Sr. Technical Product Manager

. Crane Worldwide Logistics . • Houston, TX

6d • Onsite

About The Position

We are seeking a Sr. Technical Product Manager to own the roadmap for Forwarding Operations technology. This role involves deep process analysis, designing future-state workflows, and defining the technical architecture for orchestration and metadata layers, universal task inboxes, and financial system integrations. You will drive zero-touch execution initiatives, define operational KPIs, and create measurement frameworks to track adoption and impact. This position requires strong cross-functional leadership, technical acumen, domain expertise in freight forwarding, and excellent communication and organizational skills. The ideal candidate will have a Bachelor's degree and 10+ years of product management experience, preferably in operations, workflow automation, or logistics technology. Experience with AI fundamentals, coding, modern application ecosystems, and Agile/Scrum environments is essential. Desirable qualifications include prior engineering or product management experience, familiarity with freight forwarding and logistics systems (like Cargo Wise or TMS/WMS), EDI/API integrations, and change management experience.

Requirements

• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functionally across engineering, AI, data science, and business operations teams.
• Academic or practical experience with fundamentals of AI across modalities (vision, language, multimodal).
• Comfort reading and writing code; familiarity with modern application ecosystems including HTTP APIs, messaging and queueing systems, and typical software engineering patterns.
• Experience working in Agile or Scrum environments.
• Strong ability to build relationships across technical and non-technical stakeholders and translate between business requirements and technical constraints.
• Deep understanding of freight forwarding execution: bookings, documentation (BLs, AWBs, customs), and exception management.
• Experience designing workflow orchestration systems, task management platforms, or process automation tools.
• Strong comfort with financial operations technology; AR/AP systems and invoicing automation.
• Strong data orientation with ability to define and instrument operational KPIs from scratch.
• Proven track record of creating meaningful measurement frameworks, especially during product rollouts and organizational change initiatives.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to articulate complex technical and operational concepts to diverse audiences.
• Strong analytical skills with solid experience in writing functional and technical specifications.
• Strong teamwork skills in both local and distributed settings across different geographic locations.
• Strong organization skills with excellent attention to detail.
• Proficiency with product management tools, diagramming tools (Visio, Miro), and collaboration platforms.
• Ability to drive short-term actions consistent with long-term strategic goals.
• Effective listening skills and stakeholder empathy.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Business Administration, or related field.
• 10+ years of product management experience with strong preference for operations, workflow automation, or logistics technology.
• Cross-team leadership experience across engineering, AI, data science, and business operations
• Comfort reading and writing code and working with modern application ecosystems (HTTP APIs, messaging and queueing systems)
• Experience in Agile or Scrum environments
• Ability to build strong relationships across technical and non-technical stakeholders

Nice To Haves

• Prior experience building applications as an engineer or product manager
• Familiarity with freight forwarding and international logistics
• Cargo Wise or similar freight Transportation Management Systems (TMS)/Warehouse Management Systems (WMS)
• EDI or API-based carrier integrations
• Change management experience for large operational teams

Responsibilities

• Own the roadmap for Forwarding Operations technology, covering centralization strategy, universal task inbox, orchestration and metadata layer, and AR/AP automation.
• Conduct deep process shadowing and interviews with ops teams across regions.
• Map current-state workflows from booking through customs clearance, documentation, and exception handling; and identify the highest-leverage automation opportunities.
• Design SOPs and future-state workflows; build mockups and POCs to validate operational feasibility before engineering investment.
• Define the architecture of an orchestration and metadata layer for workflow provider plug-ins, enabling the business to swap and integrate operational tools without rebuilding core flows.
• Lead technical design for a universal task inbox; a cross-system, cross-region queue for freight ops tasks.
• Oversee integrations with financial systems for AR/AP automation.
• Drive zero-touch execution initiatives for specific freight corridors and modes.
• Ensure standard engineering patterns are followed; identify and resolve cross-team capability gaps.
• Define operational KPIs: task completion time, exception rates, manual touchpoints per shipment, and ops cost per file.
• Partner with performance management and training teams for structured ops rollouts.
• Create meaningful measurement frameworks throughout the project lifecycle, with particular emphasis on instrumentation during rollouts to track adoption, impact, and operational improvements.
• Instrument experiments with analytics and data science; evaluate automation impact rigorously.
• Drive adoption of new ops tools through change management and internal enablement.
• Build strong relationships with operations leadership across central and regional teams.
• Understand regional operational differences, customs regimes, carrier relationships, documentation standards and ensure platform flexibility to accommodate them.
• Serve as the primary voice of forwarding operations within the TPM and engineering teams.

Benefits

• Quarterly Incentive Plan
• 136 hours of Paid Time Off which equals 17 days for the year, that can be used for Sick Time or for Personal Use
• Excellent Medical, Dental and Vision benefits

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior