Salary: 50,000 EGP/Month
Department: Operations
Reports to: General Manager / Managing Director
Location: Cairo, Nasr City, Egypt
Employment Type: Full-time
Lead the company’s freight forwarding operations across air, sea, and inland transport, ensuring reliable shipment execution, accurate documentation, effective cost control, and high customer satisfaction. Manage the operations team and service providers while protecting shipment profitability and meeting customer commitments.
Key Responsibilities
1. Operations Management
- Manage import, export, and cross-trade shipments from booking through delivery and operational file closure.
- Oversee carrier bookings, cargo collection, customs clearance coordination, transport arrangements, and shipment tracking.
- Ensure shipping instructions, documentation, and cargo readiness meet carrier and customer deadlines.
- Monitor shipment exceptions and resolve delays, missed connections, clearance issues, and delivery problems.
- Minimize avoidable storage, demurrage, detention, and other additional charges.
- Coordinate special cargo movements with qualified personnel and approved service providers.
2. Team Leadership
- Allocate shipment files and workloads according to staff experience, capacity, and shipment complexity.
- Set clear responsibilities, service standards, and performance targets.
- Train and supervise operations, customer service, documentation, and coordination staff.
- Establish backup coverage during absences and arrangements for urgent shipments outside normal working hours.
- Conduct performance reviews and recommend staffing requirements.
3. Customer Service
- Ensure customers receive timely, accurate shipment updates and prompt responses.
- Act as the escalation point for operational complaints and service failures.
- Work with the sales team to review service commitments before accepting new business.
- Develop customer-specific operating procedures for key accounts.
- Investigate recurring problems and implement corrective actions.
4. Carrier, Agent & Supplier Management
- Maintain effective relationships with airlines, shipping lines, overseas agents, customs brokers, truckers, and warehouses.
- Coordinate with pricing staff to obtain competitive rates and suitable routing options.
- Evaluate suppliers based on service quality, reliability, cost, and responsiveness.
- Verify booking terms, rate validity, free time, and additional charges before confirming arrangements.
- Monitor overseas agent performance and resolve operational discrepancies.
5. Documentation & Compliance
- Oversee the accuracy of AWBs, bills of lading, shipping instructions, manifests, and supporting shipment documents.
- Ensure staff follow applicable Egyptian customs requirements, carrier rules, and relevant cargo-handling procedures.
- Coordinate required shipment information and submissions with customers and customs brokers.
- Maintain complete shipment records, approvals, and audit trails.
- Ensure restricted or special cargo is reviewed and accepted through the appropriate approval process.
6. Financial & Profitability Control
- Review shipment cost estimates, supplier charges, and actual gross profit per file.
- Approve operational expenditure within delegated authority.
- Identify unquoted charges, cost overruns, and margin leakage, and arrange corrective action.
- Ensure complete billing instructions and supporting documents are handed to finance promptly.
- Resolve supplier invoice discrepancies and support finance with disputed customer charges.
- Follow approved credit limits and payment-release procedures.
7. Reporting & Process Improvement
- Prepare operational reports covering shipment volumes, service performance, profitability, exceptions, and team workload.
- Develop and maintain standard operating procedures and shipment checklists.
- Ensure accurate and timely use of the company’s freight management system.
- Improve workflows to reduce manual errors, duplicated work, and processing delays.
Qualifications & Experience
- Bachelor’s degree in Logistics, Supply Chain, Business Administration, Commerce, or a related field.
- Minimum 15 years of freight forwarding experience, including at least 5 years supervising or managing an operations team.
- Strong practical knowledge of air and sea freight import/export operations.
- Experience working with Egyptian customs brokers, airlines, shipping lines, and overseas agents.
- Good understanding of Incoterms, freight pricing, shipment costing, and transport documentation.
- Excellent written and spoken English and Arabic.
- Proficiency in Excel and freight forwarding software; experience with IST or a comparable system is preferred.
- Relevant IATA, FIATA, or logistics training is an advantage.
Required Competencies
- Leadership and workload management.
- Strong problem-solving and decision-making skills.
- Commercial awareness and attention to shipment profitability.
- Accurate documentation and disciplined follow-up.
- Effective customer communication and supplier negotiation.
- Ability to manage urgent shipments and competing deadlines.
Key Performance Indicators
- On-time shipment milestone completion.
- Documentation accuracy and compliance with cut-off times.
- Customer response and complaint-resolution times.
- Avoidable operational charges and errors.
- Actual shipment gross profit against approved estimates.
- Timeliness of billing handover and shipment file closure.
- Team productivity, data accuracy, and adherence to procedures.
