Power and gas trading
Energy prices go up and down depending on supply (in this case energy production) and demand (energy consumption). Basically, the overall target for an energy trader is to buy low and sell high. In reality, it is of course much more complex than this, since there are numerous factors that influence prices at a moment’s notice – for example the weather, outages and consumer behaviour.
Our traders have many different backgrounds, from PhD’s in cosmology to finance and real estate brokerage. But what really characterises a good trader is an innate competitive spirit, a winning mentality as well as the ability to think quickly and keep a cool head under pressure.
Analysis
In our trading teams, there are several analysts, who help provide the strategies, analyses and data that our traders base their decisions on. These analysts are highly specialised within numerical or quantitative techniques, engineering, physics, meteorology or similar.
Trade support
Lastly, our trade support team helps our traders schedule and complete electricity flows to ensure overall balance in the power grids. They are also in contact with counterparties and exchanges and develop trading tools using various programming languages. To work in the support team, you have to be very diligent and systemised.
Read more about our trading activities
International origination
Our international originators are the link to our customers. They develop new business and are responsible for selling our products and services across Europe. Although most have a master’s degree, our originators have very mixed backgrounds. But they also have many skills in common, among those an innate understanding of market conditions, a solid business acumen, people skills and a competitive mindset.
Portfolio management
Our portfolio management teams manage our customers’ positions in the short-term markets and help optimise their forecasts. They also support customers in the longer run, for example by hedging their positions and helping them manage risks. Most of our portfolio managers have a background within finance, engineering, economics or data analysis. Since they are in many ways the link between our front and back office, they strike a balance between being challengers and team players, and they often take an innovative approach.
Asset management
Our asset team focuses on optimising the production of our asset-owning customers, mainly combined heat and power plants. They are also in charge of optimising the production of our own power plant located near the Technical University in Copenhagen. The team consists primarily of business and finance profiles with a solid technical understanding.
Read more about the services provided by our origination unit
Finance and accounting
Our finance teams forecast future profit and losses and monitor and control costs, while our accounting teams take care of invoicing, financial settlements and reporting. To work in these teams, you have to be structured and precise. Also, it is essential that you have a solid understanding of the business conducted in our front office. Educational backgrounds in the teams range from finance and economics to accountancy.
Risk management
In a business with ever changing market conditions and significant volatility, our risk management team ensures that we always have our trading positions under control. The team mainly consists of risk analysts, who monitor our risk profile, help develop a sound risk culture and ensure a responsible balance between risk and return. Most of our risk analysts are number crunchers by nature and have a sound business understanding. Their backgrounds are mainly within economy, math, physics or finance.
Treasury
Our treasury department functions as an in-house bank. They monitor all cash in- and outflows to ensure there are sufficient resources to fund company operations and they invest and optimise our liquidity. To work in our treasury department, you should have a solid business understanding as well as an eye for investments. Most team-members have a background within finance or from the banking sector.
Legal
Our legal team has been recognized among the best in-house legal teams in Scandinavia. They negotiate, administrate and manage contracts, oversee compliance issues and enable market access to our traders. Unsurprisingly, most of our legal team has studied law.
IT
At Danske Commodities, we have a best-in-class IT set-up. We develop many of our systems and tools in-house and host them ourselves. The whole business is dependent on our infrastructure services team, which makes sure trading systems run smoothly. Our business intelligence team supports the collection, analysis, presentation and dissemination of business information. The software development is responsible for helping invent smart software solutions, making the entire company more efficient. The project management team focuses on ensuring our IT projects are managed as effectively as possible.
Educational backgrounds within our IT teams vary a lot depending on the team, and range from degrees within business to economics and computer science.
Take a look at Danske Commodities’ financial results
Human resources
Our human capital team encompasses HR, performance and development as well as compensation and benefits. In other words, the unit is responsible for everything from recruitment to ensuring the continuous development of our people. To work in our Human Capital unit, you should be an excellent relationship manager and have great organisational skills. It is also an advantage to have a deep insight into the needs of the organisation, in order to do what it takes to ensure that Danske Commodities continues to be among the best companies to work for in Denmark.
Strategy and communications
Strategy and communications is a team of creative and committed strategists, communicators and marketers, who work closely together with top-management on setting and communicating the direction of the company – internally as well as externally. To work in the team, you need to have great stakeholder management skills, the ability to think outside the box and juggle working both strategically as well as operationally.
Learn more about our recruitment process
