Head of Trading Compliance and Operational Risk
LyondellBasell · Houston
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- Head of Trading Compliance and Operational Risk
- Location:
Houston, TX, US, 77056
- Req ID: 91195
- Facility: Williams Tower -130
- Department: Middle and Back Office
- Division: Finance
LyondellBasell is a leader in the global chemical industry creating solutions for everyday sustainable living. With a nearly 70-year legacy that includes a Nobel Prize in Chemistry and our proprietary MoReTec recycling technology, LYB is enabling a more sustainable future for generations to come. LYB develops high-quality and innovative products for applications ranging from sustainable transportation and food safety to clean water and quality healthcare. LYB places high priority on diversity, equity and inclusion and is Advancing Good with an emphasis on our planet, the communities where we operate and our future workforce. We're addressing the global challenges of ending plastic waste, taking climate action, and supporting a thriving society, while generating value for our customers, investors, and society.
Come Join an Inclusive Team
Integrated Supply, Trading, and Optimization ("IST&O") is LYB’s asset-backed petrochemical trading organization. The Head of Trading Compliance and Operational Risk will design and action the agendas for these two disciplines, helping safeguard the company through clear standards, education, surveillance, and compliance monitoring while advancing process excellence and continuous improvement.
IST&O operates in markets that span the liquidity spectrum—from highly liquid, transparent markets to highly illiquid markets where individual actions may have greater market impact. It matters how we communicate internally and externally, how we bid and offer into these markets, and how we execute transactions, from bilateral markets to Platts Market on Close windows.
This role sits within Finance and reports to the Global Head of Middle Office and Transaction Services. Initially a hands-on individual contributor, the successful candidate will build and execute the frameworks, controls, testing, reporting, training, and stakeholder routines needed for responsible growth. As trading expands, the role is expected to become a functional leadership position supported by a scalable operating model and team buildout.
- A Day in the Life
- Establish the Trading Compliance and Operational Risk functions for IST&O, including mandate, governance, risk taxonomy, cadence, escalation, documentation, and engagement with commercial and control partners.
- Work with Corporate Compliance, Regulatory, internal counsel, and external counsel to understand all internal and external compliance requirements.
- Set standards and monitor against these standards for trading conduct and communications with external parties including exchanges. Specific responsibilities will include monitoring derivative transactions against the applicable Dodd-Frank and CFTC de minimis limit and setting standards for communications and trading conduct across liquid and illiquid markets, including Platts Market on Close windows.
- Establish expectations for behavior and conduct under LYB’s internal requirements, including adherence to policies, procedures, delegated authorities, records-retention standards, conflicts and information barriers, attestations, testing, issue management, escalation, and control-evidence requirements.
- Partner with Procurement and DT (IT) to define requirements for and implement transaction and communication monitoring technology.
- Develop and operate the operational risk framework across the trade lifecycle, including risk and control self-assessments, process reviews, key risk indicators, incident and near-miss management, root-
- Embed control and compliance requirements into CTRM design and trade-lifecycle processes—including approvals, capture, confirmations, settlements, reporting, limits, reconciliations, exceptions, and audit evidence—in partnership with Front Office, Middle Office, Transaction Services, Scheduling, Legal, Internal Controls, Internal Audit, DT (IT), and enterprise functions.
- Report to management on risk indicators, control performance, training, policy exceptions, incidents, aged issues, remediation, audit findings, regulatory developments, and emerging risks.
- You Bring This Value
Required Experience and Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Business, Economics, Law, Engineering, Risk Management, or a related field.
- Significant experience in compliance, operational risk, internal controls, trading risk, audit, legal, regulatory advisory, or business controls supporting commodity trading, financial markets, energy, petrochemicals, or other asset-backed commercial activity.
- Strong knowledge of physical and financial commodity trade lifecycles, including key activities such as: approvals, trade execution (awareness of appropriate and inappropriate bidding/offering behaviors), trade capture, forward curves, confirmations, logistics, actualization, tax assessments, invoicing, settlements, reconciliations, P&L and exposure reporting, controls documentation, and issue identification, escalation, and mitigation.
- Experience with establishing and monitoring controls within CTRM-supported processes.
- Ability to work independently, influence without authority, prioritize constrained resources, balance commercial enablement with control expectations, and communicate effectively with senior leaders.
Preferred Experience and Qualifications
- Experience with chemicals, petrochemicals, refined products, NGLs, natural gas, crude oil, feedstocks, intermediates, polymers, power, or related asset-backed commodity markets.
- Hands-on experience with Compliance monitoring applications (i.e., for monitoring of trading activity and/or communication).
- Demonstrated ability to build and maintain practic