Trading Business, Manager

About the Role
This position involves leading the execution of assigned mergers and acquisitions (M&A), joint ventures, partnerships, and investment opportunities within the company's Trading and Downstream ecosystem. As part of the Trading Business Development (M&A) function, the role drives individual opportunities from origination and screening through business case development, valuation, due diligence, negotiation support, and approval, ensuring alignment with the company's investment criteria, risk appetite, and portfolio strategy. Additionally, the role includes assessing new organic and inorganic downstream growth opportunities across gas, refining, fuels distribution, marketing, trading, and shipping, translating strategic themes into robust, decision-ready business cases for senior leadership and governance committees.

Key Accountabilities
Job Specific:

• Deal Origination & Pipeline: Originate, screen, and prioritize M&A, joint venture, partnership, and divestment opportunities relevant to global trading and downstream markets, maintaining assigned opportunities in the function's live deal pipeline.
• Transaction Execution: Lead the day-to-day execution of assigned transactions across all phases — due diligence, valuation, financial modeling, risk assessment, negotiation support, and deal documentation — acting as workstream lead within the deal team.
• Business Case & Valuation: Develop high-quality business cases for new ventures and investments covering market analysis, value proposition, economics, risk assessment, and implementation strategy; build and review valuation models (DCF, trading and transaction comparables) and return metrics (IRR, NPV, payback) across low, base, and high scenarios.
• Due Diligence Management: Coordinate commercial, financial, legal, technical, and tax due diligence on assigned deals, managing the scope, deliverables, and timelines of external advisors, consolidating findings into key risks, value drivers, and mitigations.
• Negotiation Support: Support the negotiation of term sheets, MoUs, SPAs, shareholder and joint venture agreements, collaborating with Legal and Commercial teams to protect the company's value and risk position.
• Governance & Approvals: Prepare investment committee, executive, and Board submissions and briefing materials, ensuring robust assumptions, documentation quality, and compliance with the company's investment governance and delegation of authority.
• Market Intelligence: Conduct market scanning and competitor analysis to identify target companies, emerging trends, new business models, and shifts in global trading and downstream dynamics; contribute periodic insights to senior leadership.
• Stakeholder Coordination: Coordinate with AGT, AT, DM&T Strategy, Finance & Investment, Legal, Tax, and Downstream Business Lines to align evaluation methodologies, assumptions, and commercial positioning on assigned opportunities.
• Value Creation & Integration: Embed integration considerations early in the deal process, prepare integration handover materials, and support tracking of realized value against expected synergies after closing.
• Tools & Deal Team Support: Contribute to standardized M&A tools, templates, valuation models, and processes that improve transaction quality and reduce execution time; guide and review the work of Senior Specialists and analysts on deal teams.
• Operational Plans: Contribute to the Division's annual operational plan and deal pipeline objectives, translating them into workplans for assigned transactions.
• Budgets & Cost Control: Manage transaction-related costs, including advisor fees on assigned deals, within approved budgets and report significant variances.
• Policies, Processes & Procedures: Apply and help improve M&A governance processes, standards, and internal controls in line with company guidelines.
• Performance Management: Achieve agreed individual performance objectives in line with the company's Performance Management System.
• People Development: Coach and share knowledge with Senior Specialists, analysts, and UAE National graduates on deal teams, supporting capability building and Emiratisation objectives.
• Risk Management: Identify, assess, and report transaction risks in line with the Corporate Integrated Risk Management System while upholding business ethics, confidentiality, and the company's Code of Conduct.
• Innovation & Continuous Improvement: Recommend improvements to deal processes against best practices, including the use of data analytics and AI-enabled tools.
• HSE: Comply with HSE policies, applicable legislation, and the company's Code of Practice.
• MIS & Reports: Ensure pipeline, deal status, and progress reports to senior management are accurate and timely.

Communication & Working Relationship
Internal:

• Collaborate closely with the VP, Business Development (M&A) — Trading and DM&T Strategy; coordinate with AGT, AT, and other Trading entities, Downstream Business Lines, and Asset Management, Finance & Investment, Legal, Commercial, Tax, and Risk teams to progress opportunities through evaluation and governance stages.

External:

• Engage with counterparties, potential partners, and acquisition targets; manage external advisors, banks, and consultants (legal, financial, technical, tax) on assigned transactions; and liaise with government entities and relevant authorities as required.

Qualifications, Experience, Knowledge & Skills
Minimum Qualification:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Finance, Economics, Business Administration, or a related field; a Master's degree (e.g., MBA or MSc Finance) is preferred.

Minimum Experience & Knowledge & Skills:

• 10–12 years' experience in M&A, corporate development, investment banking, transaction advisory, private equity, or strategy, including hands-on execution of multiple transactions through to closing.
• Experience in energy, Oil & Gas, downstream, or commodity trading is strongly preferred.
• Experience in structured finance, principal investing and/or business development within a commodity trading house is highly relevant, including structuring and financing transactions (e.g., acquisition, project and trade finance, prepayment and offtake-linked structures) and evaluating investments from a principal's perspective.
• Advanced financial modeling and valuation skills, with sound knowledge of due diligence processes and transaction documentation (term sheets, SPAs, SHAs, JV agreements).
• Working knowledge of investment governance and approval frameworks, with the ability to manage external advisors and present clear recommendations to senior executives.

Professional Certifications:

• CFA, ACA/ACCA, CPA, or a recognized corporate finance/M&A certification is preferred.

Core / Technical Skills:

• Performance Management Design and Implementation (L3)
• Performance Management and KPI Alignment (L3)
• Contracts Management and Administration (L3)
• Market Economics, Supply and Demand (L3)
• Commercial Negotiations (L3)
• Regulatory Compliance Management (L3)
• Market Intelligence (L3)
• Stakeholder Management (L3)
• Lean Six Sigma Process Improvement (L3)
• Commodity and Emission Trading (L3)
• Leadership Development (L3)
• Trading and Deal Execution Processes (L3)
• AI Fluency (L3)
• AI-Driven Process Optimization (L4)
• Intelligent Data Interpretation (L4)