The posting
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 700 employees spread across global locations in the UK, US, China, India, Singapore, Brazil, Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland and beyond.
Job Description
The Role
To produce price assessments and industry-leading market commentary, breaking news and analysis, which demonstrates PRA-aligned knowledge across multiple markets. To support the development of Fastmarkets’ prices.
Principal accountabilities
- Produce exemplary price assessments and indices in line with company methodology, price specifications, and IOSCO principles across a range of markets
- Peer review and approve price assessments and indices in order to ensure prices are representative and judgement has been exercised consistently
- Develop and maintain a comprehensive contact-base, using all means of communication including face-to-face meetings and networking
- Deliver actionable, regular, accurate market commentary in a timely manner, as well as in-depth features, focus pieces and analysis, with minimal editing needed. Demonstrate depth and breadth in this content through experience and knowledge
- Demonstrate complex and consistent use of judgement to produce representative prices in challenging and opaque markets
- Back colleagues up on their pricing patches when necessary and peer review and editor approve their prices to ensure processes have been duly followed and editorial judgement correctly applied
- Travel to, attend, report on and present at events and webinars, and chair panel discussions when deemed appropriate by editors on behalf of the company
- Take responsibility for key aspects of projects to launch new prices and promote current prices. Engage in and lead detailed, formal discussion of specifications internally and externally as part of specification reviews; take initiative by challenging processes; suggest and deliver improvements to current offering
- Support the whole team’s editorial processes. Mentor and coach other reporters where requested by editors, or as opportunities arise, to share knowledge and foster growth in the team
- Take ownership and be authoritative within your markets: organize and chair meetings internally where a collaborative approach to pricing, news, etc, would achieve better results than working independently
Key interfaces
- Work within the global team to develop prices, news and market commentary.
- Reports to regional editor
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.
- A high level of written and spoken English is essential. Knowledge of another language is helpful but not required
- Cross-market knowledge of a number of market beats required, with deep expertise and reach evident in at least one market
- The skill and capacity to take part in and lead detailed specification reviews, delivering on all compliance standards
- Team player who fosters excellent working culture and acts - both internally and externally - in a courteous and professional manner with impeccable integrity
- General desire to expand market knowledge and commitment to join in projects and take part in training courses
- Ability and confidence to present in a professional manner at industry events
- Confidence to take ownership and provide leadership within a team working on projects
- Excellent attention to detail
- Ability to take initiative to cover stories, develop price offering and to communicate this offering professionally to market participants
- Strong networking skills and a good confident telephone manner. It needs discipline and dynamism
- Practical experience in PRA journalism and writing is necessary for this role
- Experience working with numbers and spreadsheets and producing regular market reports and insightful editorial copy required
- Experience speaking to an audience on panels, webinars, or delivering presentations to external parties
- Experience delivering market consultations, or launching and developing prices ideal
- An interest in and understanding of financial markets or commodities is needed.
- Full training in specific market factors will be provided over a period of one month after which the senior reporter should be able to discover and assess prices competently and accurately in line with company standards.
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.
We are committed to ensuring all candidates feel welcomed and supported. Should your application advance and you require accommodations for the interview process, please inform us so we can make the necessary arrangements.
Reward and benefits at Fastmarkets
We believe in fair pay and benefits that support you both inside and outside of work. Through Fastmarkets Rewards, you'll have access to a range of core benefits and a flexible allowance, giving you the freedom to tailor your package to suit your lifestyle, wellbeing and financial priorities. We know that everyone's needs are different, so we've designed our benefits to support our diverse global team wherever they're based.
Specific benefits may vary by country and role.
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.
