The Role
Manages FCL trade strategy, carrier relationships, procurement, rates, tariffs, contracts, and performance across a region. Leads tender strategies, negotiates carrier rates, ensures competitive pricing and service conditions, supports key-account business development, and presents trade performance to senior executives. Coordinates local and regional procurement teams, monitors KPIs, develops carrier action plans, and shares market intelligence. Requires strong ocean freight procurement, leadership, negotiation, analytical, communication, and organizational skills, with willingness to travel.
Summary Generated by Built In
What You Can Expect:
FCL Trade Strategy
- Ensure adherence to the global core carrier policy within trade including evaluating the carriers’ performance.
- Ensure alignment on product, commercial and capacity management strategy together with the local procurement teams and the commercial head for the trade.
- Monitor and assess the performance of the trade, regularly reviewing key performance indicators (KPIs) to identify areas for improvement and strategic adjustments.
Carrier Relationship Development
- Build and maintain relationships with global core carriers’ regional decision makers.
- Lead the improvement of relationship within local offices between local procurement teams and core carriers within region,
- Monitor and control core carriers’ performance in alignment between the other regions and the Regional Product Team; enforcing a methodology of local and regional performance reviews and Action Plans for Carriers, including QBRs.
- Act as an escalation point within region for any core carrier issues related to trade.
FCL Tariff, Rates and Contract Management
- Based on the trade FCL strategy, coordinate with sales management and other product heads or trade managers to ensure capturing and developing business. Must lead trade FCL tender strategy, including risk-taking decisions for regional accounts and tenders, and escalate to the trade head or the regional product head if needed.
- Support a high performing culture of accountability and ownership within the local and regional procurement teams in the region, by supporting and working together with the country procurement managers to deliver the best rates and services possible.
- Negotiate rates for Key Accounts or high-volume accounts with regional carriers.
- Responsible for ensuring the competitiveness of the product framework within the region for the trade, including freight rates, freight surcharges, carrier pick-up and drop-off tariffs, and detention and demurrage conditions.
- Manage the suggested selling rates and Cloud Ocean Line Tariffs within the trade to ensure a high degree of competitiveness that drives both profitability and market share growth.
Business Development
- Support the commercial teams by visiting customers that are strategic for the region or the product globally, with a focus on regional and Global Key Accounts.
- Present Rhenus trade performance to C-level Executives and target Key Accounts.
Trade Market Intelligence Management
- Enable channeling market intelligence between local and regional offices to ensure exceptional trade understanding. The information must be actionable and insightful, always within the frameworks set by the Global and Regional Product Teams. This includes maintaining a working rapport with Country management by providing expertise and education in capacity, pricing, and product management.
- Organize a monthly Broadcast summarizing the key information for the trade lane to local procurement and key commercial stakeholders.
- Spearhead an analytical approach to assess the competitiveness of Rhenus' rate levels.
What You Bring:
- Minimum 5 years’ experience in an ocean procurement role in freight forwarding company or ocean carrier experience.
- Minimum 5 years’ experience in people management and leadership, including recruitment, training & development, coaching, conflict, and performance management.
- Service minded and with a high degree of ownership, excellent commercial understanding.
- Proven track record in the trade lane management with shipping lines
- Negotiation skills and confident manner
- Proactive and capable of handle responsibility without needing to be micromanaged.
- Excellent cross-cultural communication (both oral and written) and interpersonal skills.
- Outgoing personality, while able to communicate well in English both spoken and written.
- Strong analytical and organizational skills
- Able to work under pressure and to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
- Result driven and persistent in meeting day to day challenges and goals.
- Ability to multi-task in an intense, fast-paced, high-energy, environment.
- Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
- Demonstrate confidence as a performer and lead by example.
- Willingness to travel as needed.
- Ability to maintain a focus on simplicity while dealing with complex challenges.
Skills Required
- Minimum 5 years of experience in ocean procurement within a freight forwarding company or experience with an ocean carrier
- Minimum 5 years of people management and leadership experience, including recruitment, training and development, coaching, conflict management, and performance management
- Proven track record in trade lane management with shipping lines
- Negotiation skills and a confident manner
- Excellent commercial understanding
- Excellent cross-cultural oral and written communication and interpersonal skills
- Fluency in spoken and written English
- Strong analytical and organizational skills
- Ability to work under pressure and manage multiple projects simultaneously
- Ability to work independently and as part of a team
- Willingness to travel as needed
- Proactive, accountable, service-minded, results-driven, persistent, and able to work in a fast-paced environment
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The Company
What We Do
Niederrheinische Verkehrsbetriebe AG (NIAG) is a regional transport company based in Moers, Germany, that provides comprehensive bus and rail services to the Lower Rhine region.









