Sea Freight Customer Service Specialist

Control Tower / PO Management / End-to-End Shipment Management

Our client is one of the world's leading international logistics providers, delivering integrated supply chain solutions across more than 100 countries.

As part of the continued development of its Sea Logistics business in Japan, our client has an urgent requirement for a specialist Sea Freight Customer Service professional to join its Tokyo operation.

This is not a standard freight forwarding Customer Service or Operations position. The requirement is more specialised, and we are particularly interested in candidates who have worked within a Control Tower / Key Account environment, managing complex international supply chains on behalf of major customers.

The Opportunity

The successful candidate will take responsibility for managing customers' international sea freight shipments on an end-to-end basis, providing visibility and coordination throughout the supply chain.

A critical part of the role is Purchase Order (PO) Management. You will work closely with customers, overseas offices, suppliers, carriers and internal operational teams to manage shipments from the initial PO/order stage through origin activities, international transportation and final delivery.

This requires someone who can see the whole supply chain, rather than simply handling one element of the forwarding process.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage international Sea Freight shipments on an end-to-end basis.
• Provide Control Tower-style management and visibility across customer supply chains.
• Manage and monitor Purchase Orders (POs) from order placement through shipment and final delivery.
• Coordinate closely with customers, suppliers, overseas offices, carriers and operational teams.
• Track shipment milestones and proactively identify potential delays or exceptions.
• Provide customers with accurate and timely shipment visibility and status updates.
• Manage exceptions, escalations and service recovery.
• Ensure customer SOPs and agreed service levels are consistently achieved.
• Coordinate multiple shipments and POs across complex international supply chains.
• Analyse customer requirements and proactively identify solutions to improve service and supply-chain performance.
• Work closely with internal Sea Logistics, Operations and Customer Care teams to ensure seamless execution.

About You

You are an experienced Sea Freight professional who has moved beyond basic import/export shipment processing and understands how to manage a customer's supply chain from a broader perspective.

You may currently be working within a Control Tower, Key Account, Customer Solutions, Customer Care or PO Management environment for a major freight forwarder or logistics provider.

You are comfortable taking ownership of multiple shipments and purchase orders and coordinating numerous stakeholders to ensure cargo moves according to the customer's requirements.

Essential Experience

• Strong international Sea Freight / Ocean Freight experience.
• Control Tower experience or experience managing complex key-account supply chains.
• Experience with Purchase Order (PO) Management.
• Proven experience managing shipments end-to-end, rather than only one stage of the forwarding process.
• Strong customer-facing and stakeholder-management skills.
• Ability to coordinate effectively with overseas offices, suppliers, carriers and internal operations teams.
• Strong understanding of shipment milestones, exception management and supply-chain visibility.
• Proactive, solutions-oriented approach to Customer Service.

Requirements

• Native-level Japanese with business-level English.
• Strong communication and customer-management skills.
• Excellent coordination and organisational ability.
• Comfortable working within a complex international logistics environment.
• Strong sense of ownership and accountability for customer shipments.

The Profile We Are Looking For

This is a somewhat niche requirement. We are not simply looking for a traditional freight forwarder who handles bookings and documentation.

We are specifically interested in people who have experience combining:

Control Tower + PO Management + End-to-End Shipment Management

The ideal candidates are professionals currently working in these types of roles supporting major international customers within global freight forwarding and logistics organisations.