Head of Trading Compliance and Operational Risk

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 practical frameworks spanning policy, procedures, controls, testing, monitoring, reporting, issue management, training, audit support, and sustainable governance.
• Proficiency with tools such as Power BI, advanced Excel, SQL, or Python.
• Experience applying AI-enabled capabilities to monitoring and process controls.

Leadership and Behavioral Expectations

• Acts with integrity, independence, commercial awareness, accountability, sound judgment, and a strong control mindset while enabling responsible trading.
• Communicates risks, trade-offs, issues, and proposed remediation; promotes transparency, timely escalation, disciplined execution, and constructive partnership.
• Operates as a hands-on builder while creating scalable frameworks and routines that support continuous improvement.

Key Success Measures

• Credible execution of compliance and operational risk responsibilities, including effective education, monitoring, issue management, remediation, audit support, and reporting.
• Efficient evaluation of compliance monitoring systems with a clear recommendation for short term and long term solutions.
• Strong stakeholder partnership, timely escalation of emerging risks, and a practical roadmap for future team, tooling, analytics, surveillance, and governance needs as trading grows.
• Operates with a high degree of autonomy, applying expertise and sound judgment to advance the function with minimal direction while seeking support or escalation when warranted.

What We Offer

Competencies