Trade & Project Finance Recruitment Launching Soon

We are launching a specialist recruitment business

Financely is expanding into specialist recruitment for trade finance and project finance.

Beginning in October 2026, we will start rolling out dedicated recruitment platforms focused on the professionals who originate, structure, underwrite, execute and manage complex financing transactions.

The decision is driven by growing market demand and by a problem we already encounter through our financing business: experienced trade finance and project finance professionals are difficult to find.

Banks need them. Private credit funds need them. Commodity traders need them. Infrastructure investors need them. Developers and independent power producers need them. Advisory firms need them.

We need them too.

The market needs more specialist finance talent

Financial services employs millions of people, but the number of professionals capable of executing specialist structured finance transactions is considerably smaller.

There is an important difference between having worked in banking and understanding trade finance. There is an equally important difference between having worked in corporate finance and knowing how to execute a project financing.

These markets depend heavily on accumulated experience.

A trade finance specialist may spend years learning documentary credits, guarantees, receivables structures, commodity finance, collateral controls, sanctions issues and international banking practices.

A project finance professional may spend years learning financial modeling, debt sizing, construction risk, contractual risk allocation, lender due diligence, concession structures, offtake agreements and financial-close processes.

That knowledge cannot simply be replaced by adding another general finance professional to a team.

Trade finance has an expertise gap

This issue is becoming particularly visible in trade finance.

Experienced documentary trade professionals developed their knowledge through years of transactions, discrepancies, operational problems and changing market practices.

Many of those specialists are now moving into senior positions, advisory roles or retirement while banks, corporates and technology companies continue to require people capable of exercising judgment over increasingly complicated transactions.

Digitalization does not eliminate that requirement.

Technology can improve document processing, data collection, compliance screening and workflow management. Someone still needs to understand what the transaction is supposed to accomplish and determine whether its structure makes commercial and credit sense.

The people capable of doing that well remain valuable.

Project finance requires equally specialized people

Project finance presents a similar challenge.

Infrastructure investment continues across power generation, renewable energy, battery storage, data centers, transportation, logistics, telecommunications, water and other real assets.

Every project requires people capable of turning a development opportunity into an underwritable financing structure.

Somebody needs to build or review the financial model. Somebody needs to determine how much debt the project can support. Somebody needs to analyze construction and operating risks. Somebody needs to negotiate with lenders. Somebody needs to coordinate due diligence and drive the transaction toward financial close.

Those responsibilities require people who understand the relationship between the commercial contracts, the project economics and the financing documents.

Strong project finance professionals are consequently sought by banks, infrastructure funds, private credit managers, developers, IPPs, institutional investors and professional-services firms.

We already compete for these professionals ourselves

Our decision to enter recruitment did not start with a theoretical market study.

It started with our own operating experience.

Financely works on structured debt mandates across trade finance, private credit and project finance.

Different transactions require different specialists.

One mandate may require a commodity finance professional. Another needs a financial modeler. Another requires a senior credit underwriter. A project transaction may require someone who understands renewable power, construction debt and infrastructure lending.

We operate an agency model around this work. We maintain core capabilities and bring additional specialists into transactions when they are required.

That means we already participate in the market for specialist finance talent.

We know which profiles are difficult to find. We know which capabilities matter in actual execution. We also know that the best professionals usually have several competing opportunities for their time.

Recruitment is a natural extension of our business

The underlying business is straightforward.

Our financing activities connect companies and projects with capital.

Our recruitment activities will connect financial institutions and transaction businesses with the people required to deploy that capital.

The two markets are closely connected.

A bank can have billions available for lending, but it still needs originators who can find transactions, underwriters who can assess them, portfolio managers who can supervise them and operations professionals who can execute them.

An infrastructure fund can raise substantial institutional capital, but it still needs professionals capable of evaluating projects, building models, negotiating documentation and managing investments.

A commodity trading business can have strong commercial opportunities, but it still needs people who understand working capital, letters of credit, borrowing bases, bank relationships and counterparty risk.

Capital and talent are two sides of the same market.

The positions we expect to cover

We will remain deliberately specialized rather than trying to become another general financial-services recruiter.

Our initial focus will be positions directly connected to trade finance, structured credit, infrastructure and project finance.

The institutions we expect to work with

Our recruitment activity will follow the same institutional markets we already encounter through financing transactions.

We also expect many searches to be international.

Specialist finance talent tends to cluster around financial and trading centers. Trade finance and commodity finance professionals may be concentrated in London, Geneva, Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong, New York and other major markets.

Project and infrastructure finance professionals are similarly mobile because the assets they finance are frequently international.

Job titles alone do not tell us enough

One reason specialist recruitment interests us is that conventional CV screening can be misleading in structured finance.

Consider the title "Trade Finance Manager."

One candidate may have spent ten years managing documentary credit operations. Another may specialize in corporate relationship management. Another may structure commodity transactions. Another may primarily manage guarantees.

They may all have legitimate trade finance experience, but they are not interchangeable.

Project finance is similar.

A professional who has spent five years modeling operational renewable portfolios has different experience from someone who has originated greenfield construction facilities.

A lender-side project finance professional will have a different perspective from a sponsor-side finance director.

The title gets the conversation started. The transactions tell us what the person actually knows.

We intend to recruit based on transaction experience

Our recruitment approach will therefore put considerable weight on what candidates have actually done.

For a trade finance position, that may involve understanding the products, counterparties, jurisdictions and transaction structures the candidate has worked with.

We may want to know whether someone has dealt directly with letters of credit, guarantees, receivables, commodity transactions, risk participations, collateral structures, correspondent banks or corporate clients.

For project finance, we may examine sectors, financing sizes, jurisdictions, debt structures and the candidate's actual responsibilities during execution.

Did they build the model?

Did they originate the opportunity?

Did they underwrite it?

Did they negotiate the term sheet?

Did they coordinate diligence?

Did they remain involved through financial close?

These distinctions matter when an employer is paying a significant salary for specialized execution capability.

Experienced professionals are rarely sitting around waiting for work

Another lesson from our existing business is that the best specialists generally already have something to do.

They work at banks. They work at funds. They advise companies. They manage portfolios. They consult independently. They are already supporting other transactions.

A strong candidate may therefore never submit an application through a conventional job board.

Specialist recruitment frequently requires identifying the relevant people first and approaching them directly.

It requires understanding why someone might leave a current position, which opportunity would represent a meaningful progression and whether their experience genuinely matches what the employer needs.

That is especially important when the hiring requirement is narrow.

Finding "someone in finance" is easy.

Finding someone who has structured commodity borrowing bases in emerging markets, modeled utility-scale battery projects, managed documentary credit operations or originated infrastructure debt is a different assignment entirely.

We see an opportunity to build a focused talent network

Our objective is not simply to publish another large database of financial-services jobs.

We want to build a focused network around the sectors where we already understand the underlying work.

That includes relationships with both employers and professionals across trade finance, structured trade, private credit, project finance and infrastructure.

Over time, that network can support permanent recruitment, specialist searches, contract assignments and other forms of talent placement where appropriate.

It can also give us a clearer picture of where institutions are hiring, which skills are becoming more valuable and where shortages are developing across the market.

Finance needs capital and people

Most of our existing business focuses on capital.

A company needs working capital. A trader needs a trade facility. A developer needs construction financing. A sponsor needs project debt. An investment firm needs leverage.

But capital cannot deploy itself.

Someone has to originate the transaction.

Someone has to underwrite it.

Someone has to structure it.

Someone has to model it.

Someone has to negotiate it.

Someone has to manage it after closing.

The people capable of doing those things well are becoming an increasingly important part of the financial infrastructure around complex transactions.

Helping institutions find those people is the next market we intend to address.

Launching in October 2026

We are currently building the infrastructure, employer network and specialist candidate pool behind the new recruitment business.

Our dedicated trade finance and project finance recruitment platforms are scheduled to begin launching in October 2026.

We will share more information about the platforms, the markets covered and how the recruitment business will operate as we approach the launch.