Connecting commercial trading expertise, quantitative risk management and data technology to improve decision-making across complex commodity businesses.
Commercial Origination & Strategy
QD-Mjolnir — Originated and secured a six-figure enterprise data intelligence engagement with a Dubai-based energy trading group operating a refinery in West Africa. Led client engagement, commercial negotiations and solution scoping, translating complex trading and operational requirements into a structured technology implementation.
Enterprise Data Integration
QD-Mjolnir — Leading the integration of six business functions — executive management, trading, refinery inventory, domestic sales, procurement and finance — into a unified enterprise data platform connecting a Dubai-based trading business with its West African refinery operations.
Risk Intelligence & Decision Support
QD-Mjolnir — Developing an integrated management control tower with six KPIs per business module, automated data validation, anomaly detection and operational risk indicators. Designed to strengthen trading and inventory oversight, improve data integrity and provide management with timely, actionable intelligence.
Experience
Career history
A progression of senior roles across commodity trading, market risk and enterprise risk management.
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Jan 2026 – Present
Principal Consultant-Commodity Trading & Risk
Qd-Mjolnir
Leading the implementation of an enterprise data and risk analytics platform for a Dubai-based commodity trading group with refining operations in Ghana, integrating trading, inventory, finance and operational data to strengthen risk management, business intelligence and executive reporting.
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June 2025 – nov 2025
Head of Risk
Dubai Oil Trading Group
Recruited to lead an initial six-month risk transformation mandate, strengthening enterprise risk governance, establishing the Risk Management Committee and developing counterparty credit assessment frameworks to support the group's trading activities.
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Oct 2024-may 2025
Associate Director- Non-Financial & Operational Risk
Macquarie Group
Led non-financial risk management across EMEA Commodities, including risk and control assessments, trade lifecycle controls and risk remediation. Supported the review of inventory monetisation structures, strengthening valuation controls and risk governance.
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apr 2020-may 2024
Head of Risk/Chief of Staff- Trading & Supply
Mabanaft Group
Led group market risk management, risk governance and trading risk frameworks before assuming a broader Chief of Staff mandate encompassing business transformation, commercial operations and P&L responsibility across the UK and Scandinavia.
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nov 2018- mar 2020
Director - Margin & Risk Management
Intercontinental Exchange
Led a 12-member quantitative risk team responsible for initial margin models, stress testing, back-testing, concentration risk, default fund modelling and counterparty default management across global derivatives clearing.
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june 2011- oct 2018
Head of Product Trading & Refinery Risk
Essar Oil UK
Managed a refined products trading book with direct P&L responsibility, including futures, swaps and oil product spreads. Led refinery margin hedging, inventory monetisation and optimisation, and structured commodity financing activities.
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june 2009-may 2011
Oil Derivatives Trader
Barclays Investment Bank
Front-office oil derivatives trading across middle distillates, gasoil, fuel oil and freight, including client flow trading, pricing and execution of futures, swaps, cracks and spreads.
Foundations
Education & credentials
Academic training and professional qualifications that underpin a career in commodity trading and risk leadership.
2008
Master of Finance
London Business School
2004
Master's in Engineering
National University of Singapore
2025
Risk Management for Corporate Leaders
Harvard Business School for Executive Education
Articles on LinkedIn
Selected writing
Perspectives on commodity markets, risk governance and the disciplines that hold a trading business together.
Oct 2026
Copper's hidden risk: when the market moves faster than the credit committee
Read on LinkedInSeptember 2026
Oil Supply Disruption: When counterparty risk becomes a balance-sheet problem
Read on LinkedInSeptember 2025
From Trade Flows to Risk Frameworks: How Dubai is redefining global commodities
Read on LinkedInLet's talk
I welcome conversations with executive recruiters, business leaders and trading firms on senior risk leadership, commodity trading, commercial transformation and strategic advisory opportunities.Whether discussing an executive mandate or a complex trading and risk challenge, please get in touch.
- Jpsnair@gmail.com