Job Description
Location: London Office
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Contract: Full-time
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Reports to: Production & Operations
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Working hours: 09:00-17:30 UK time, with flexibility for early-morning contact
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with Asia-based suppliers)
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Salary: Dependent on experience
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About us
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We are a consumer health and wellness brand selling across the UK, EU and US.
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Our products are manufactured in Asia and distributed through national retailers, e-commerce marketplaces and our own DTC channels.
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We move air, ocean and road freight globally, and a large part of our range is classified as dangerous goods.
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The operations team is small, fast-moving and hands-on. There is no layer of middle
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management to hide behind – you will own your workload end to end and speak directly with
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suppliers, forwarders and internal stakeholders every day.
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We’re looking for a motivated self-starter who is hungry to grow and learn in both this role and
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the business.
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Competence and curiosity in how AI can supercharge productivity in this role is essential to
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success.
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Key responsibilities
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1. Freight and logistics execution
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– Request, compare and log freight quotes across air, ocean (FCL and LCL) and road,
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from our nominated forwarders and carriers.
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– Raise bookings, confirm pickup-ready dates with suppliers and book collections at origin.
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– Prepare, collect and check the full shipping document pack before departure:
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commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading or air waybill, certificate of origin, HS
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codes, SDS, UN38.3 test summaries and dangerous goods declarations.
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– Check documents against the purchase order and against the destination country's
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import requirements before release. Catch errors at origin, not at the port.
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– Track shipments daily from booking to delivery. Chase forwarders for milestone updates
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and flag delays, rolled sailings, port congestion or customs holds as soon as they
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appear, not after the ETA has passed.
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– Hand over accurate, timely inbound data to the Operations Manager so that receipts can
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be announced and booked into the warehouse and into retailer routing portals correctly.
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– Maintain the shipment tracker as the single source of truth: booking references,
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container and AWB numbers, ETD/ETA, milestone dates, costs and status.
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2. Dangerous goods
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Our range includes lithium-ion battery products (UN3481) and essential oil based liquids
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(UN3082 and similar). Getting this wrong stops shipments, costs money and creates regulatory
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exposure.
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– Identify which shipments are regulated and under which mode: IATA DGR for air, IMDG
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for ocean, ADR for European road, 49 CFR for US domestic movements.
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– Maintain and version-control the DG document library: SDS, UN38.3 test summaries,
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DG transport reports and battery test data. Check validity and expiry dates against every
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booking, and request new or renewed factory documents through the Production team
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well before they lapse.
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– Prepare and check dangerous goods declarations, packing instruction references, marks
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and labels, and limited quantity determinations, for internal sign-off.
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– Confirm that the nominated carrier or lane actually accepts the DG class in question
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before booking.
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– Escalate anything ambiguous. We would far rather answer a question than fix a rejected
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shipment.
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Formal DG certification is welcome but not essential. Demonstrable, hands-on exposure to
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shipping batteries or flammable and environmentally hazardous liquids is.
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3. Supplier coordination (pickup scope only)
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– Act as the day-to-day pickup contact for our manufacturing partners in Asia, with contact
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multiple times per day where needed.
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– Confirm pickup-ready dates against the PO, chase slippage, and pull the date forward
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before a factory volunteers that it has moved.
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– Confirm the booked pickup back to the supplier and to the forwarder, and confirm that
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each pickup has physically happened, with quantities and pallet or carton counts as
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loaded.
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– Escalate any pickup date movement immediately to Production and Operations. A
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slipped pickup is a planning problem before it is a shipping problem.
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– Track supplier pickup-date accuracy over time and feed the actuals into planning lead
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time assumptions.
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– Hand off cleanly. Anything a supplier raises that touches quality or specification goes to
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the Production team, with a short written handover and a check that it has landed.
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4. Forecasting and planning data
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– Build and maintain rolling demand and supply forecasts in Google Sheets: inventory
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cover, reorder points, lead times, MOQs, safety stock and open PO pipelines.
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– Consolidate data from multiple sources (ERP exports, retailer sell-through reports,
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marketplace data, supplier confirmations) into clean, reliable models.
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– Stress-test production plans for the things that actually break them: Chinese New Year
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and other factory shutdowns, port cut-offs and transit variability.
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– Flag scheduling conflicts and stock-out or overstock risks with enough lead time to do
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something about them.
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5. Freight invoice validation and cost control
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– Audit every freight and customs invoice against the original quote line by line. Query
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anything that does not match.
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– Verify chargeable versus gross and volumetric weight, CBM calculations, currency and
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FX rates applied.
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– Scrutinise accessorial charges: fuel and security surcharges, terminal handling,
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demurrage and detention, chassis, storage, congestion, customs entry and
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disbursement fees.
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– Raise and pursue disputes with forwarders through to credit note. Keep a record of what
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was recovered.
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– Maintain a live rate card and report on cost per kg, per CBM and per unit landed, by lane
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and by carrier.
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Essential experience and skills
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– 3+ years in international logistics, freight forwarding, 3PL operations or in-house supply
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chain.
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– AI, good understanding of current models, experience in using them to create workflows,
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documents, and solve problems in a dynamic way.
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– FMCG or consumer goods background. You understand SKU proliferation,
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promotional volume spikes, retailer compliance and the pace of the category.
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– Hands-on experience with import and export documentation across air and ocean
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freight, and fluency in Incoterms 2020.
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– Practical dangerous goods exposure – lithium batteries, flammable liquids or
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environmentally hazardous substances.
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– Advanced Excel and Google Sheets. Non-negotiable. INDEX/MATCH and XLOOKUP,
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nested logic, pivot tables, QUERY, ARRAYFORMULA, IMPORTRANGE, data validation,
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and the judgement to build a model someone else can maintain.
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– Numerate and sceptical. Comfortable pulling apart an invoice and telling a forwarder
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they have overcharged us.
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– Excellent written English. Clear, short, direct messages. Most of this job is written
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communication across time zones.
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– Reliable home working setup: stable high-speed internet, backup power or connectivity
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arrangement, quiet space for calls.
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Desirable
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– Claude/ChatGPT knowledge.
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– IATA DGR certification (Category 6) or equivalent DG training.
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– ERP experience – Fulfil, NetSuite, SAP, Odoo, Cin7 or similar.
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– Exposure to US retail supply chain compliance: Walmart, Walgreens, Target or
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comparable routing portals, EDI, ASN and labelling requirements.
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– Google Apps Script, Power Query, or SQL.
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– Customs classification experience (HS/HTS codes, duty rates, country of origin rules).
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– Experience working directly with Chinese manufacturers.
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What we are looking for in a person
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– You chase without being told to chase.
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– You escalate early and with a recommendation attached, not just a problem.
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– You are obsessive about document accuracy, because in this category a wrong number
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on a form is a stopped shipment.
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– You are comfortable being the one who says “that invoice is wrong” or “that plan does
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not work”.
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– You work independently across time zones and do not need to be managed daily.
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