James Isilay
President at Screencrib
Zurich
Overview
Work Experience
Founder & CEO
2016 - Current
Founded and scaled startup into a leading AI-powered B2B sales intelligence platform, helping businesses identify, engage, and convert prospects with verified company and contact data. Grew revenue from $0 to $80M+ ARR, expanded to 500+ employees across North America, EMEA and APAC, and secured investment from top-tier VCs, including South Central Ventures, PeakSpan, Axa Ventures, Swisscom, Viking Global, Blue Cloud Ventures, Balderton and GIC. Led strategic acquisitions of Kaspr.io and Mailtastic, strengthening Cognism’s go-to-market strategy and product offering, while fostering a high-performance culture that earned a strong Glassdoor approval rating and positioned Cognism as a top workplace in the SaaS industry. By pioneering machine learning, NLP, and predictive analytics, Cognism has become a trusted revenue acceleration platform, enabling organisations to streamline lead generation, optimise sales prospecting, and drive predictable growth.
Algorithmic Trader | Energy Markets
2011 - 2016
Developed and executed automated trading strategies across Brent Oil, WTI, Gas Oil, European Power, and Carbon markets at Switzerland’s largest power producer, leveraging quantitative models, machine learning, and algorithmic systems to optimise performance. Built a Deltix-based market monitoring system, collaborated with public research university ETH Zürich on predictive analytics, and consistently met PnL targets. This deep expertise in data-driven decision-making, automation, and predictive modelling laid the foundation for leading Cognism’s AI-powered sales intelligence platform, applying machine learning and analytics to transform B2B prospecting and revenue growth.
Quantitative Trading Analyst | Energy Markets
2009 - 2011
Designed automated trading models and real-time risk management systems for the German Power and UK Gas markets at leading European energy trading firm EGL Trading (now part of Axpo Group). Leveraged quantitative analysis and algorithmic strategies to optimise trading decisions, built a live PnL tracking system for cross border power trading across DE, FR, and IT, created an NBP Gas demand model, and designed an alert system for UK power station outages. Delivered daily market analysis on the European Energy Complex and Risk Complex, issuing real-time trade calls with a strong track record of accuracy.
Trader | Metal Sales, Financing & Exotic Options
2007 - 2008
Executed structured base metal finance trades and derivatives sales, working with corporate clients, hedge funds, and institutional investors across EMEA and the US. Priced and traded Barrier, Digital, Touch, and Asian options, developed a Vanna-Volga pricing model to optimise hedge calculations, and oversaw deal approvals, legal contracts, and physical metal transfers for key clients, including Red Kite and BHP Billiton. Led base and precious metals derivatives sales, covering sectors such as automotive (Ford, General Motors), and expanded offerings through energy and agriculture cross-sales. Produced monthly metals options trade reports, providing strategic market insights.
Team Lead | IT Development & FX Derivatives
2001 - 2007
Led the development of award-winning FX derivatives and commodities trading systems, managing a team to build real-time volatility analytics, order book systems, and P&L monitoring tools. Spearheaded the Market Maker GUI for FX volatility management, enhanced global price distribution for crude oil and metals trading, and developed P&L and risk management solutions for futures trading. Optimised operations by implementing electronic blotters, reconciliation systems, and automated trade execution, improving efficiency across trading, risk, and settlement teams.
UBS Realty Investors is an institutional investment advisor that managed real estate equity assets on behalf of its clients.