Overview
A leading global organization is seeking a mid‑level Transportation Approval Lead to support North American air and ocean freight governance. This role plays a critical part in controlling airfreight usage, enforcing compliance, improving planning accuracy, and driving cost and CO₂ reduction across domestic and international supply chains.
The ideal candidate brings strong transportation knowledge across air and ocean modes, excellent planning and communication skills, and a disciplined, data‑driven approach to decision‑making. This position partners closely with Planning, Finance, Operations, and Logistics leadership and offers strong visibility within the supply chain organization.
Responsibilities
Airfreight Governance & Approvals
- Own and manage the airfreight approval process for North America, ensuring compliance, proper documentation, and accurate cost allocation
- Evaluate tactical airfreight requests, confirm necessity, and communicate decisions clearly with requestors
- Identify non‑compliant airfreight usage, calculate cost and CO₂ impact, and communicate findings to leadership
Planning, Forecasting & Analysis
- Analyze open purchase orders and collaborate with Planning teams to proactively reduce upcoming airfreight needs
- Partner with Planning to develop airfreight forecasts for upcoming months and align capacity with carriers and freight forwarders
- Translate forecasts into transport handling units, weights, and dimensions
- Analyze forecast vs. actual utilization and drive continuous improvement in planning accuracy
Data, Reporting & Cost Control
- Maintain and assess master data parameters to ensure accurate air and ocean freight cost and transit‑time comparisons
- Conduct monthly reviews with Finance to ensure correct airfreight cost allocation by project and cost center
- Develop and track KPIs, including airfreight pareto analysis and key triggers for corrective action
- Leverage strong Excel skills to create reports, analyses, and decision‑support tools
Cross‑Functional Collaboration & Optimization
- Partner with International Transport Operations and Procurement to identify and promote hybrid or alternative solutions to airfreight
- Explore, identify, and help develop internal tools to streamline approvals and improve process efficiency
- Support ad‑hoc transportation and logistics projects as needed
Required Qualifications
- 3–5 years of experience in transportation, logistics, or supply chain roles
- Strong knowledge of air and ocean transportation modes
- Experience with airfreight approval, compliance, or cost control processes
- Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including reporting and data analysis
- Strong planning, organization, and communication skills
- Ability to apply checks and balances and make disciplined, data‑driven decisions
- Fluent in English (written and verbal)
Preferred Qualifications
- Bilingual (Spanish/English) strongly preferred
- Experience working with international transportation lanes and cross‑border logistics
- Exposure to forecasting, capacity planning, or transportation analytics
- Experience collaborating with Finance, Planning, and Operations teams
