Role Overview

We're looking for a versatile and curious Front Office Python Developer to join our newly created Cotton division, based in Houston. This is a great opportunity for someone with a blend of software engineering, data analytics, and business acumen, working closely with our agricultural operations teams supporting the Cotton trading desk. You’ll become a key part of a technology-first operation working closely with our experienced traders and operators, to help these teams make informed timely decisions. This is a great chance to join the fast-paced soft commodities industry.

The role blends strong software skills in Python/Pandas, FastAPI, SQL and BI/visualization with an appreciation for agricultural commodities operations. The ultimate objective is to extract maximum value from physical cotton merchandising and minimizing inventory cycle time.

Business Overview

ED&F Man Cotton was established in mid-2025, driven by an ambition to become a leading trader of raw cotton, serving customers around the world. The breadth of ED&F Man Commodities’ existing operations provides ED&F Man Cotton with offices in all major cotton producing regions and expertise in operating sustainable containerized supply chains, underpinned by robust risk management procedures.

We are part of ED&F Man Commodities, a world leading trader of agricultural products including coffee, sugar, cotton, molasses and animal feed.

Key Accountabilities

Build analytics & dashboards using Plotly Dash and Power BI, for position/flow monitoring, reconciliations, and operational KPIs.
Develop FastAPI services to surface validated metrics and reference data to users and downstream tools.
Write clear Python (Pandas) for data analysis, reconciliation, and quality checks across Postgres and Amazon Athena.
Implement data validation & alerting (e.g., outlier/consistency checks) and schedule jobs via Airflow (event- or schedule-driven rather than heavy ETL).
Collaborate with Operations, traders, and Risk to translate domain needs into robust but nimble software solutions; iterate quickly with end-user feedback.
Own reliability and maintainability: logging, simple tests, documentation, and sensible guardrails for productionized analytics.
Contribute to DevOps practices using AWS, Docker, and basic Kubernetes familiarity.

Skills and Experience

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience).
3+ years of software development experience, ideally supporting financial/commodity workflows.
Strong Python with Pandas (plus common companions like NumPy/pyarrow); solid SQL with Postgres and familiarity with Amazon Athena.
Experience delivering data visualizations (Plotly Dash, Power BI, Tableau) and building small APIs with FastAPI.
Exposure to Airflow for job scheduling/automation; comfort with AWS and Docker (basic Kubernetes familiarity).
Sound grasp of data structures/algorithms sufficient for clean, performant analytics code.
Excellent stakeholder communication; comfortable navigating ambiguity and working independently in a fast-paced environment.
Experience in agricultural commodities, especially Cotton operations/trading is desirable.
Experience with data quality frameworks, reconciliation patterns, and lightweight CI for analytics code is desirable.
Familiarity with CTRM/operational data sources and vendor/market data integrations is desirable.

We recognise that talent comes in many forms, and we value potential just as much as experience. If this role excites you but you don’t meet ever requirement, we still encourage you to apply.

Our Offer

We provide a fast-paced, stimulating and truly global environment, which will stretch your abilities and channel your talents. We also offer competitive salary and benefits combined with outstanding career development opportunities in one of the global leaders in soft commodity trading.

Our Values

Respect, Integrity, Meritocracy, Client Focus, Entrepreneurship

Our values define who we are. They are the fundamental beliefs that determine our actions and guide our behaviour. They influence the way we communicate and collaborate, and define the way we engage with our clients, partners, and communities. Our values are underpinned by a set of essential behaviours, which form part of our performance management approach. Delivering on our objectives is very much about ‘what’ we do, but these essential behaviours also provide a guide and measure for ‘how’ we do things. Our performance essentials are Take Initiative, Self‐Management, Deliver Results and Collaboration

Our Commitment

We are committed to creating and sustaining an inclusive and diverse work environment where all employees are treated with dignity and respect. We are committed to promoting equal opportunities in employment and are focussed on actively building and developing diverse teams. All qualified applicants will receive equal treatment without regard to race, colour, sex, gender, age, religion or belief, ethnic or national origin, marital or civil partner status, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, sexual orientation, gender reassignment (identity, gender expression), genetic information or any characteristic protected by local law.

We are willing to make any reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process.

To apply you must have the right to work for the provided location.

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