Ocean Freight Procurement Manager North & Central America

Hillebrand Gori USA LLC•Edison, NJ

5d•$110,000 - $145,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Ocean Freight Procurement Manager North & Central America owns the freight negotiation process for Hillebrand Gori’s North America, Mexico, and Central America export lanes, covering more than 45,000 TEUs of business. Reporting to Group Ocean Freight Procurement, the role supports the North and Central America organization in securing ocean transport needs and works across departments and business lines to anticipate requirements and implement procurement actions. The position also supports USA import freight needs and develops relationships with ocean carriers and terminal operators.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required.
At least 5–7 years of experience in ocean freight procurement, carrier management, freight forwarding, logistics, or supply chain management, preferably in international transportation.
Demonstrated experience negotiating ocean freight contracts, service agreements, carrier allocations, and transportation pricing with ocean carriers.
Strong knowledge of global ocean freight markets, trade lanes, carrier networks, freight indices, and market dynamics affecting North American exports.
Ability to manage carrier relationships and influence commercial decision-makers to achieve favorable business outcomes.
Strong understanding of transportation contracts, commercial terms, risk management, and procurement best practices.
Advanced analytical skills to evaluate market trends, supplier performance, costs, and service levels.
Excellent negotiation, communication, presentation, and stakeholder-management skills.
Ability to collaborate effectively across sales, operations, procurement, and executive leadership in a global environment.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, with intermediate to advanced Excel skills.
Strength in problem solving and issue resolution; ability to work in a deadline-driven environment, pay attention to detail, and multitask.
Deep understanding of end-to-end trade, buying, and selling, and ability to research trade opportunities, market trends, competitor activity, demand, supply, customer needs, and market risks.
Ability to negotiate effectively with suppliers and customers on terms, pricing, and contracts.
Proficiency in contract negotiation and management, including understanding legal terms, ensuring compliance, and mitigating contractual risk in coordination with Legal.
Strong interpersonal and communication skills to build relationships with internal stakeholders, particularly country management, the Growth Function, and Sales.
Ability to analyze data, market trends, and supplier performance to support procurement decisions, cost analysis, savings, and process improvements.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree preferably in Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Business Administration, International Trade, or a related field.

Responsibilities

Work with internal departments, sales, and operations across multiple business lines to anticipate ocean transport requirements and implement procurement actions.
Analyze trade-lane supply and demand, services, preferred trade options, freight indexes, and market trends.
Manage relationships with ocean-carrier decision makers and lead export freight negotiations and strategies.
Run freight procurement processes, including tenders, spot buying, mid- to long-term contracts with commitments, and spot or opportunistic terms.
Communicate and coordinate carrier policies and negotiated contracts internally, and follow up on volume performance.
Provide pricing guidance for locally and centrally managed accounts and tenders in coordination with the account owner.
Develop annual volume and spend analyses to measure freight spend and identify optimization opportunities.
Participate in Global Sales and Corporate Account tenders.
Provide administrative support for BECS service contracts negotiated overseas by Group Ocean Freight for USA import flows.
Manage ocean-carrier relationships supporting USA import freight, free times, per diem, and carrier haulage negotiations.
Develop and maintain relationships with terminal operators and identify demurrage and detention opportunities.