Regional Air Freight Manager, Senior

SUMMARY:

As a Senior Regional Air Freight Manager, you operate with a very high level of expertise and impact, both internally and externally. You demonstrate a consistent mastery of all responsibilities of air freight and have a proven track record of success in collaborating successfully across multiple areas of the company (ie Sales, Demand, Finance). You will own and lead all aspects of air freight for your region, including procurement, pricing, business development and profitability (P&L). You will be responsible for building and scaling air freight solutions to/from your region as well as supporting local commercial teams with go-to-market efforts. You will act as an overall General Manager for the set of origin and destination combinations while also commercially supporting sales efforts for all global air freight sold within your region. As a Regional Air Freight Manager, you’ll need to be multi-dimensional and able to work with stakeholders within and outside of the department, such as Sales, Account Management, Operations, Tech and Finance. This role is a level-up with the expectation to lead with less oversight and to not only achieve results, but also influence change.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Leadership of the trade lane and accountability for the geography’s growth and profitability (P&L)

• Set the region’s air freight strategy, objectives, and, in conjunction with Demand and Global Air, develop targets to align with Global Air goals.
• Own air P&L for region based upon both LoB and Trade Lane targets.
• Drive adherence to P&L targets by partnering with necessary stakeholders in demand to initiate GTM strategies; drive procurement workstreams to increase take rate and partner with operations to maintain customer satisfaction.
• With the Head of Air Freight of the region, participate in weekly business reviews and report on performance and adherence against goals.
  
  

Develop air capacity solutions to/from region

• Fully own the end-to-end procurement for export from region, solution design, routing and service levels.
• Partner with origin air procurement teams on designing import capacity solutions. Communicate service level requirements, transit times and routings necessary to meet local market requirements.
• Nurture and grow local airline relationships and align executive air leadership as needed with airline leadership.
• Monitor and drive airline satisfaction & ensure we are quality partners for the airlines and that airlines are providing the services purchased.
• Assess airline performance and drive performance improvements.
• Partner with air trucking procurement to ensure adequate coverage and service capabilities for region.
• Own and administer contracts in procurement database to ensure proper application of procurement costs.
  
  

Partner with Account Management & Sales to grow volume

• Partner with Account Management to grow share with existing customers by developing pricing strategies and solutions in conjunction with regional pricing team.
• Partner with sales organization on achieving net new customer acquisition targets by participating in sales process and helping shape value proposition for strategic customers. You will often sponsor global RFQ’s for your region’s top customers.
• Participate in region’s commercial operating rhythms including sales meetings, pipeline reviews, TOFU reviews. You are expected to be actively involved in your region’s go-to-market motions.
• Support sales organization with meeting pipeline goals to achieve annual volume targets. Assessing shortfalls with creative solutions such as TOFU initiatives or pricing strategies to generate more demand.
• Be the default subject-matter-expert partner for your region’s demand organization to jointly drive go-to-market commercial strategy.
• Communicate market conditions to regional demand teams by participating in district operating rhythms (pipeline reviews, TOFU reviews, sales meetings, 1-1’s).
• Represent the Global Air Team in leadership meetings internally and represent Flexport at industry conferences externally when required.
• Participate in sales call/visits to provide expert input on our Air capabilities.

EXPERIENCE & SKILLS:

• BA/BS degree and 10+ years of experience at a freight forwarder or in a similar field.
• Deep market knowledge and expertise with respect to imports and/or exports from a sales, operational, and procurement perspective.
• Awareness of the competition and how to establish a Flexport-unique approach to the market.
• By reviewing market insights, project future market conditions based upon historical trends and patterns.
• A strategic vision of building a differentiated air product and the willingness to be operational at the ground-floor when need be.
• Desire to “build a better machine” and get irritated when things aren’t optimal.
• Excitement to manage vendor relations and create best-in-class, innovative structures to do so.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal and organizational skills.
• A customer centric mindset. The customer always comes first.