Senior Manager, Ocean Gateway (Logistics)

TL;DR

Senior Manager, Ocean Gateway (Logistics): Building and scaling in-house freight operations in Japan with an accent on vendor relationship management, team leadership, and operational process design. Focus on establishing local infrastructure, hiring the Tokyo operations team, and accelerating the insourcing of ocean and air freight flows.

Location: Must be based in Tokyo, Japan

Company

hirify.global is a technology-driven freight forwarding platform dedicated to making global commerce easy and accessible for companies of all sizes.

What you will do

• Establish and strengthen relationships with key local vendors including CFS, drayage providers, and ocean carriers.
• Lead the sourcing, screening, and hiring of the local Tokyo operations team.
• Design end-to-end operational processes for booking management, customs interaction, and terminal handling.
• Drive operational execution readiness by establishing SOPs, SLAs, and KPIs.
• Lead the transition from external partners to in-house execution, including system setup and knowledge transfer.
• Act as the senior operational voice in client-facing meetings and collaborate with global cross-functional teams.

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience in freight forwarding, NVOCC, or supply chain operations.
• Significant professional experience in Japan with an established network of local carriers and partners.
• Native or near-native Japanese proficiency (verbal and written).
• Professional working English proficiency.
• Proven ability to build and develop operations teams from the ground up.
• Deep knowledge of Japan's freight forwarding ecosystem including ports, customs brokers, and trucking providers.

Nice to have

• Prior experience leading a country launch or insourcing transition in Japan or a mature APAC market.
• Experience with technology-enabled or platform-based freight forwarding operations.

Culture & Benefits

• Opportunity to shape the future of a $10T global trade industry.
• Work in a high-impact role with significant autonomy in an early-stage local market launch.
• Collaborate with a global, diverse, and mission-driven team.
• Support from top-tier investors and access to innovative proprietary technology.