The Ocean Freight Procurement Manager Asia assumes ownership for the whole freight negotiation process on all Asia lanes for HillebrandGori. With a footprint of over 15,000 TEUs, responsibilities include:

• Reporting to Group Ocean Freight Procurement, support all Asia offices (import & export) in securing their ocean transport needs; work with internal departments, sales, operations, across multiple business lines to anticipate requirements and implement procurement action accordingly.
• Analyze tradelanes supply & demand, services and preferred options per route, analyze freight indexes and anticipate market trends
• Manage and build relationship with key decision makers with the ocean carriers ;
• Run the actual freight procurement exercise, define optimum process, from actual tenders to spot buying, from mid to long term contracts with commitments, to spot and opportunistic terms.
• Proper internal communication and coordination of carrier policy adopted, of contracts negotiated, follow up on volume performances.
• Maintain buying ocean rates with QRS.
• Develop annual volume and spend analysis to measure freight spend, and identify opportunities for optimization.
• Provide pricing guidance to both locally and centrally managed accounts / tenders, in coordination with the actual account owner.
• Participation to Global Sales / Corporate Account tenders

Required competencies

The position demands:

• Communication skills and a very strong ability to analyze and synthetize information. An experience in the negotiation domain as well as an obvious likeness for numbers is recommended. Full command of the English language as well as basic Windows functions (Excel, Power Point) is a must. Likewise, existing experience with QRS is a plus.
• Ability to perform in a somewhat isolated environment, as whilst located at an existing JF Hillebrand office, he or she will be working essentially with outsiders.
• Strong analytical and quantitative skills; ability to use data and metrics to back up assumptions, recommendations, and drive actions.
• Strengths in problem solving, issue-resolution, ability to work in a deadline-driven work environment, attention to detail, and ability to multitask.

Experience in freight procurement, including carrier relationship, is obviously beneficial ; likewise a strong experience in the HillebrandGori book of business and sales is welcome as will allow the candidate for a smooth transition and integration in the new position, with an immediate understanding of the business challenges that must be addressed.