For most of the time I have spent covering power and gas, the competition to hire a strong trader came down to the same familiar names, investment banks, commodity trading houses and utilities. That map is quietly being redrawn, and the firms entering the conversation soon are ones very few traders would have considered two years ago.
The big tech firms have moved well beyond simply consuming electricity to feed their AI ambitions, and are becoming active participants in the market that price it. Apple, Amazon and Microsoft have obtained regulatory approvals allowing them to transact in wholesale electricity markets. Meta has applied for similar authority through Atem Energy, while Google has gone further by acquiring power developer Intersect Power for approximately $4.75 billion.
At first glance, this looks like an energy infrastructure story. We think it's actually a talent story as the hiring has followed quickly. According to CNBC, Amazon has made 605 energy related hires across the wider group, including AWS, and Google has built its own energy team to more than 340 people.
As these firms build out generation, long term procurement and genuine market participation, they will need commercial people who can manage those positions, and the pool of power and gas traders capable of doing that is small, the same one the banks and trading houses have always drawn from.
What strikes me most from the conversations I am having, is that almost nobody has fully clocked this yet. The traders I speak with did not know they would soon have a serious option outside the traditional energy players, and hiring managers have not really started thinking about how to adapt, or what it means for their own strategy, once firms with balance sheets and risk appetite on this scale start competing for the same people.
At Laz Partners, we're already seeing strong demand for this talent. This year we have completed a senior power trading hire, and we remain actively engaged across the sector, working a number of live power and gas mandates for both bank and trading house desks at different stages.
Currently, hiring still comes from the traditional players, but the firms competing for this talent is widening, and that will have real consequences.
- For hiring managers trying to build a desk or hold one together, the question is the question is no longer just how to attract/retain talent today, but how to adapt as the competitive landscape expands.
- For traders, traditional paths remain open, but a serious new destination will soon become a major option for them.
