Move as a Team
Move as a Team
Your next opportunity doesn’t have to be an individual move.
Some of the strongest teams in commodity markets are built over years.
You know how each other works.
You understand your clients.
You have established relationships, complementary strengths and a proven way of generating business together.
So when the time comes to consider what might be next, moving individually isn’t always the right answer.
Imperium Commodity Search facilitates confidential team and desk moves for experienced professionals across global commodity trading, brokerage and related markets.
Whether you are a team of two or three colleagues quietly considering your options, an established desk exploring a new platform, or a senior professional considering whether key colleagues could move with you, we can facilitate the conversation discreetly.
You don’t need to be applying for a job.
You simply need to be open to discussing what the right opportunity could look like.
Move Together, Not Apart
Traditional recruitment is normally built around one person and one vacancy.
A team move is different.
The question is not simply:
“What jobs are currently available?”
It is:
“Which businesses could create the right opportunity for what we have built together?”
That might involve an existing desk looking to expand.
It could involve a company entering your market for the first time.
Or it may be an organisation prepared to build an entirely new capability around the right group of people.
Our role is to understand the team first — and then explore where that collective capability could create value.
Who Is This For?
Team Move conversations can start in many different ways.
You may be:
Small Group of Colleagues
Two or three traders, brokers or commercial professionals who work well together and would consider the right opportunity collectively.
An Established Desk
A proven team with existing client relationships, market coverage and a track record that could transfer to another organisation.
Desk Head or Team Leader
A senior professional exploring a move who believes retaining key members of the existing team would be important to future success.
Complementary Group
Professionals whose value is stronger collectively — for example across origination, trading, brokerage, sales or associated commercial functions.
Collective of Companies
You may have previously worked together or just know each other through your business dealings and wish to cement this into a collaborative venture.
Not Actively Looking
You may have no intention of moving today but would like to understand what opportunities could exist if circumstances changed.
You don’t need to have made a decision before speaking with us.
The conversation can remain entirely exploratory.
Confidentiality Comes First
A team move can only be explored properly if it is handled discreetly.
We understand the sensitivity involved when several professionals from the same organisation are considering their options.
Initial discussions can therefore take place without your team’s identity being disclosed to prospective employers.
Before any identifiable information is shared, we agree with you:
- which organisations may be appropriate;
- which businesses must not be approached;
- what information can be disclosed;
- who within the team should be involved;
- and when, if at all, your identity can be revealed.
Your information is not circulated to the market without your permission.
A first conversation with Imperium is exactly that — a conversation.
It does not commit you or your colleagues to making a move.
We Start With the Team, Not a CV
For an individual search, experience can often be understood through a CV.
With a team, the more important question is what the group is capable of achieving together.
We therefore seek to understand areas including:
- Team structure and individual responsibilities
- Markets and products covered
- Geographic coverage
- Client and counterparty relationships
- Historic performance
- Revenue generation
- Existing platform and infrastructure
- Leadership structure
- Growth opportunities
- Why the team might consider moving
- What would need to change for a move to make sense
- Compensation expectations
- Notice periods and contractual considerations
- The type of organisation and culture in which the team would perform best
Where appropriate, this can be developed into a confidential team profile or business case before discussions with prospective organisations begin.
How a Team Move Works
Confidential Discussion
The process begins with an informal conversation.
We discuss the current team, your circumstances and what would need to exist for a move to be worth exploring.
No approach to the market is made at this stage.
Understand the Opportunity
We work with you to understand the commercial case behind the team.
This might include market coverage, client relationships, revenue history, team structure, potential growth and the resources required to succeed elsewhere.
The objective is to present much more than a collection of individual CVs.
Agree the Market
Together, we identify the types of businesses that could realistically support the team.
Certain organisations may be obvious targets.
Others may have the infrastructure, capital, geographical ambitions or strategic rationale to create an opportunity that does not currently exist.
Nothing identifiable is shared without agreement.
Confidential Introductions
Where there is genuine alignment, Imperium can facilitate senior-level conversations between the relevant parties.
These discussions are often exploratory rather than tied to an advertised vacancy.
The purpose is to establish whether there is a credible business case for both sides before progressing further.
Structure the Move
Where conversations develop, we remain involved across the process.
Depending on the circumstances, this may include:
- team structure
- individual roles
- compensation
- revenue expectations
- resources and infrastructure
- reporting lines
- contractual considerations
- notice periods
- restrictive covenants
- timing
- and the practical sequence of a potential move.
Independent legal advice should always be obtained where contractual restrictions or restrictive covenants need to be considered.
Coordinate the Transition
Team moves involve more moving parts than individual appointments.
Imperium remains an intermediary throughout negotiations and the transition process, helping maintain communication between the team and prospective employer as the opportunity develops.
You Don’t Need an Advertised Vacancy
One of the most important differences with a team move is that the opportunity may not exist yet.
An organisation does not necessarily need to be advertising for your exact team.
The right group of people can itself create the business case.
A commodity trading house may want to enter a new market.
A brokerage may want to establish a desk in a new geography.
A growing organisation may want to add an established revenue-producing team rather than build one person at a time.
A competitor may recognise an opportunity to accelerate a strategy that would otherwise take several years to develop internally.
Our role is to explore those conversations selectively and confidentially.
Transitioning together, with confidence
What Types of Teams Do We Speak With?
Imperium operates across international commodity and related markets, including:
Trading
Physical and derivatives trading teams across energy, metals, agriculture and associated markets.
Brokerage
Established brokerage desks and smaller groups of brokers across commodity and financial markets.
Origination & Sales
Commercial teams whose relationships and market coverage create value collectively.
Shipping & Chartering
Teams operating across chartering, shipbroking and related commercial functions.
Leadership & Commercial Teams
Senior professionals whose move may involve bringing selected colleagues or building a new function around them.
The appropriate structure depends on the team, the market and the opportunity.
Individual Move or Team Move?
Individual Move
You are primarily considering your own next career opportunity.
We can discuss relevant retained searches and confidential opportunities being handled by Imperium.
EXPLORE CANDIDATE OPPORTUNITIES
Team Move
Your decision is connected to colleagues you work with and you would prefer to explore what might be possible collectively.
We can discuss the team confidentially before deciding whether there is an appropriate market to approach.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do we need to be actively looking to move?
No.
Many of these discussions begin long before anybody has decided to leave their current employer.
You can speak with us simply to understand whether there might be credible alternatives in the market.
Does the whole team need to be involved initially?
No.
An initial conversation may begin with one team member or team leader.
We can discuss the situation before agreeing who else should become involved and at what stage.
Do we need to send individual CVs?
Not necessarily at the beginning.
For a team move, the commercial proposition of the group is often as important as individual career histories.
We can establish the team structure first and determine what information is appropriate later.
Will you tell companies who we are?
Not without agreement.
We can explore the potential market and discuss possible targets before identifiable information is disclosed.
Any direct introduction should take place with the team’s knowledge and consent.
What if there isn't currently a vacancy for us?
There doesn’t necessarily need to be one.
Part of the purpose of a team move process is identifying organisations for whom acquiring the team could create a compelling commercial opportunity.
How large does a team need to be?
There is no fixed number.
A team move could involve two colleagues who work particularly effectively together, a small specialist group or a larger established desk.
What matters is whether there is a credible reason for the individuals to move collectively.
Can you help us build a business case?
Yes.
Where appropriate, we can help structure the information a prospective employer is likely to require when assessing a team opportunity, while controlling what is disclosed and at what stage.
Considering What Could Be Next?
You don’t need to resign.
You don’t need to apply for a vacancy.
And you don’t need to decide today that you want to leave.
If you and one or more colleagues would consider the right opportunity together, speak to Imperium in confidence.
We can start by understanding the team and discussing what might realistically be possible — without approaching anybody until you are comfortable doing so.
+44 (0) 203 927 5090
info@imperiumcs.com