The Refinery Operations Associate is responsible for managing the end-to-end settlement process associated with precious metals refining activities. This role ensures the accurate reconciliation, settlement, and reporting of metal accounts, customer deliveries, refining outputs, and financial settlements, while maintaining strong controls, compliance, and customer service standards.

The Refinery Operations Associate  will also co-ordinate with other operational staff to ensure accurate record keeping of inventory levels. They will be expected to perform routine physical inventory counts of high value inventory, enhance controls and make sure policy and procedures are being adhered to.

• Coordinate and manage the full settlement lifecycle for precious metals refining transactions, from intake through to final settlement.
• Calculate and verify metal balances, assay results, refining yields, losses, and payable fine metal.
• Prepare and process customer settlements, including metal credits/debits, invoices, and supporting documentation.
• Reconcile customer metal accounts, refinery inventories, intercompany trading accounts and positions, and production reports to ensure accuracy and completeness.
• Liaise closely with internal teams such as Refining Operations, Assay Laboratory, Logistics, Finance, and Trading.
• Act as a primary point of contact for customers on settlement-related queries, providing clear and timely communication.
• Ensure adherence to contractual terms, pricing agreements, and hedging or metal fixing mechanisms where applicable.
• Support and enhance record keeping of inventory levels.
• Conduct routine inventory counts of high value items
• Support month-end and year-end close processes through accurate reporting and reconciliation of metal positions.
• Maintain robust records and audit trails in line with internal controls, regulatory requirements, and industry best practice.
• Support internal and external audits as required.

SKILLS & COMPETENCIES

• Strong numerical and analytical skills with a high level of attention to detail.
• Solid understanding of precious metals refining processes, assays, yields, and metal accounting.
• Excellent organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple settlements and deadlines.
• Confident communicator with strong stakeholder and customer management skills.
• Ability to interpret contracts and apply commercial terms accurately.
• Strong problem-solving skills and a proactive approach to issue resolution.
• High level of integrity and commitment to compliance and risk management.
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EXPERIENCE & QUALIFICATIONS

• Proven experience in a settlement, operations, or back-office role within precious metals, commodities, refining, or a related industry.
• Experience working with metal accounts, reconciliations, or production-based settlements is highly desirable.
• Familiarity with ERP systems and strong proficiency in Microsoft Excel.
• Experience of Microsoft Navision is preferable