Head of Methodologies - #1697246

Company Description

Fastmarkets is an industry-leading price-reporting agency (PRA) and information provider for global commodities, providing price data, news, analytics and events for the agriculture, forest products, metals and mining and new-generation energy markets.

Fastmarkets' data is critical for customers seeking to understand and predict dynamic, sometimes opaque markets, enabling trading and risk management. Fastmarkets is a global business with a history dating back to 1865 and is built on trust and deep market knowledge. It has more than 600 employees spread across global locations in the UK, US, China, India, Singapore, Brazil, Belgium, Finland and beyond.

Job Description

We are seeking an experienced and strategic Head of Methodologies to lead the development, governance and continuous improvement of our pricing methodologies. This role is critical in ensuring the continued integrity, transparency and accuracy of our price assessments across various commodity markets.

The ideal candidate will have a deep understanding of price formation, regulatory frameworks and best practices in price reporting. They will work closely with our editorial, pricing, compliance and technology teams to enhance and standardize methodologies in line with global industry standards such as the IOSCO Principles for PRAs.

Key Responsibilities

Methodology Development & Governance

• Lead the design, implementation and governance of robust and transparent pricing methodologies across multiple commodity markets. Ensure they capture Fastmarkets’ global standards for all the markets while accounting for the specific requirements of each commodity.
• Ensure all methodologies align with industry best practices, regulatory requirements (e.g., IOSCO, European Benchmark Regulation) and internal compliance policies. Lead annual reviews of benchmark statements as defined under the BMR.
• Work with the pricing operations and compliance teams to support improvements to the internal audit process to streamline internal workflows and increase the likelihood of success.
• Regularly review and refine existing methodologies to adapt to market changes, new data sources and evolving customer needs. Capture feedback from methodology reviews to enhance methodologies in collaboration with the editorial team.
• Ensure the impact of policy changes (including tariffs and sanctions) is swiftly and deftly managed and captured in methodologies.
• In collaboration with the Compliance team, develop processes for assessing and mitigating risks related to price assessments, including potential market manipulation concerns.
  
  

Market Engagement & Stakeholder Management

• Engage with market participants to gather feedback and ensure methodologies reflect real-world trading practices.
• Represent the company in industry events and regulatory discussions related to price reporting methodologies.
• Work closely with compliance, legal and editorial teams to ensure transparency and accountability in pricing decisions.
  
  

Data & Technology Integration

• In collaboration with the editorial operations team, support the integration of data science, automation and technology tools to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of pricing methodologies.
• Collaborate with IT teams to ensure robust data governance frameworks and quality control measures.
  
  

Training & Internal Best Practices

• Provide leadership and training to pricing teams on methodology principles, ensuring consistency across global pricing desks and commodity markets.
• Facilitate brainstorming sessions with editorial and compliance to challenge inconsistencies in the application of methodologies and bring alignment and transparency to operational pricing practices.
• Develop documentation, methodology handbooks and training programmes for internal and external stakeholders.
• Act as the key point of contact for internal methodology-related queries, disputes and audits.
  
  

Qualifications

We recruit talented, dynamic people with diverse backgrounds and experiences, all united by a belief in our mission to provide the world’s leading and most trusted price reporting, events, and intelligence service for the markets we serve. We’re proud to be an equal opportunities employer and are committed to creating a fully inclusive workplace, where everyone feels able to participate and contribute meaningfully.

If you are open-minded, curious, resilient, solutions-oriented and committed to promoting equality, then read on.

Knowledge, Experience And Skills

We are looking for an individual who is highly motivated, driven, and have a passion to be part of a fast-paced, successful team. Being a strong team player is also important as well as someone who is happy to work flexibly.

• 7+ years of experience in price reporting, commodity markets, financial benchmarks, or related fields.
• Strong understanding of IOSCO Principles, EU Benchmark Regulation (BMR), SEC compliance and global regulatory standards pertaining to commodities markets and price discovery.
• Expertise in price formation mechanisms, market structure and trading dynamics across commodity sectors.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams, driving change and implementing best practices in pricing governance.
• Strong analytical skills, including experience working with data-driven methodologies, statistical models or technology-driven pricing solutions.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to engage with producers, consumers, traders, analysts and regulators.
• Advanced degree in Economics, Finance, Data Science or related field is preferred.
  
  

If you're excited about the role but your experience, skills or qualifications don't perfectly align, we encourage you to apply anyway.

Additional Information

Our Values

Fastmarkets people come from all different walks of life. It’s this mix of brilliant personalities, experiences and insights that gives us that warm, open, and friendly culture you can feel as soon as you meet us. But however wonderfully different we all are, there are six things we all have in common – and they form our Fastmarkets values.

Created by our own employees to reflect some of the personal traits that Fastmarkets people have, our values are key to what makes our culture unique. They reflect who each of us are and they're embedded in everything we do. Our values are:

• METRICS DRIVEN. We use insights to improve our customers’ experience and our business performance
• ACCOUNTABLE. We are accountable to ourselves and those we work with: we keep our promises and get things done
• GROWTH MINDSET. This value enables us to be nimble to the changing realities and operate with a sense of urgency
• INCLUSIVE. We are inclusive and respectful, celebrating each of us and giving everyone a deep sense of belonging with the desire to bring their best self to work every day.
• CUSTOMER CENTRIC. We are customer-centric in all that we do
• COLLABORATIVE. We are collaborative, able to work across teams and capitalise on the diversity of intellect, perspectives, and experiences.
  
  

You’ve read a little about us – now it’s over to you!

If you like what you’ve read so far and think you can see yourself as a Fastmarkets person, it’s time to fill in your application form. This form is an important part of the selection process: it’s used to determine whether or not you’ll be chosen to have an interview and acts as a basis for the questions we’ll ask you on the day.

It’s vital that you try to capture all the relevant information we have asked for on the form so we can get a good feel for who you are and why you’re great.