The Operations Supervisor – Air Freight is responsible for leading daily air import and export operations to ensure timely, compliant, and cost-effective movement of international freight. They oversee a team of air freight forwarding professionals while serving as a subject matter expert across export documentation, import clearance, carrier coordination, and customer service. They partner closely with internal stakeholders, airlines, customs brokers, and overseas offices to drive operational excellence. They play a critical role in maintaining service quality, meeting SLAs, and resolving escalated shipment issues. This hands-on leader brings strong background in international air freight processes, and a continuous-improvement mindset.
Responsibilities
- Supervise day-to-day air import and export operations, ensuring compliance with international trade regulations and company SOPs.
- Lead, coach, and develop a team of air freight coordinators, promoting accountability, accuracy, and service excellence.
- Oversee end-to-end shipment lifecycle management, including booking, documentation, customs coordination, and final delivery.
- Ensure adherence to airline, TSA, IATA, and customs requirements for international air freight movements.
- Monitor operational KPIs such as transit times, service levels, cost control, and shipment accuracy.
- Serve as the escalation point for customer issues, shipment delays, and operational exceptions, driving timely resolution.
- Coordinate closely with overseas agents, airline partners, customs brokers, and trucking providers.
- Review and approve air freight documentation, including MAWB/HAWB, commercial invoices, packing lists, and export filings.
- Support pricing, routing, and capacity decisions in partnership with sales and network teams.
- Identify process gaps and implement continuous improvement initiatives to enhance efficiency and service quality.
- Ensure accurate and timely data entry within the freight forwarding and transportation management systems.
- Maintain strong customer relationships by ensuring consistent communication and proactive issue management.
- Support staffing, scheduling, and workload balancing to meet operational demands.
- Promote a culture of safety, compliance, and operational discipline.
- All other duties as assigned to meet evolving business needs.
Qualifications
- Education: High School Diploma or GED equivalent required; Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree in Logistics, Supply Chain, Business, or a related field preferred.
- Certification/Licensure: IATA/FIATA certification, Certified Customs Specialist (CCS), or similar industry credentials preferred.
- Experience: 5+ years of experience in international air freight import and export operations.
- Prior supervisory or team lead experience within a freight forwarding or logistics environment.
- Strong working knowledge of international trade compliance, Incoterms, and air freight documentation.
- Experience working with freight forwarding systems and transportation management platforms required; CargoWise experience highly preferred.
- Excellent problem-solving, organizational, and time-management skills in a high-volume environment.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to interact across global teams and customers.
- Demonstrated discretion and confidentiality in handling and protecting sensitive information.
- Technical: Proficient with common office technologies, including Windows PCs, Microsoft O365 (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) and web conferencing (Teams, Zoom, Webex, etc.).
- Environment: Comfort commuting to/from and working in a 100% on-site setting (listed in this posting), with travel for related meetings/events.
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