Airfreight Gatekeeper Team Lead

Overall Role Purpose:

The Regional Airfreight Gatekeeper Team Lead is responsible for leading a team of Gatekeepers and Pricing Specialists tasked with managing Global RFQs, pricing strategy, and business case validation across the region. This role ensures consistent application of pricing frameworks, risk mitigation, and strategic alignment between Commercial, Product, and Bid Management Team to secure profitable and executable airfreight business.

Key Activities:

Team Leadership & Operational

• Supervise and guide the daily activities of Regional Airfreight Gatekeepers and Pricing Specialists, ensuring effective RFQ management, risk analysis and pricing submission.
• Manage workload distribution, resource allocation, compliance, training and coaching.
• Conduct performance reviews in line with Management direction.
• Ensure Gatekeepers maintain high standards of quality, accuracy and timeliness in pricing submissions and customer proposals.
• Serve as point of escalation for complex RFQs, contractual terms, and pricing challenges.
  
  
  

Strategic Alignment & Cross-functional Coordination

• Act as a key liaison between AFR Product, Bid Management Team and Commercial, during RFQ qualification, contract negotiation, and award phases.
• Drive alignment between Regional HOP and Global AFR Pricing team and support new pricing process and standard.
• Facilitate engagement with Airfreight Product Management to explore optimal uplift and routing options.
  
  
  

Governance & Risk Management

• Review and approve pricing recommendations involving high-risk nonstandard customer T&Cs (e.g. fuel surcharge models, penalty clauses, bonus/ malus structures).
• Ensure that business cases presented by Commercial Owners are critically reviewed and challenged when necessary.
• Provide risk exposure analysis and communicate critical findings to SMEs for contract approval processes.
  
  
  

Pricing Strategy & Execution

• Oversee the formulation and communication of clear, consistent pricing instructions across Regional HOP and CACCs
• Monitor use of benchmarking and sanity check tools (MTS, CPK, RABIT, ORBIT, WACD) to validate and optimize pricing decisions.
• Ensure correctness of IPT to CPT translation and manage high-level submission overviews.
• Support final offer stages, including gap analysis, re-round comparisons, and walk-away decision recommendations.
• Oversee the upload of awarded rates into CW1 and ensure approval of all non-standard T&Cs are completed upon award.
• Assist in the implementation and monitoring of awarded business to ensure compliance with agreed terms and pricing.
  
  
  

Continuous Improvement & Process Optimization

• Support the development of market intelligence and lane-specific pricing strategies.
• Identify and implement improvements in pricing governance and RFQ management processes.
  
  
  

Others:

• As needed/required by AFR Product.
  
  
  

Skills and Qualifications:

• Ability to inspire, guide and coach a large team to achieve the strategic and budgetary goals required.
• Knowledge of what talent is needed and the ability to attract, retain and grow talent into the desired roles to maximize the performance of the overall team.
• Executive Management Level engagements
• Structured, detail-oriented, and process-driven approach.
• Deep knowledge of airfreight markets, pricing structures and customer engagement models.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills
• Analytical mindset with proficiency in pricing tools
• 4-5 years of experience in airfreight pricing, RFQ management, or product management
• Team leadership or supervisory experience is preferred
• Experience applying Project Management skills and principles including scheduling, resource allocation, task dependencies and coordination
• Degree in Business Administration or related subject