About the job Assistant Manager - Pricing | PKR Salary | Onsite | Karachi
About the Client:
Our client is a growing international freight forwarding and logistics company specializing in sea freight, cross-border transportation, customs coordination, and multimodal cargo movement across Pakistan and Central Asia.
About the Role
The Senior Executive - Pricing will source competitive freight and rates, develop accurate shipment costings,
prepare quotations, maintain rate intelligence, and support enquiry conversion across sea freight and related multimodal services.
The role coordinates daily with shipping lines, NVOCCs, overseas agents, transporters, customs and port-handling vendors, and Logenix regional teams. It must balance price competitiveness, routing feasibility, service reliability,quotation speed, and company margin requirements.
Key Responsibilities
1. Rate Procurement and Vendor Network
· Collect and negotiate current rates from shipping lines, NVOCCs, overseas agents, freight forwarders,transporters, customs agents, terminals, and port-handling partners.
· Source rates for FCL and LCL sea freight imports and related inland, cross-border, rail, customs,documentation, and ancillary services where required.
· Develop reliable vendor options across recurring trade lanes connecting Pakistan with China, Europe, the Middle East, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and other Central Asian markets.
· Confirm rate inclusions, exclusions, surcharges, free time, validity, credit terms, transit time, routing,capacity, and operational conditions before using a rate.
· Build professional working relationships with carriers, local agents, overseas partners, and service providers to improve pricing responsiveness and commercial terms.
· Maintain alternate vendor and routing options to reduce dependency and support urgent or complex enquiries.
2. Costing and Quotation Development
· Analyze customer requirements and prepare accurate shipment cost sheets covering all origin, freight,destination, inland, customs-related, documentation, and ancillary charges.
· Compare multiple supplier options and select the most competitive and operationally suitable routing based on price, transit time, capacity, reliability, and cargo requirements.
· Prepare clear, professional, and complete quotations with correct scope, assumptions, exclusions,validity, payment terms, and applicable surcharges.
· Apply approved margin guidelines and clearly record cost, selling price, expected gross profit, and any management-approved exception.
· Review quotations for arithmetic accuracy, currency exposure, tax treatment, and operational feasibility before release.
· Respond promptly to quotation revisions, alternative-route requests, and customer or Sales clarifications
3. Rate Database and Market Intelligence
· Maintain a structured, searchable, and current rate database by trade lane, service type, carrier, agent,vendor, and validity period.
· Monitor freight-market movements, general rate increases, surcharges, blank sailings, capacity constraints, carrier changes, and route developments.
· Circulate relevant pricing and market updates to Sales, Operations, and management in a clear and timely manner.
·Track expiring rates and proactively refresh high-priority trade lanes before they disrupt quotation turnaround.
· Maintain records of supplier performance, rate competitiveness, response time, and service reliability to support sourcing decisions.
4. Enquiry Management and Commercial Support
· Acknowledge and prioritize enquiries based on customer deadline, cargo readiness, shipment value, and commercial potential.
· Clarify incomplete shipment details with Sales or the customer before costing, including incoterms, origin and destination, commodity, weight, dimensions, equipmment, and required services.
· Maintain a disciplined enquiry register showing quotation status, submission time, validity, follow-up,outcome, and loss reason where available.
· Support Sales and management with pricing rationale, routing alternatives, negotiation limits, and value-based solution options.
· Proactively follow up on open quotations and revise rates where commercially justified to improve conversion.
· Contribute to customer retention through responsive, accurate, and solution-oriented pricing support.
5. Booking Handover and Quote Governance
· Validate the final agreed quotation, supplier selection, margin, credit terms, and customer scope before bookinghandover.
· Provide Operations with a complete handover covering approved costs, selling rates, routing, vendor contacts, validity, free time, service scope, and special commitments.
· Ensure no operational commitment is made on an expired, incomplete, or unapproved rate.
· Support Operations in resolving supplier-rate discrepancies, scope questions, or quotation-related claims after booking.
· Document and obtain approval for any post-booking cost or selling-rate change that affects margin or customer commitment.
6. Margin Control and Performance Reporting
· Monitor quotation margins and highlight low-margin, high-risk, or strategically important opportunities for management review.
·Compare quoted costs with actual vendor invoices or shipment results when requested and investigate material variance.
· Track key pricing indicators such as enquiry volume, response time, quote-to-booking conversion, gross-profit expectation, vendor coverage, and loss reasons.
· Identify recurring cost gaps, missed surcharges, weak trade-lane coverage, and vendor opportunities, and recommend corrective action.
· Maintain complete pricing records and support internal reviews, audits, tenders, and management reporting.
Required Qualifications and Experience
· Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Logistics, Supply Chain Management, Commerce, Finance,or a related discipline.
·Two to three years of hands-on pricing experience within a freight-forwarding company.
· Current or recent employment with a freight-forwarding company is mandatory.
· Practical experience procuring sea freight rates and preparing quotations for FCL and LCL shipments.
Working knowledge of freight components, carrier and agent charges, origin and destination costs, inland transport, customs-related costs, free time, demurrage and detention, surcharges, and quotation validity.
· Demonstrated ability to compare supplier options, prepare accurate cost sheets, apply margins, and issue commercially viable quotations.
· Established working relationships with shipping lines, NVOCCs, overseas agents, transporters, or other freight-service providers in Pakistan.
· Strong numerical accuracy and proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including structured costing and rate comparison.
· Strong written and verbal communication skills in English and Urdu.
Preferred Skills and Attributes
· Experience pricing imports from China, Europe, the Middle East, or other international origins into Pakistan.
· Exposure to rates and routings involving Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, or other Central Asian markets.
· Experience pricing multimodal solutions involving sea, road, rail, customs, or cross-border transportation.
· Familiarity wvith major shipping lines or their agents, including MSC, Maersk, CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, or OOCL.
· Commercial confidence to negotiate with vendors and support Sales in converting enquiries into confirmed bookings.
· Strong time management and the ability to manage multiple enquiries under strict quotation deadlines.
· Proactive, analytical, and solution-oriented approach with clear ownership of data accuracy and follow-up.
Location: Karachi
Job Type: Full-Time | Onsite
Experience: 2–3 Years
Working Days: Monday – Saturday
Timings: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
About HR Ways:
HR Ways is an award-winning Technical Recruitment Firm helping software houses and IT Product companies internationally and locally to find IT Talent. HR Ways is engaged by 300+ Employers worldwide, ranging from the world's biggest SaaS Companies to the most competitive Startups. We have entities in Dubai, Canada, the US, the UK, Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia, Portugal, Brazil, and other parts of the world. Join our WhatsApp Channel https://shorturl.at/983azto to stay updated, or visit www.hrways.co to learn more.