BP IST middle-office Chicago

Hello All -

I have been working in listed derivatives trading my entire 18 year career. The last 12 I have been working as an inter-dealer execution broker for listed options. I work under a larger umbrella, my profit center is essentially autonomous. Although I've worked hard and curated my book, the demand for my services has simply decreased due to forces largely out of my control. It is an uncomfortable position to be in - where my success has zero correlation with my efforts. My volume numbers have been cycling lower for years, and I'm making less and less money. Although I am still paid relatively well compared to my peers in other fields, I feel like it is time for a change. I am willing to swap some current comp for better future opportunities. I feel my current position has essentially no growth potential, and will continue to contract.

BP has a large physical trading operation in Chicago, where I live, and I've been networking among current and former employees over the last year. I want to stay involved in trading markets and physicals seem to have a much higher need for actual people than the derivatives markets, which have become largely automated. Before anyone says anything - Yes, I am well aware that I will never trade at BP. I realize how difficult this is, even for the people who are accepted into their trading programs. While I do think this would be a badass job, I realize it is not a realistic goal.

An opportunity has come up in a middle office position as a Commodity Risk Analyst (used to be called Product Control). It seems like a good starting point for a career transition, as the position requires you to interface with a lot of different people and would allow you to quickly learn many facets of the business. You basically support the trading benches realize and mitigate their exposures. To me it seems like BP would be a great place to be for the 2nd half of my career - as they really encourage internal promotion and migration. Many people I've talked to have been there for many years and keep climbing.

For anyone who may know, my questions are:

• This role is considered quasi 'entry level' but they do usually hire people with business/analytics/trading experience rather than kids right out of college... Would anyone know what to expect in terms of salary and total comp? I'm trying to find out where my 'pain point' is .. that is, I know it would likely be a pay cut for a few years .. but how much pain could I expect in the meantime?

• Is this Commodity Risk Analyst position a good starting role at BP ? Meaning - is it one that would present you with more future opportunities?

• How common is it for people to climb the ranks? It seems common to me from the people I've talked to, but this could be a survivorship bias.

Thank you so much in advance for any information. Feel free to PM me as well.