Kris studied Computer Science at the University of Bath.  In his final year, he applied to a wide range of companies and was pleased to be invited for an interview with Trayport in April 2008.

After a successful telephone interview, Kris was invited in for a face to face interview, followed by a second interview that same day.

"I was impressed with Trayport's approach to recruitment.  The questions I was asked were relevant and I was given feedback quickly.  This made Trayport stand out from other companies I'd interviewed with and I was very pleased to accept Trayport's offer".

Kris continued with his degree and joined Trayport after he graduated in September 2008 as an Assistant Developer.

"When I joined, I didn't know much about commodities trading or some of the technologies Trayport used, so I had a fairly steep learning curve.  Trayport's buddy system really helped though - my buddy was knowledgeable and took the time to support me.  He was tightly integrated with my work and I learnt from him how the system works, how the code is structured and was guided on how to do things the right way."

After a year of working on the code for GlobalVision 8, Kris moved to the project team working on Automated Trading in 2009.  "It was refreshing to work on something different where I could continue using my C++ skills as well as further developing my C# skills".

In 2010, Kris moved into the newly created BAU (core business) team, which focuses on providing development support for our clients.  From there, Kris' role and responsibilities have increased and he has taken on responsibility for running the BAU team - liaising with Trading Solutions, prioritising issues in triage, setting work and working on improving the platform in general. 

"Working in the BAU team has given me great experience in working with and maintaining the existing code, but at the same time, I get to write new code.  We get a release out every couple of months which we know clients will use, and this gives me a great sense of accomplishment". 

"At Trayport, you get recognition for what you do - being a smaller company, you can see your contribution and be recognised for it.  There's room to grow and there's an opportunity to learn more than just programming.  Trayport runs regular lectures and has even had traders in to talk about the market – for me, it's important to have the opportunity to learn about both technology and the field and be able to apply it".

Bob started work as a trainee accountant and spent two years qualifying until greater challenges beckoned in the fledgling IT sector.  He held various roles with companies including TSB and Nestle, before joining ABN Amro in 1998. This took Bob into the investment banking industry working initially on fixed income as the company’s resource manager before moving back into Software Project Management in the Equities front office.

 ‘‘I gained banking experience working in fixed income and equities. From 2001 I had the chance to help revolutionise the Equities Broking industry by helping the bank move to electronic trading.  Suddenly direct market access technology became possible and I was helping to change the business massively. From £300,000 commission on electronic trades in year 1 this increased to £100’s of millions in year 3 to 4 onwards, it was great to be a part of this.”

 After working for Misys in 2008 on banking and finance systems, Bob joined Trayport as one of its first Project Managers in July 2010, at a time when Trayport was introducing a project-team structure for its new investments.

 “Trayport is quite different from other companies.  You feel you have a lot of input and that is encouraged here. Of course you have to carry your argument based on sound fact, but Trayport is certainly a company where you feel you have an influence relatively quickly and I definitely didn't feel that at some of the large corporate companies where I’ve worked before."

Bob’s initial role at Trayport was to act as Project Manager on Trayport’s new front end trading screen.

“We are moving forward to deliver good things.  Once you’ve set an agenda for a project, it is important to keep it up and continue to deliver and adapt.  We always draw on other experience and lessons learned. The Project Managers are involved with helping the Project Management Office ensure good practice is followed across the company and to add input into that is great. Project Management has allowed Trayport to predict events much more accurately and see where costs are likely before they occur. This gives the management team much more comfort. This is very rewarding as you feel you are adding value.”

Now Bob is involved in additional projects including Trading Gateway Availability, which is all about monitoring the status of clients’ usage of the trading platform and ensuring that the number of potential incidents is reduced.  Bob is also working on developing clearing links, where he is using his fix knowledge as well as Project Management experience.

“Creating the templates and guides for project management is the easy thing.  Cultural change takes longer. We have a Project Managers Forum, this is good for new ideas and feedback and allows us to evolve project management at the company. We help each other and work as a team collectively and learn from each other.  The environment at Trayport  allows this and you feel that your opinion is valued.’’

Bob is very keen to do as much as he can to add value to Trayport.  He has been involved in departmental and staff management for 20 plus years, this experience can also help Bob contribute in many ways.

“Culturally, Trayport is an energetic company and it is a company of teams within teams. People and culture is therefore vital as it is important to blend these teams together professionally. The sort of generosity given to Trayport’s employees for social activities is something I haven’t seen anywhere else and is advantageous in building rapport and getting to know fellow "Trayportians". It is refreshing to see and shows that the company cares about its employees.”

 Bob is a project manager at home and at work.  Trayport enables him to do things in the way he knows best.

Sarah studied a Masters degree in computer science and economics at University College Cork and touched on a number of different financial and IT related subjects during her course. After university, she joined Openbet as a software developer. Openbet is a software provider to the online gaming industry where she was involved in performance testing many online betting games prior to release of the games on live sites.

After this, Sarah worked for  Integra SP  where she spent 18 months working directly with clients in Boston, liasing with London and Ukraine-based product teams and Indian-based development teams. This gave her involvement in the full lifecycle of IT projects from project initiation to the delivery of software solutions, always improving user experience for clients including HSBC. This financial experience then took Sarah to a career with Trayport.

“I wanted a role where I was both client facing and had a technical role, so accepted a job with Trayport as a technical consultant on the Trader’s team. The company was already growing massively and the learning curve was steep especially for the first few months. The cultural element was good as Trayport is an energetic company and my team were within a few years of each other, so we got on very well.”

“I progressed and soon stepped into the Team Lead role for the Trader’s team, where I stayed until October 2010. It was the largest team at Trayport with 12 consultants, heavily focused on getting 140 clients upgraded to new products to reduce the workload on the development team maintaining both old and new trading platforms.”

The biggest challenge that Sarah’s team faced was dealing with 140 very individual clients. Most at the time had semi-customised solutions and the team’s aim was to get the systems standardised so it was more efficient to roll out updates such as a bug-fix and get everyone upgraded easily with the latest functionality.

“We had a crucial role to play.  Our client base is growing so rapidly and there are only limited resources at your disposal. We also have put a lot of investment into additional products around our core Trading Gateway product - including Internal Marketplace, Automated Trading and JTT, so it was vital to get clients upgraded so that they could access these new products to help them trade.”

From there an opportunity came in Asia. Trayport had had offices in Hong Kong since 2006, but as its client base changed the company wanted to establish a new office in Singapore to serve its Asian brokers, trader and exchange clients.  Sarah’s role was therefore to tranfer the operations in Hong Kong to Singapore, opening Trayport's new offices there to provide Trayport with a strategic location to serve the region.

“This year we’ve made Singapore our main centre for expansion in the region due to great transport links, a growing trading community and proximity to many of our existing clients. The plan was to help standardise trading solutions across the region and to take what I’d learned in the UK and apply it in a new environment in Singapore. It was important to maintain the quality and level of standards we hold strong in London, and apply them to the new business in Asia.”

The new Singapore operation has initially focused on coal and fuel oil trading and growing Trayport's exchange clients in Asia.

“I love being technical one minute, commercial with clients the next and looking after the day to day issues with the office. Only this morning I was out speaking to an exchange discussing clearing links and so it is great to be able to combine both technical and commercial issues in one meeting.”

“I’ve been at the company under two years and so the progression has been enormous for me personally in that time. If you look around the company though, the opportunities for others are apparent across the whole business and this is happening now more than ever. Lots of people are progressing in different areas and our people are getting involved in functions including business analsyis, client management and technical sales. You need to take the opportunities and get involved, but I believe you get out what you put in at Trayport.”



After graduating from Wroclaw University of Technology in 2007, Magda worked as a tester in TietoEnator in Poland where she gained experience in testing various mobile phone applications.  After a year, Magda decided she needed a new challenge and started looking for a new job, both in Poland and abroad.

"I submitted my CV to Trayport and was fortunate enough to be invited for an interview while I was on holiday in London.  After my first face-to-face interview, I knew Trayport was where I wanted to work.

I was looking for a company where I could broaden my experience, feel challenged and meet new people from around the world. Trayport offered all of this and more. It had a great atmosphere and everyone I met was very friendly.  Naturally, I was thrilled to be offered the job."

Magda joined Trayport in 2008 as an Assistant QA in the broker team.  Being part of the QA team involves working closely with developers and product managers, facing challenges on a daily basis and learning new things.   It wasn't long before Magda progressed and became a QA buddy, whose role is to show new joiners the ropes and help them get up to speed as quickly as possible.  Gradually she took on more responsibility and began helping the team lead, so when a new team lead role came along, it seemed a natural fit for Magda.

"Trayport has a great internal recruitment policy and when a new team lead role came up in QA, I applied and was successful. In my new role, I am learning to manage and challenge people, as well as working on improving daily processes and helping to recruit the right people for the team."

"As a new team lead, Trayport is very supportive and provides internal training to help and support me.   I'm looking forward to tackling the new challenge of being a team lead and am working on becoming better at what I do.  Trayport is great at giving people the opportunity to develop and grow."

"I enjoy working a Trayport.  It is a young and dynamic company with a challenging environment.  People who work here are smart; they enjoy what they do and enjoy the people they work with.  Teamwork at Trayport is what it's all about." 

No one could have realised five years ago when Hayley left university that she would combine a successful singer songwriting career with being part of an energetic and enthusiastic recruitment team at Trayport.

 “I saw a role advertised at Trayport and applied as an office administrator to work part time, so that I could combine this with my music interests. Trayport offered me the position, we got on well and I was asked if I wanted to go full time.  I liked the company and so agreed to take on administrative support for the office and to help the recruitment team.”

 Hayley enjoyed recruitment and Trayport were quick to see the potential and asked her to be a full time recruitment co-ordinator.  Hayley quickly rose to the challenge and took on a much more significant role in recruiting new staff.

 “It was a great opportunity and Trayport allowed me to study and gain a Certificate in Recruitment Practice. I learnt how to understand and work within budgets for staffing, and I am now a recruitment coordinator where I have ownership of my own roles and full involvement in the recruitment lifecycle of our roles. It’s exciting to be able to go to market with new roles for Trayport or go live with the agencies. Speaking with the agencies, feeding back on CVs, dealing with the hiring manager are all things that make my job fascinating. As Recruitment Coordinator, I work as a Trayport consultant, but always have the support and experience of my manager on hand to support me.”

 At Trayport, Hayley’s really found her feet dealing not just with Trayport’s ambitious recruitment plans, but also gaining an understanding of the business rationale behind this.

 “I’ve had to develop a good knowledge of where the company’s going and what we want to achieve. It’s meant I’ve learnt to understand the business principles behind Trayport’s desire to double in size in three years, and how it will achieve this with recruitment playing a vital role in this."

 Hayley’s role is varied and she is constantly cultivating relationships with people internally and externally. Hayley’s strengths are in people based activity and her aim at Trayport is always to take on more responsibility and ownership, and to become the real go-to person for recruitment. 

 “Recruitment is all about people and you need to be emotionally intelligent enough to deal with both internal managers looking to fill vacancies and with agencies that are looking after the interests of their candidates. I’m also learning more of the process driven aspects of my role, while I’ve certainly picked up many commercial skills by being at Trayport.”

 “Trayport sees the bigger picture and can see that someone with outside interests can bring variety to the company.  For someone with a passion outside work like me, it’s great that Trayport encourages this. For me, I bring passion, an understanding of people, plus great presentation and communication skills. The compnay promotes the importance of a good work-life balance.”

 “I’ve become established in my role in recruitment and for me Trayport has allowed me to become established as an individual; while not being necessarily the person you’d expect as your average recruiter. For me Trayport completely works as part of my life. I have an absolute equilibrium with my career at Trayport, my career in music and relationships with my family and friends. For me, in this respect, Trayport works for me and works well.”