Manager, Ocean Freight

We are seeking a Manager of Regional Ocean Management to oversee a multi-million dollar Ocean P&L for their district. This role is crucial for scaling volume, increasing yield, and driving profitability through expert market knowledge and strategic interfacing with customers.

Responsibilities:

• Manage a sizeable Ocean P&L for your region through scaling volume and increasing yield
• Be the market expert and support the commercial organization with market-specific intelligence, trade idiosyncrasies, and directly interfacing with customer
• Help design products and generate customized go-to-market strategies for customers
• Own tenders and RFQs for your district to secure regional and global customers
• Interface with procurement and pricing teams to drive profitable business, identify growth opportunities, and capture market-specific knowledge
• Identify and drive improvement in go-to-market, operational, and financial processes
• Build and own P&L review and actively participate in book of business growth rhythms
• Help drive near and long term regional volume forecasting
• Participate and engage regularly in customer facing conversations
• Drive all financial health levers for your district including quoting, invoicing, and dispute escalation
• Build and maintain strong local relationships with ocean carriers and their Mexico-based commercial and operations teams, including regular local business reviews
• Negotiate local charges in Mexico directly with carriers and service providers, including THC, documentation fees, free time, and demurrage and detention terms
• Own day-to-day carrier management in the Mexico market: space and equipment availability, booking performance, rollovers, blank sailings, and escalation of service failures
• Benchmark local charges and carrier performance across Mexican ports and use the data to drive better rates and terms
• Align local carrier agreements with global and regional contract strategy so Mexico-specific terms complement the global Flexport procurement strategy

Requirements:

• 5+ years of prior Ocean Freight experience at a top freight forwarder or carrier or 5+ years of supply chain experience and a BA/BS Degree;
• Strategic vision and ground floor execution;
• Bias to Action, Process, Structure and Data;
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills;
• An obsession with client happiness. You succeed when they succeed;
• Ability to travel regionally;
• Courage to challenge the status quo when logic and reason require it. See something broken? Fix it;
• The desire to lead, train, and develop up-and-coming talent in the future
• Proven experience managing ocean carrier relationships in Mexico, with a track record of negotiating local charges
• An established network among carrier and port-side contacts in the Mexican market
• Deep understanding of how local charges, free time, and D&D structures work in Mexico
• Fluency in Spanish and English, with the ability to negotiate and escalate in both