Job Description: Pricing & Operations Executive (Cross-Trade: Air & LCL Consolidation)Location: Mumbai, India
Department: Pricing & Freight Operations
Experience Required: 2 to 4 Years
Employment Type: Full-Time
Position PurposeThe Pricing & Operations Executive manages spot freight procurement, commercial quotation structuring, cargo consolidation planning, and end-to-end shipment coordination, with a primary focus on third-country / cross-trade cargo movements. The operation is predominantly Air Freight (via overseas partner agents) and Ocean LCL, alongside occasional FCL shipments.
A central responsibility of this role is Air Freight Consolidation Planning: consolidating multiple smaller air orders sharing common foreign origins and destinations into scheduled, cost-optimized master consolidations to maximize freight buying power, optimize chargeable weight breaks, and improve shipment profitability while strictly preserving commercial neutrality.
Key Responsibilities1. Air Consolidation Planning & Load Optimization
- Plan, build, and coordinate scheduled Air Freight Consolidations (Coload/Consol) by grouping multiple individual consignments originating from the same foreign origin/airport hub moving to the same destination.
- Coordinate with foreign overseas agents to stage, hold, and consolidate multiple vendor deliveries into unified master shipments, balancing supplier readiness against client delivery deadlines.
- Analyze piece dimensions, gross weight, and volume ratios (1:6000 density rule) to optimize chargeable weight breaks ($+100\text{ kg}$, $+300\text{ kg}$, $+500\text{ kg}$, $+1000\text{ kg}$), minimizing dead freight and driving volume discounts.
- Structure and assign individual House Air Waybills (HAWBs) against a single consolidated Master Air Waybill (MAWB), ensuring distinct commercial segregation for each underlying order.
2. Cross-Trade Pricing & Spot Procurement
- Liaise with overseas network agents and international forwarders to procure spot air freight rates, airport handling fees, terminal charges, and destination tariffs.
- Negotiate and secure competitive spot Ocean LCL co-loader rates (per CBM/W/M) and direct carrier FCL rates across international shipping corridors.
- Build multi-currency landed-cost estimates and commercial quotations for clients and internal sales desks, factoring in foreign origin collection/terminal fees, freight rates, documentation charges, and destination handling.
- Structure profitable customer pricing sheets with targeted margins per kilogram, CBM, or container, maintaining turnaround times (TAT) of 2 to 4 hours on spot inquiries.
3. Cross-Trade Execution & Shipment Coordination
- Issue booking instructions to overseas origin agents for scheduled air consols, standalone air shipments, and ocean LCL/FCL bookings.
- Coordinate milestone tracking across foreign origin airport/port departures, international transit hubs, and destination arrivals, sending automated status updates to clients.
- Act as the operational bridge across multiple time zones, coordinating foreign suppliers, origin consolidators, overseas agents, and destination delivery teams.
- Manage operational exceptions, flight delays, offloads, and transshipment bottlenecks, securing alternate connections to keep cargo moving.
4. Switch Documentation & Neutrality Compliance
- Execute and verify cross-trade transport documents: Master Air Waybills (MAWB), House Air Waybills (HAWB), Master Bills of Lading (MBL), House Bills of Lading (HBL), and Delivery Orders (DO).
- Execute strict Switch B/L and Switch AWB procedures: replace actual foreign factory/vendor identities with the buyer’s nominated commercial entity, safeguarding vendor relationships and client confidentiality.
- Audit all cargo documentation (Commercial Invoices, Packing Lists, Certificates of Origin, Manifests) to ensure 100% data consistency across shipper, consignee, notify parties, marks/numbers, piece counts, and weights.
- Prevent documentation discrepancies that trigger customs queries, destination clearance delays, or origin amendment penalties.
5. Vendor Disbursement Audit & Discrepancy Control
- Pre-audit overseas agent consol invoices, co-loader bills, and foreign disbursement accounts against agreed buy rates and confirmed consolidation manifests.
- Detect and challenge unauthorized billing additions, such as unapproved rate hikes, unexpected airline terminal surcharges, or unquoted origin handling costs.
- Monitor cargo dwell times at foreign airports and bonded warehouses to avoid storage and demurrage expenses.
- Reconcile profit-share splits, co-load rebates, and operational accounts with overseas forwarding partners.
Requirements & Qualifications
CriterionRequirementEducation Bachelor’s degree in International Trade, Foreign Trade, Commerce, Logistics & Supply Chain, or a related discipline.
Experience2 to 4 years of hands-on experience in freight pricing and operational coordination within an international freight forwarding environment, with clear exposure to third-country / cross-trade movements.Air & LCL Focus,Strong practical experience in Air Freight operations and Ocean LCL, including understanding of airline chargeable weight calculations (actual vs. volumetric at $1\text{ cbm} = 167\text{ kg}$), airline weight-break scales, and LCL co-loading dynamics.
Consolidation Planning-Demonstrated ability to plan multi-order cargo grouping, schedule cut-offs, evaluate dimensions/weights for density optimization, and coordinate with overseas hubs to build air consols.
Cross-Trade Acumen-Practical understanding of Switch AWB and Switch B/L workflows, HAWB-to-MAWB relationships, third-party logistics confidentiality, and Incoterms 2020 (FOB, FCA, CFR, CIF, DAP).
Technical Skills-Proficiency in freight forwarding ERP/TMS platforms and strong MS Excel skills (XLOOKUP, formulas, pivot tables, CBM/volumetric weight modeling).
Communication-Sharp commercial acumen, vendor negotiation skills, high attention to detail in document verification, and fluent business email correspondence across international time zones.Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
- Air Consolidation Efficiency: Maximizing payload density and achieving favorable chargeable-to-gross weight ratios across scheduled air consolidation runs.
- Documentation & Switch Neutrality: 100% defect-free execution of Switch AWBs/BLs with zero disclosure of confidential supplier identities and zero destination amendment fees.
- Spot Quote Turnaround Time (TAT): Delivering competitive air and ocean LCL cross-trade proposals within 2 to 4 hours of receiving customer/agent requests.
- Margin Integrity: Consistently meeting or exceeding targeted gross profit margins per kilogram on air shipments and per CBM on LCL cargo.
- Invoice & Disbursement Accuracy: 100% pre-payment reconciliation of overseas agent consol invoices and carrier disbursements against confirmed buy rates.
Pay: ₹15,000.00 - ₹40,000.00 per month
Benefits:
- Cell phone reimbursement
- Flexible schedule
- Food provided
- Health insurance
- Provident Fund
Work Location: In person
