The posting
We Are Sparta
Sparta is the AI leader for commodity trading, home to Leonidas AI, the first operating system for oil and commodity traders.
Backed by $42 million in Series B funding led by One Peak, with participation from returning investors FirstMark and Singular, the same investors behind AI leaders like Legora, Dataiku, and Synthesia. Most companies are building a chatbot on top of data. We've built an agent with an actual reasoning layer, grounded in years of proprietary market data and in-house trading expertise nobody else has.
We're scaling fast, and it's an exciting time to join. From independents to multinationals, the world's leading commodity teams use Sparta and Leonidas AI to move faster, trade smarter, and stay ahead of the market.
At Sparta, you'll be trusted to take ownership, backed by a team who wants you to succeed. AI is how we build here, not just what we sell. Good ideas move fast, and yours could go from staging to production in a couple of hours, whatever department you're in. You'll be challenged, supported, and given room to grow, building the AI that's changing how commodity trading gets done.
Your work has reach. From shaping Leonidas AI, to powering smarter decisions for traders around the world, to changing how commodity trading is done. And because we're growing fast, you'll accelerate your career with a level of ownership and impact you simply won't get at bigger, slower-moving companies.
FUEL OIL COMMODITY OWNER
This role can be based in either London or Singapore.
Fuel oil constantly surprises traders with its outsized moves. The question is whether you see it before everyone else does. Sparta is building the data platform that fuel oil and feedstocks traders, analysts and commercial teams use to make faster, better decisions. We cover forward curves, price assessments, market intelligence and trade flows across the global energy complex, and Fuel Oil is one of our most technical verticals. We're looking for someone to own it.
This role is an opportunity to own a vertical, build your profile, and be genuinely central to the direction of the business. We want someone who knows heavy product markets deeply and who is not afraid to build new things. Our Fuel Oil vertical already runs on market-leading tools and you will take them even further.
The role
This isn't an analyst position or a support role. It's the chance to become Sparta's primary Fuel Oil voice, internally and externally, and to shape what we build for the vertical.
You'll sit at the intersection of commercial, product, and market expertise. You'll be the internal and external authority on Fuel Oil: responsible for the health, growth, and strategic development of the vertical, while acting as a key face to clients on complex and technical engagements.
You'll need to be equally comfortable deep in the market microstructure of Fuel Oil — cash differentials, arbitrage dynamics, blend economics, price relationships across bunkering, power generation and feedstocks — as you are presenting to senior client stakeholders, shaping the product roadmap, being the market authority on the most opaque part of the oil barrel, and harnessing the power of AI to turn your knowledge into the next generation of advanced tools for fuel oil trading.
The role reports to our Head of Commodities.
What you'll do
Fuel Oil vertical ownership and strategy (~35% of role)
- Own the Fuel Oil vertical end to end: its commercial performance, data integrity and strategic direction
- Serve as the internal advocate for fuel oil and feedstocks across product, sales, engineering and research teams
- Define and prioritise the Fuel Oil product roadmap with the product and technology teams
- Act as the primary subject matter expert for all Fuel Oil decisions across the business
Building tools, models and AI agents (~25% of role)
- Design and build Sparta’s next generation of heavy products analytical tools and pricing models
- Own the fuel oil knowledge base behind our AI products: write the domain rules, test answers against desk judgement and catch errors before clients do
- Prototype quickly with AI coding tools, then work with engineering to ship the ideas that work
Client interactions and technical demos (~15% of role)
- Lead complex, discovery-focused and technical client conversations and demos
- Support sales and account management on senior or strategically important Fuel Oil and Feedstocks opportunities
- Represent Sparta at industry events, conferences and client visits as a Fuel Oil and Feedstocks expert
Market commentary and content (~15% of role)
- Take editorial ownership of Fuel Oil market commentary and content
- Define the voice and analytical framework for Fuel Oil commentary across client-facing and marketing channels
- Work with analysts and contributors to keep output accurate, well argued and commercially relevant
Process and data quality (~10% of role)
- Oversee the operational processes behind the vertical: cash differential modelling and uploads, component premiums and landed diffs, new arbitrage routes and price points, blend hub coverage, and ongoing data quality
- Build scalable processes and delegate or automate routine tasks where it makes sense
What we're looking for
Required
- Deep Fuel Oil & Feedstocks market expertise — strong working knowledge of fuel oil benchmarks, differentials, blending economics, arbitrage mechanics, refinery economics, and global heavy products flows.
- Proven experience in a commodity-facing role within energy trading, data/analytics, financial services, or a closely related field
- Hands-on building experience: working knowledge of Python and SQL (or equivalent) and a track record of tools or models other people actually use
- Practical experience with AI tools such as LLMs, coding assistants or agents, and good judgement about where they get the market wrong
- Ability to turn market complexity into clear product requirements, specifications engineers can build from, and client value propositions
- Confident and credible in client-facing settings, including technical discovery calls and senior stakeholder presentations
- Strong written and verbal communication, with experience producing or overseeing market commentary
- Comfortable working across sales, product, technology and research teams
Desirable
- Experience with pricing, data, or analytics platforms in the energy space
- Familiarity with fuel oil data operations: cash differentials, landed diffs and price curve maintenance
- Experience shipping work to production alongside an engineering team (version control, code review)
- Existing network within the Fuel Oil & Feedstocks trading community
What success looks like
In your first six months, you will have:
- Taken full ownership of the Fuel Oil vertical and its operational processes
- Established yourself as the go-to internal and external authority on Fuel Oil and Feedstocks
- Shipped at least one new tool, model or AI capability that clients or internal teams use
- Measurably improved the quality of our AI products' fuel oil answers, checked against desk review
- Built strong working relationships with the content team and begun shaping commentary output
- Led technical client engagements independently
WHY JOIN SPARTA?
At Sparta, our culture is built on innovation, collaboration, and high performance. We thrive in a fast-paced environment where initiative is celebrated, challenges are embraced, and impact is rewarded.
• Equity in a high-growth, VC-backed company
• $42M in Series B funding — strong market traction and investment
• Early-stage growth — build your career as we scale
• Market-leading product — we are redefining commodity trading intelligence
• Top-tier tools and technology to support your success
WHAT'S THE CULTURE LIKE AT SPARTA?
At Sparta, our culture isn't just a set of values on a wall — it's how we work. We embrace a dynamic environment where initiative is celebrated, challenges are met head-on, and innovation thrives. You'll collaborate with people who are passionate about our mission and committed to building outstanding products and outcomes for our customers.
THE SPARTA CODE
Understanding is non-negotiable
Understanding leads to believing. Believing leads to winning.
The 'why' is the difference between compliance and conviction. Before we execute, we ask: why does this matter, who does it serve, what changes if we win? People who understand the mission don't need to be managed.
Ask for forgiveness, not for permission
Most decisions are reversible. Most fears are not.
90% of decisions are reversible. Make them, ship, iterate. Perfection is the enemy of efficiency. Bias for action means moving before you have all the answers, but it isn't recklessness. The rule: tell the rest of us what you did, what changed, what you learned.
Fall in love with the problem
The mission wins. Your idea doesn't have to.
Solutions flatter our ego. They feel like progress. But solutions without problems are opinions, and opinions don't move customers, markets, or teammates. The goal is to find what's true, not to win the room. If your idea gets killed because a better one comes along, that's the system working.
It's your fault. Lucky you.
If it's on you, it's in your control.
True ownership sounds harsh until you feel how liberating it is. If every problem is yours, you stop spending energy on who to blame and start spending it on how to fix it. Effective leaders default to 'it's on me'. Not out of guilt, but out of agency.
Conflict is a gift
Honesty is an expression of care.
Withholding feedback is choosing comfort over growth, yours and your colleague's. Staying silent deprives others of the chance to learn. We challenge openly and with positive intent. Done with care, this builds trust. Done with ego, it destroys it.
Sparta Commodities is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and promotes diversity within its workforce. We are determined that no-one will ever receive less favourable treatment on the grounds of gender, age, disability, religion, belief, sexual orientation, marital status, race, veteran status or any basis covered by appropriate law.
