Senior Ocean Import & Key Account Operations Lead
23 hours ago
Carteret
Senior Ocean Import & Key Account Operations Lead Location: Carteret, New Jersey Workplace: On-site Employment: Full-time The Opportunity Beeontrade is seeking a hands-on freight forwarding operator to take ownership of our key U.S. Ocean Import and BCO accounts and help build the next generation of Beeontrade USA operations. This is not a monitoring or administrative management role. It is an ownership-and-execution mandate. You will personally manage important customer accounts and shipments, solve operational exceptions, protect gross profit, coordinate U.S. inland and warehouse execution, and ensure customers receive proactive, reliable service from origin through final delivery. Our core U.S. business is concentrated around Ocean Imports, strategic BCO accounts, international forwarding, project cargo, inland transportation, warehousing, and selected Air Freight solutions. Initially, you will be a senior individual contributor and account owner. As Beeontrade builds its U.S. team, you will help train junior operators, establish operating standards, build customer SOPs, and develop a scalable U.S. operations structure. The goal is simple: Our key customers should have a strong U.S.-based operational owner who understands both how the freight moves and how the shipment makes money. You Will • Take direct operational ownership of assigned U.S. importer and BCO accounts., • Manage Ocean Import shipments from pre-alert and origin coordination through customs release, final delivery, empty return, billing, and file closeout., • Develop deep knowledge of each customer's lanes, SOPs, service expectations, shipment patterns, and commercial requirements., • Build strong customer relationships through proactive communication and fast problem resolution., • Identify operational and customer risks before they become escalations., • Ensure customers receive proactive updates with no surprises., • Work directly with steamship lines, origin agents, customs brokers, terminals, CFS facilities, truckers, warehouses, rail providers, and customers., • Coordinate drayage, pre-pulls, chassis, transloading, storage, appointments, warehouse services, and final-mile delivery., • Monitor vessel schedules, terminal availability, free time, customs releases, delivery appointments, empty returns, and other critical milestones., • Step directly into high-risk files involving demurrage, detention, customs holds, exams, damaged cargo, rollovers, missed appointments, carrier issues, and other operational exceptions., • Maintain accurate milestones and shipment data inside CargoWise and Beeontrade operating systems., • Review HBL/MBL, arrival notices, commercial invoices, packing lists, delivery orders, and other import documentation., • Coordinate ISF, customs-clearance, exam, and release requirements with appropriate parties., • Maintain complete and audit-ready shipment files., • Work with offshore documentation and shared-services teams while maintaining full accountability for shipment quality., • Understand the quoted buy, sell, and expected gross profit of assigned shipments., • Monitor supplier costs and unexpected accessorial exposure throughout execution., • Protect Beeontrade and customers from avoidable demurrage, detention, storage, chassis, waiting time, prepull, redelivery, and other operational leakage., • Obtain proper approval for additional customer charges where required., • Ensure all vendor costs and accruals are captured before billing., • Review expected GP versus actual GP before file closeout., • Identify recurring margin leakage and operational cost problems., • Work closely with billing to ensure completed shipments are invoiced quickly and accurately., • Participate in customer reviews and identify opportunities to expand existing accounts., • Coordinate inland, warehouse, and project requirements where needed, including FTL/LTL, transload, devanning, project staging, flat rack/open-top, and OOG movements., • Help establish U.S. operating procedures, account SOPs, escalation rules, and CargoWise standards., • Train and develop junior U.S. operations employees as the organization grows., • Help build a small, high-performing U.S. freight operations team around strong operational ownership and customer accountability. Key Responsibilities • Own assigned strategic BCO and Ocean Import customer accounts., • Execute U.S. Ocean Import shipments end-to-end., • Protect customer retention through proactive service and operational ownership., • Manage shipment exceptions before they become customer escalations., • Coordinate port, customs, drayage, warehouse, rail, and final-delivery execution., • Protect shipment-level gross profit and prevent accessorial leakage., • Maintain accurate job costing, accruals, and operational documentation., • Drive fast shipment closeout and billing., • Monitor demurrage, detention, chassis, storage, exams, and other cost exposures., • Ensure CargoWise milestones and customer records remain accurate and current., • Build and maintain customer-specific SOPs., • Improve operating workflows and eliminate recurring failures., • Develop strong working relationships with U.S. truckers, warehouses, terminals, brokers, carriers, and logistics vendors., • Support selected Air Import, Project Cargo, OOG, and complex transportation requirements., • Participate in customer reviews and identify account-expansion opportunities., • Help recruit, train, and develop future U.S. freight operations talent., • Help transition Beeontrade's most important U.S. customer operations from founder-dependent execution into a professional operating structure. What Success Looks Like You will be accountable for measurable improvement in: • Customer retention, • Customer response time, • Customer escalation frequency, • On-time shipment milestones, • Demurrage and detention exposure, • Operational exception rates, • CargoWise and file accuracy, • Gross profit protection, • Accessorial-cost recovery, • Billing speed, • Completed-file closeout, • Customer SOP compliance, • Account growth opportunities, • Junior team development as Beeontrade expands For our most important customers, success means: The customer trusts you enough that routine operations no longer require CEO involvement. What You’ll Need • 4+ years of U.S. freight forwarding experience, with meaningful Ocean Import responsibility., • Strong experience managing Ocean Import shipments end-to-end., • Experience directly managing importer and BCO customer relationships., • Strong understanding of U.S. port, terminal, drayage, customs, warehouse, rail, and final-delivery operations., • Strong knowledge of demurrage, detention, free time, chassis, storage, customs exams, accessorials, and other import cost exposures., • Understanding of freight forwarding buy rates, sell rates, accruals, job costing, and shipment-level gross profit., • Ability to independently resolve operational exceptions rather than simply forwarding problems upward., • Strong customer communication and relationship-management skills., • Strong organizational discipline and attention to detail., • Calm decision-making under operational pressure., • Experience with CargoWise strongly preferred., • Air Import experience is valuable but not mandatory., • Experience with Project Cargo, Flat Rack/Open Top, OOG, transload, or complex U.S. inland transportation is a strong advantage., • Strong written and spoken English., • Ability to work on-site in Carteret, New Jersey. Formal management experience is helpful but not required. We care more about whether you have demonstrated real operational ownership, customer judgment, and the ability to eventually teach and develop other operators. You Operate Like an Owner If • You notice problems before the customer does., • You understand the financial impact of operational decisions., • You don't consider sending an email the same thing as solving a problem., • You follow issues through until they are actually closed., • You protect both the customer relationship and shipment profitability., • You communicate problems together with options and a recommended solution., • You ask for support when necessary but do not unnecessarily push problems upward., • You document mistakes and improve the process so they do not repeat., • You enjoy developing less-experienced operators., • You take pride in owning the outcome, not simply completing your assigned task. About Beeontrade Beeontrade is a U.S.-based international freight forwarder and NVOCC founded in 2021, with operations and support capabilities across the United States, Turkey, India, and the UAE. Our services include Ocean and Air Freight, inland transportation, project logistics, warehousing, and value-added logistics, with particular strength in U.S. Ocean Imports, strategic BCO accounts, international forwarding, and complex transportation solutions. During our first five years, Beeontrade built the licenses, systems, international network, carrier relationships, customer portfolio, and operating experience required to compete across global logistics. We are now entering our next stage. Beeontrade is rebuilding around a smaller group of highly accountable operators, stronger technology, disciplined execution, and clear ownership of customers, shipments, and financial outcomes. Our operating principle is simple: One customer. One owner. One shipment. One owner. One dollar. One owner. We want people who solve problems instead of forwarding them, understand both operations and economics, and want the opportunity to help build the next version of Beeontrade USA. Beeontrade is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.