Import Transportation Manager

Salary differentials are based on multiple factors including (but not limited to) geographic location, education/training, years of relevant experience/seniority, merit, qualifications, as well as market and business considerations.

Who We Are

Mohawk Global is a 350+ person team of logistics and trade specialists dedicated to fulfilling the supply chain needs of our customers with a strong emphasis on customs brokerage, domestic and international transportation, trade compliance, education, and consulting. Our business practices are driven and exhibited daily by our three core values: to ENRICH purposefully, to CARE personally and to DELIVER professionally.

About the Role

The Import Transportation Manager is responsible for the overall performance, leadership, and operational health of the import transportation department. This role leads Supervisors and Team Leads while driving departmental execution, client satisfaction, operational consistency, and employee development. A critical function of this role is developing leaders through structured 1:1s, leadership coaching, quarterly reviews, and performance management, ensuring Supervisors are equipped to effectively lead their teams.

The Import Transportation Manager is expected to identify operational risks, improve processes, and build stronger organizational capability by creating independent leaders and scalable systems. This role serves as the strategic connector between daily execution and broader business goals while improving profitability and operational efficiency through process optimization, leadership development, and performance accountability while reducing operational risk through strong compliance and service consistency.

Responsibilities

• Ensure department-wide service consistency and client satisfaction across all accounts
• Support resolution of major client escalations and service failures
• Partner with Account Management and leadership to strengthen client retention and service delivery strategies
• Ensure alignment between operational execution and client expectations
• Drive a client-first operational culture across the department
• Oversee department-wide workflow, staffing, and operational performance
• Maintain operational visibility across all teams to identify risk, inefficiencies, and opportunities
• Ensure strong process discipline, SOP compliance, and service execution standards
• Drive operational improvements, scalability initiatives, and workflow optimization
• Monitor department capacity, productivity, and service levels
• Create stronger departmental structure to support future growth
• Serve as the primary escalation point for Supervisors and major operational issues
• Solve high-level operational challenges while coaching leaders through complex problem-solving
• Strengthen leadership funnel effectiveness by ensuring issues are resolved at the lowest effective level
• Identify systemic operational issues and implement department-wide corrective actions
• Support difficult personnel decisions, performance improvement plans, and terminations when necessary
• Conduct regular 1:1s with Supervisors and Team Leads focused on leadership development, operational performance, and career growth
• Lead quarterly reviews for direct reports and ensure leadership consistency across the department
• Coach Supervisors on how to conduct effective 1:1s, behavioral coaching, and difficult conversations
• Partner cross-functionally with Customs Brokerage, Exports, Account Management, and upper management
• Create strong communication flow across leadership levels and operational teams through weekly team meetings
• Strengthen trust, transparency, and accountability throughout the department
• Own departmental KPI performance and operational reporting
• Monitor profitability drivers, billing accuracy, and cost control opportunities
• Reduce financial exposure through operational discipline and compliance oversight
• Ensure strong reporting accuracy and department-level business visibility
• Partner with leadership on resource planning and financial forecasting
• Perform other duties as assigned

Benchmarks for Success

• Maintaining strong departmental KPI performance across productivity, service, and compliance
• Developing Supervisors into stronger, more capable people leaders
• Improving leadership consistency through strong 1:1s, reviews, and coaching practices
• Reducing escalations to Operations Manager/General Manager by strengthening leadership capability
• Improving operational efficiency and departmental scalability
• Identifying and executing department-wide process improvements
• Building strong succession readiness across multiple leadership levels

Skills & Qualifications

Technical Skills

• Advanced expertise in import transportation operations, compliance, and workflow design
• Strong CargoWise proficiency
• Advanced understanding of operational KPIs, productivity reporting, and department analytics
• Strong understanding of customer SOPs and service frameworks
• Cross-functional operational knowledge across brokerage and export functions

Business Skills

• Department planning and capacity management
• Financial awareness and profitability management
• KPI ownership and business performance analysis
• Process design and operational scaling
• Client retention strategy
• Risk management and resource planning

Leadership Skills

• Leadership development and coaching
• Encourage Supervisor involvement in Team Meetings
• Advanced 1:1 leadership development
• Performance management and succession planning
• Coaching leaders through difficult conversations
• Organizational influence and change management
• Building leadership bench strength
• Conflict resolution and executive communication
• Talent development across multiple levels

Required Qualifications

• 7+ years of international transportation or freight forwarding experience
• 3+ years of leadership experience in Supervisor or Management roles
• Strong operational leadership experience in import transportation
• Proven success in developing leaders and improving team performance
• Strong business acumen and operational decision-making capability
• Advanced CargoWise proficiency

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience managing multiple teams or leadership layers
• Cross-functional expertise in Customs Brokerage and Export Operations
• Experience in KPI ownership, profitability management, and process design

Work Environment & Physical Demands

This position operates in a professional office environment (and/or remotely from a home office) with a quiet to moderate noise level and routinely requires the use of standard office equipment such as computers, photocopying machines, and storage/filing cabinets. This is a largely sedentary role, however, lifting items under 25 pounds as well as the ability to bend, stand, and walk short distances may be required.

Minimal travel required.