The posting
Job Title – Chief Operating Officer – Agricultural Commodities Trading
Location: Dubai, UAE
About the Role
We are seeking a commercially driven and strategically minded Chief Operating Officer (COO) to lead and scale international agricultural commodities trading operations. The role will oversee end-to-end business performance, including global procurement, trading, sales, logistics, trade finance, risk management, and operational execution.
The successful candidate will bring extensive experience in international B2B commodities trading, with a strong understanding of agricultural products such as grains, rice, pulses, soybeans, oilseeds, and other dry commodities. The COO will be responsible for driving profitable growth, strengthening supplier and buyer relationships, expanding market presence across international geographies, and building efficient operating systems to support sustainable business expansion.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership & Business Growth
- Develop and execute business strategies to expand international agricultural commodities trading operations and strengthen market positioning.
- Lead business expansion initiatives across the UAE, Africa, India, Central Asia, and other strategic markets.
- Identify new trading opportunities, product categories, sourcing origins, customer segments, and distribution channels.
- Establish business plans, operating budgets, growth targets, and performance benchmarks aligned with the company's commercial objectives.
- Evaluate new market opportunities, trading models, partnerships, and geographic expansion initiatives.
- Build scalable operating structures, standardize processes, and strengthen organizational capabilities to support business growth.
- Work closely with senior leadership to define long-term strategic priorities and translate them into measurable business outcomes.
Global Procurement & Supplier Management
- Lead global sourcing and procurement of agricultural commodities, including rice, grains, pulses, soybeans, oilseeds, and related products.
- Develop and maintain strong relationships with farmers, aggregators, processors, exporters, suppliers, and international trading partners.
- Identify reliable sourcing origins and negotiate competitive procurement terms, pricing structures, payment conditions, and delivery schedules.
- Evaluate supplier performance based on product quality, pricing, reliability, delivery timelines, and compliance requirements.
- Develop diversified sourcing strategies to reduce supply concentration, improve availability, and protect trading margins.
- Oversee procurement planning based on market demand, inventory positions, customer commitments, and commodity price movements.
- Ensure that purchase contracts clearly define product specifications, quality parameters, quantity tolerances, delivery terms, and contractual obligations.
Trading, Sales & Commercial Management
- Lead trading and sales operations to achieve revenue, gross margin, profitability, and volume targets.
- Develop and execute trading strategies based on market intelligence, global supply-demand dynamics, price movements, and customer requirements.
- Build long-term relationships with wholesalers, distributors, food processors, institutional buyers, importers, and international commodity traders.
- Oversee contract negotiation, pricing decisions, trade execution, customer acquisition, and commercial deal closure.
- Monitor market trends, crop forecasts, freight rates, foreign exchange movements, and regional demand patterns to identify profitable trading opportunities.
- Establish appropriate pricing, margin, and counterparty evaluation frameworks to support disciplined trading decisions.
- Monitor trading positions and commercial commitments to balance profitability, liquidity, and risk exposure.
- Resolve commercial disputes, contractual issues, delivery discrepancies, and customer escalations in coordination with relevant teams.
Profit & Loss and Financial Management
- Take ownership of overall business performance, profitability, working capital, and operating expenditure.
- Monitor profit and loss across trading activities, product categories, customers, and geographical markets.
- Establish financial controls and performance reporting mechanisms to track revenue, gross margins, trading costs, and cash flow.
- Optimize working capital by improving inventory turnover, payment terms, receivables management, and supplier credit arrangements.
- Coordinate with finance and banking partners on trade finance facilities, letters of credit, bank guarantees, credit limits, and other trade funding requirements.
- Evaluate counterparty creditworthiness and establish appropriate credit controls to minimize payment defaults and financial exposure.
- Review budgets, forecasts, financial statements, and management reports to support informed commercial decisions.
- Implement measures to improve cost efficiency, capital utilization, and overall return on trading activities.
Supply Chain, Logistics & Trade Execution
- Oversee end-to-end supply chain activities, from supplier confirmation and procurement through shipment, customs clearance, warehousing, and final delivery.
- Coordinate with freight forwarders, shipping lines, transport providers, port agents, inspection agencies, and warehouse operators.
- Ensure shipments are executed according to contractual specifications, delivery schedules, Incoterms, and customer requirements.
- Monitor shipping documentation, including commercial invoices, packing lists, bills of lading, certificates of origin, quality certificates, and other applicable trade documents.
- Manage shipment delays, demurrage exposure, logistics disruptions, cargo discrepancies, and delivery-related risks.
- Coordinate quality inspections, sampling, grading, storage, and handling requirements to preserve commodity integrity throughout the supply chain.
- Improve supply chain visibility, shipment tracking, documentation accuracy, and coordination across procurement, trading, finance, and logistics teams.
- Establish performance indicators for logistics costs, delivery reliability, shipment turnaround times, and fulfilment efficiency.
Risk Management, Compliance & Governance
- Establish effective frameworks for managing commodity price risk, counterparty risk, credit exposure, foreign exchange risk, and supply chain disruptions.
- Monitor open trading positions, contractual commitments, payment exposure, and inventory risks.
- Ensure compliance with applicable UAE regulations, customs requirements, trade controls, sanctions screening, and relevant international trading obligations.
- Oversee counterparty due diligence and ensure appropriate checks are completed before entering into material trading relationships.
- Implement internal controls covering contract approvals, procurement authorization, payment processing, credit limits, and trading decisions.
- Ensure appropriate documentation and recordkeeping for commercial transactions, financial controls, and regulatory requirements.
- Review operational incidents, contractual disputes, and trading losses to identify root causes and strengthen preventive measures.
Team Leadership & Operational Excellence
- Lead and develop cross-functional teams covering procurement, trading, sales, logistics, finance, documentation, and business operations.
- Establish clear departmental responsibilities, reporting structures, performance objectives, and accountability mechanisms.
- Recruit, mentor, and retain high-performing commercial and operational talent.
- Implement standard operating procedures to improve execution consistency, decision-making, and operational discipline.
- Introduce appropriate systems, reporting dashboards, and digital tools to strengthen trading visibility and management control.
- Foster collaboration between commercial and support functions to ensure timely execution of customer and supplier commitments.
- Regularly review business performance and implement continuous improvement initiatives across all operational functions.
Qualifications & Experience
- Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, International Trade, Finance, Supply Chain Management, Economics, or a related discipline. An MBA or relevant postgraduate qualification is preferred.
- Typically 15–20+ years of experience in international B2B commodities trading, with substantial experience in senior commercial or operational leadership.
- Extensive hands-on experience in agricultural commodities trading, particularly grains, rice, pulses, soybeans, oilseeds, or other dry commodities.
- Proven track record of managing procurement, sales, trading operations, and commercial relationships across international markets.
- Demonstrated experience in full business or divisional P&L management, profitability improvement, and working capital optimization.
- Strong exposure to international markets, particularly the UAE, Africa, India, and other major agricultural sourcing or destination markets.
- Experience managing cross-functional teams across trading, procurement, logistics, finance, and documentation.
- Strong understanding of trade finance, letters of credit, international payment terms, shipping documentation, Incoterms, and commodity trading contracts.
- Practical knowledge of commodity market dynamics, counterparty assessment, trading risk, and international trade compliance.
- Previous experience scaling trading operations, establishing new business activities, or expanding into new geographic markets is highly desirable.
- Excellent negotiation, leadership, commercial judgment, and stakeholder management capabilities.
Key Skills & Competencies
- Strategic business leadership and execution
- International agricultural commodities trading
- Global procurement and supplier development
- Commercial negotiations and sales growth
- Profit and loss management
- Trade finance and working capital optimization
- Commodity market intelligence and risk management
- International logistics and supply chain management
- Contract management and trade documentation
- Regulatory compliance and internal controls
- Business expansion and market development
- Cross-functional team leadership
- Operational efficiency and process improvement
- Analytical decision-making and financial acumen
What We Offer
- A senior leadership opportunity within an international commodities trading environment.
- The opportunity to drive commercial growth, operational performance, and geographic expansion.
- Exposure to global agricultural supply chains and international trading markets.
- The opportunity to build high-performing teams and implement scalable business processes.
Apply now!
