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Sparta is an AI-powered platform for commodity trading, built around Leonidas AI—an operating system for oil and commodity traders. The company has raised $42M in Series B funding and is scaling rapidly across the energy trading sector.
You will own the Fuel Oil vertical end-to-end, serving as Sparta's primary internal and external authority on fuel oil and feedstocks markets. This is a high-impact, multi-disciplinary role that sits at the intersection of commercial strategy, product development, and market expertise.
Key Responsibilities:
**Vertical Ownership & Strategy (~35%):** Own the commercial performance, data integrity, and strategic direction of the Fuel Oil vertical. Serve as the internal advocate across product, sales, engineering, and research teams. Define and prioritize the Fuel Oil product roadmap with engineering. Act as the primary subject matter expert for all Fuel Oil decisions.
**Building Tools, Models & AI Agents (~25%):** Design and build next-generation heavy products analytical tools and pricing models. Own the fuel oil knowledge base behind Sparta's AI products—write domain rules, test answers against desk judgment, and catch errors before clients see them. Prototype quickly with AI coding tools, then partner with engineering to ship validated ideas.
**Client Interactions & Technical Demos (~15%):** Lead complex, discovery-focused technical client conversations and demos. Support sales on senior or strategically important Fuel Oil and Feedstocks opportunities. Represent Sparta at industry events and client visits as a recognized expert.
**Market Commentary & Content (~15%):** 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 maintain accuracy, rigor, and commercial relevance.
**Process & Data Quality (~10%):** Oversee operational processes behind the vertical—cash differential modeling, component premiums, landed diffs, new arbitrage routes, blend hub coverage, and data quality. Build scalable processes and delegate or automate routine tasks.
The role reports to the Head of Commodities and offers genuine ownership of a critical vertical within a fast-growing, well-funded AI-native company.
**Requirements:**
- 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 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, with good judgment about where they get the market wrong
- Ability to turn market complexity into clear product requirements and client value propositions that engineers can build from
- 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
