Regional Operations Account Specialist - Freight Fowarding

The Senior Manager Operations Account Management – Freight Europe is responsible for owning operational delivery and service performance for assigned strategic freight customers across Europe.

Acting as the primary operational contact for key customers, you will ensure consistent execution across branches, Customer Service teams, Shared Service Centres, and Operations Excellence functions. You will lead performance governance, manage escalations, drive continuous improvement initiatives, and ensure compliance with agreed service levels, SOPs, and contractual KPIs.

This role requires strong leadership, stakeholder management, and freight forwarding expertise to drive operational excellence across a complex and diverse European logistics network.

How You Will Contribute

Operational Ownership & Service Delivery

• Take full operational ownership of assigned strategic freight customers across Europe.
• Ensure consistent and reliable service delivery across Air, Ocean, and Road freight operations.
• Drive compliance with customer SOPs, SLAs, contractual agreements, and operational KPIs.
• Identify service risks and implement proactive corrective actions to protect customer satisfaction and business continuity.
• Lead monthly and quarterly business reviews with customers, Key Account Managers, and internal stakeholders.
• Ensure transparent communication regarding operational performance, service quality, and improvement initiatives.

Performance Management & Governance

• Monitor, analyse, and interpret operational performance data across multiple countries and functions.
• Identify trends, risks, and root causes impacting service delivery.
• Drive accountability for operational KPI achievement across branch and Shared Service Centre teams.
• Maintain customer performance dashboards, escalation logs, and continuous improvement trackers.
• Facilitate governance forums and performance reviews to ensure operational issues are addressed and improvements implemented.
• Promote best-practice sharing and performance consistency across the European freight network.

Customer Relationship & Stakeholder Management

• Serve as the primary operational point of contact for strategic freight customers.
• Represent DP World in service reviews, escalation meetings, and operational discussions.
• Partner closely with Key Account Managers to align commercial commitments with operational capabilities.
• Coordinate activities between customers, branch operations, Customer Service teams, OPSX functions, and Shared Service Centres.
• Foster strong stakeholder relationships through transparency, accountability, and a customer-first mindset.
• Act as an operational ambassador for DP World across strategic customer accounts.

Continuous Improvement & Standardisation

• Identify and implement operational efficiency and process improvement initiatives.
• Support Lean, standardisation, and operational excellence programmes across customer accounts.
• Drive adoption of best practices across countries, branches, and operational functions.
• Support implementation of automation, digital tools, and data-driven operational processes.
• Contribute to the development and maintenance of SOPs, playbooks, and customer governance frameworks.
• Work closely with Process Excellence and Business Intelligence teams to improve operational visibility and performance.

Escalation & Issue Management

• Lead customer escalation management, ensuring timely resolution and effective communication.
• Develop and execute corrective and preventive action plans.
• Track escalation progress and ensure sustainable resolution before closure.
• Maintain comprehensive escalation records and service recovery documentation.
• Ensure high standards of customer responsiveness and issue resolution.

Leadership & Capability Development

• Support onboarding, training, and development of operational teams supporting strategic customer accounts.
• Mentor junior Operations Account Managers and operational stakeholders.
• Promote a culture of operational discipline, collaboration, and customer focus.
• Drive engagement and accountability across both direct and indirect teams.
• Champion DP World's values and commitment to operational excellence.

What You Will Bring

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Logistics, Supply Chain Management, Business Administration, or a related field.
• Master's degree or postgraduate qualification in Operations, Logistics, or Process Management is advantageous.
• Lean Six Sigma, Project Management, or Continuous Improvement certification is preferred.
• Minimum 8-10 years of experience within Freight Forwarding, Logistics, or Supply Chain Operations.
• Minimum 3-5 years of experience in a customer-facing operational account management role.
• Proven experience managing complex multinational freight customers across Air, Ocean, and Road freight.
• Strong background in operational governance, performance management, and service delivery excellence.
• Experience working within international matrix organisations.
• Experience collaborating with Shared Service Centres and offshore operational teams.
• Strong understanding of freight forwarding systems, TMS, ERP, CRM platforms, and KPI frameworks.
• Experience driving process standardisation, continuous improvement, and operational transformation initiatives.
• Exposure to reporting and analytics tools such as Power BI, Tableau, and advanced Excel is advantageous.

Skills & Competencies

• Strong customer relationship, communication, and stakeholder management skills.
• Excellent understanding of end-to-end freight forwarding operations across multiple transport modes.
• Proven operational leadership and account governance capabilities.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a data-driven mindset.
• Ability to identify root causes and implement sustainable operational improvements.
• Excellent project management and organisational skills.
• Strong influencing and negotiation skills across multiple stakeholder groups.
• Ability to work effectively across countries, functions, and cultures.
• Resilient, adaptable, and capable of operating in a dynamic and fast-paced environment.
• High level of integrity, professionalism, and confidentiality.
• Fluency in English, both written and spoken.
• Additional European languages such as German, French, or Dutch are advantageous.
• Willingness to travel across Europe (approximately 20-30%).

Compensation

DP World offers exciting and challenging career opportunities within a rapidly growing global organisation. We are committed to attracting, developing, and retaining exceptional talent by fostering an inclusive, collaborative, and high-performance culture where employees can grow and thrive.

A market-competitive compensation and benefits package is offered.

About DP World

Trade is the lifeblood of the global economy, creating opportunities and improving quality of life around the world. DP World exists to make the world's trade flow better, changing what is possible for the customers and communities we serve globally.

With more than 111,000 employees from 159 nationalities across 77 countries, DP World is transforming and integrating its businesses across Ports and Terminals, Marine Services, Logistics, and Technology to deliver seamless, end-to-end supply chain solutions.

We are committed to fostering a culture of inclusion, respect, integrity, and empowerment, where diverse perspectives drive innovation and business success.

WE MAKE TRADE FLOW

TO CHANGE WHAT'S POSSIBLE FOR EVERYONE