Director of Risk Management

About our Company

Equilibrium Energy is a well-funded, Series A clean energy startup backed by some of the most prominent institutional investors in climate. We are building a digital native power company operating at the intersection of grid variability, market volatility, economic optimization, commercial structuring, and risk management, across the end-to-end power value chain. Our mission is to accelerate our collective path to climate, energy, and societal equilibriums. Our goal is to become one of the next-generation, digital-native, end-to-end global clean power companies that reshapes the energy industry.

New colleagues will share our vision that a next-generation energy company must be built from the ground up on deep industry expertise combined with an unwavering commitment to modern digital approaches. We design our commercial strategies, operational approaches, and product suites so as to best leverage data-driven insights, automated workflows, ML-infused pipelines, and fully automated decision engines. These capabilities are enabled by our progressively modern software stack and engineering best practices, which in turn provide the scalable platform we need to put a serious dent in carbon emissions. We’re looking for collaborative, talented, passionate and resourceful folks to join our team and help us lay the foundation for our important mission and ambitious plan.

About the Job

We are looking for a Director of Risk Management who will build upon our current risk management framework and policies to develop and implement a best-in-class risk management function for the company.  The Director will oversee our Middle Office function, which includes risk management related to our energy trading operations as well as our longer term structured energy transactions  entered into by the company.  The Director position is a high visibility role which will involve significant collaboration with our CEO and senior management in trading, commercial and product to provide strategic risk assessment of trading strategies and portfolios, commercial structures and new products as well as continuous monitoring and assessment of the company’s risk.  Given the stage of the company and our expected risk positions during the Series A, this role will encompass: trading risk management, credit and cash management, regulatory compliance, and other company level risk management.  As our portfolio and company grows, additional staff will be added to the risk department to allow for more specialization in particular risk areas.

The Director of Risk Management role requires a strong knowledge of market risk analysis with specific experience in the energy markets preferred. S/he should be continually apprised of market trends, determine the risk implications beyond the individual portfolio level and communicate the resulting risks across various functional groups. The successful candidate will bring technical skill and knowledge, be adept at building collaborative working relationships with professionals across the corporate landscape and create a shared vision of the benefits of more risk-aware decision making. 

Responsibilities

• Build upon the risk management policies and frameworks in place at Equilibrium today to set the company up for success as we scale and move into new markets and products.  Develop a risk management roadmap for the company that aligns with Series A and beyond growth.
• Determine updates needed for our policies and processes based on best practices and experience at large energy and commodity trading organizations
• Develop policies and processes that support  algorithmic and discretionary trading strategies 
• Analyze, value and provide risk analysis around complex transactions and portfolio positions
• Ensure that Risk fulfills its role as an independent “check and balance” function and is viewed as such by all parts of the organization and our investors
• Provide independent assessment of risk related to our: trading strategies, structured transactions, counterparty credit and regulatory compliance
• Understand and be able to independently assess trading and deal assumptions, such as forward curves and price inputs, to ensure transactions and trades are within our risk management parameters
• Challenge trading and commercial activity and ensure adherence to the risk framework
• Review deal and position valuations used in financial reporting
• Regularly independently assess, document and report to senior management on the exposure, CVaR, P&L and other requested metrics for each company portfolio. Provide continuous monitoring of daily trading, cash management and credit exposure to ensure adherence to all risk policies
• Work closely with Product team to ensure policies and approved parameters are reflected in our software platform 
• Ensure the Middle Office is run accurately, efficiently and reliably with documentation to support all decisions and strategies
• Support the development of any presentations or materials for investors as it relates to our risk management policies, process or particular transactions or trades
• Work closely with internal and external back-office functions to ensure all required information is shared promptly and accurately for reporting purposes
• Support reporting requests from auditors
• Be an end-to-end deal expert understanding risk at all parts during the life of a deal interacting with the Commercial and Trading teams to help identify and suggest remediation to those risks
• Build or support data-based ad hoc financial analyses including pro forma cash position forecasts, financial risk quantifications, alternate procurement product or strategy comparisons, etc. 
• Analyze risk/return profiles related to new products, markets and structured deals, and liaise with the Trading and Commercial functions to assure risks are understood, are appropriate to risk appetite and can be correctly represented in and reported from the trading and risk management systems
• Collaborate with other Company leaders to achieve the company’s Commercial, Trading and Corporate goals 
• Develop and articulate a dynamic, forward-looking risk assessment of counterparties, transactions, competitive threats, and industry and regulatory changes
• Contribute to the ongoing development and evolution of the Trading and Commercial team’s strategy and processes as it relates to risk management
• Collaborate with the Product team to inform the company’s product roadmap that supports the Risk function
• Recruit, develop and manage Risk team members as the company scales

Minimum Qualifications

• BA/BS degree 
• 5-7 years of experience in risk management roles in the energy industry, preferably with a large trading function
• Extensive knowledge of physical and financial North American power markets
• Extensive knowledge of energy trading and risk management (ETRM) Front to Back business processes including trade valuation, confirmations, invoicing, and risk reporting
• The ability to manage and prioritize multiple simultaneous projects in a fast-paced start-up environment
• Collaborative and able to work independently with limited direction

Preferred Qualifications

• BA/BS degree or advanced degree in quantitative discipline like Finance, Business, Economics, Engineering, Science, Computer Science, or equivalent
• Experience at a large US power trading company with an expansive risk management role
• Experience with risk assessment and management of renewables and energy storage transactions
• Excellent communication skills, both in writing and in presentation format
• Demonstrated leadership in building strong internal stakeholder relationships that drive to team success in implementing products and strategies
• Interest and experience in building a high-functioning, trust-centric team from the ground up

Not sure this is the right role for you?

We are a high growth company with accelerating hiring needs so there’s a great chance we’ll be able to create a custom role for you, now or in the future. All roles, titles and compensation packages are tailored to the applicant, so apply anyways and tell us in your cover letter about your dream role. 

What we offer

Equilibrium is composed of deeply knowledgeable industry experts across all our functions, with decades of experience in energy-specific commercial structuring, power systems engineering, machine learning, computational research, operations research, distributed and compute-intensive infrastructure, and modern software & ML engineering. Our experience in the space means we’ve previously built versions of nearly every technical component of our platform. We are now designing them better, and combining them in a holistic and novel way, to achieve global scale and climate impact. We pride ourselves on our deeply empathetic & collaborative culture, honest and direct but respectful communication, and our balanced, flexible, and remote-first work environment. 

Employee benefits include: 

• Competitive base salary and a comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and 401k package
• Opportunity to own a significant piece of the company via a meaningful equity grant
• Unlimited vacation and flexible work schedule
• Ability to work remotely from anywhere in the United States & Europe, or join one of our regional hubs in Boston, SF Bay Area, or London
• Accelerated professional growth and development opportunities through direct collaboration and mentorship from leading industry expert colleagues across energy and tech

Equilibrium Energy is a diverse and inclusive, equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, veteran status, disability, age, or other legally protected status.