Pricing & Sales (Freight Forwarding)

Pricing / Key Account Manager — Freight Forwarding

About Platton

Platton is a US-based freight forwarder specializing in imports from China and Asia to the United States. We handle the full supply chain — ocean (FCL/LCL), air freight, drayage, customs clearance, final mile delivery, and warehousing — for importers ranging from e-commerce sellers to established US retailers and manufacturers.

Job Summary

We are hiring a Pricing / Key Account Manager — the person who owns every client relationship from the moment Sales closes the deal.

In practice, this means three things that work together:

1. Pricing — you build every quote, run every renewal, respond to every RFQ, defend margin on every deal. You are the commercial brain on every shipment that ships.

2. Day-to-day client ownership — you are the named, single point of contact for every active client after the sale is closed. You answer their emails, take their calls, send their status updates, advise them on their shipments, and run their renewals. Clients should know your name, not the team.

3. Problem resolution bridge — when something goes wrong (vessel rolled, customs hold, delivery delay, billing dispute), you coordinate with Operations to fix it and you own the client conversation throughout. Operations executes; you communicate.

You also support Sales Manager pre-close — joining discovery calls or proposal stages when prospects need pricing depth, technical answers, or custom solutions Sales alone can't deliver.You Will

Client Ownership (Primary Function)

·      Take over every client the day Sales closes them — run the onboarding handoff, set the first impression, lock in the working cadence

·      Be the named day-to-day contact for all active accounts — emails, calls, Slack/WhatsApp where applicable, status updates, ad-hoc questions

·      Maintain proactive client communication: shipment status, ETA updates, exception alerts (before the client asks), market updates that affect them (GRI, peak season, customs changes)

·      Run quarterly business reviews (QBRs) for top 10–15 accounts; annual check-ins for the rest

·      Lead annual renewals and pricing negotiations for every active account

·      Identify and execute expansion opportunities: additional lanes, additional services (air, drayage extension, warehousing, customs brokerage, FBA), additional volume

·      Track account health: retention risk signals, NPS trends, expansion signals — flag and act before clients churn

·      Be the commercial escalation point when a client has a serious problem — own the conversation, coordinate resolution, follow up

Pricing (Co-Primary Function)

·      Build every quote for active clients — new lanes, ad-hoc shipments, additional services. Across all modes: ocean FCL/LCL, air, drayage, customs, last mile, warehousing.

·      Maintain carrier rate sheets — NAC rates with steamship lines, drayage rate cards by port, customs broker pricing, warehouse rates

·      Respond to RFQs from existing clients and new business: multi-lane, multi-mode bid responses with margin discipline

·      Run margin analysis per shipment / per client / per lane — flag underwater shipments before they ship, identify margin leakage patterns

·      Manage market rate intelligence (Xeneta, Freightos Baltic Index, Drewry, carrier announcements) — know whether our rates are competitive and when carriers will move

·      Surcharge management: when carriers announce GRI, PSS, EBS, BAF, LSS, you calculate exposure, decide pass-through strategy, and own the client communication

·      Maintain and enforce margin policies — minimum markup per mode, exception approvals, deal review for low-margin business

Problem Resolution (Bridge to Operations)

·      Triage all incoming client issues — what needs Ops, what needs Customs, what needs Sales, what needs CEO

·      Coordinate resolution with Operations while owning the client-facing communication — clients should hear one voice (yours), not get bounced around

·      During exceptions (vessel rolls, customs holds, demurrage threats, delivery delays, damage claims), you lead the client conversation: explain what happened, what we're doing, what the timeline looks like

·      Document outcomes, root causes, and propose process fixes back to Operations

·      Handle billing disputes, accessorial questions, quote-vs-invoice variances — resolve commercially and protect both margin and relationship

Sales

·      Join discovery calls or proposal stages when prospects need pricing detail, technical depth, or custom solutions

·      Build proposals and quotes for new business in coordination with Sales

·      Provide consultative technical input during late-stage deals — Incoterms, customs implications, lane logistics, total landed cost analysis

·      Lead the post-sale handoff from Sales — Sales hands you the won deal, you build the onboarding plan and take over

Cross-Functional

·      Partner with Operations daily — shipment execution, exceptions, billing, vendor coordination. You're the commercial voice when ops decisions affect clients.

·      Partner with Sales Manager — deal review on new business margin discipline, post-sale handoff, account expansion intelligence

·      Partner with CEO / Head of Operations on strategic accounts, top renewals, major RFQs, retention risks

What This Role Is Not

·      This is not a coordinator role — you make commercial decisions, not just type rates

·      This is not a strategic-only role with no inbox — you live in client communication daily

·      This is not a role for someone who needs Operations to handle every client conversation about problems

Requirements

·      Minimum 4–6 years of freight forwarding experience in pricing, account management, or hybrid commercial roles — specifically handling US imports

·      Demonstrable hands-on experience building freight quotes across multiple modes (ocean FCL/LCL, air, drayage, customs, last mile, warehousing) — every cost line, not just ocean rate

·      Demonstrable experience owning 15–40+ active client relationships simultaneously as the primary point of contact — including daily client communication

·      Strong understanding of the full US import supply chain: origin pickup, export customs, ISF, ocean/air transit, CBP entry, PGA clearance, drayage, deconsolidation, last mile, warehousing

·      Deep knowledge of Incoterms 2020 (FOB, EXW, FCA, CIF, DAP, DDP) and their cost implications

·      Working knowledge of CBP procedures: ISF, HTS classification, duty calculation (MFN + Section 301 + MPF + HMF), PGA touchpoints (FDA, FCC, USDA, CPSC, EPA, DOT)

·      Hands-on experience with carrier RFQs, NAC rates, Service Contracts, allocation, MQC, surcharge structures

·      Fluency in surcharges: BAF, CAF, LSS, EBS, PSS, ISPS, peak season, equipment imbalance, ERS, AMS, chassis split, pier pass, clean truck fee

·      Working knowledge of demurrage / detention / per diem mechanics

·      Experience with TMS platforms (CargoWise, Magaya, Descartes, Freightos, or equivalent) AND CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce)

·      Commercial math fluency: gross margin per shipment, deal P&L, weighted lane profitability, breakeven

·      Excellent written English (C1–C2) — you write to US client CFOs and procurement directors daily, multiple emails per hour

·      High inbox capacity — comfortable triaging 30–60+ client emails per day with same-day response discipline

·      Available full-time during US business hours (Pacific Time preferred)

·      Comfort using AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity) for market research, RFQ drafting, email drafting, client research

Strongly Preferred

·      Experience specifically with China / Vietnam / Southeast Asia → US trade lane (Transpacific)

·      Previous combined pricing + account management ownership at a small/mid-size NVOCC or forwarder

·      Experience leading RFQ responses worth $500K+ in annual revenue value

·      Experience handling client portfolios where you were responsible for both pricing AND day-to-day client management simultaneously

·      Familiarity with rate management tools (Freightos Pricing, Cargosphere, CatapultEDI)

·      Experience working with Amazon FBA sellers, e-commerce brands, mid-market US retailers and manufacturers

·      Knowledge of FTZs, bonded warehouses, duty deferral strategies

·      Understanding of FMC regulations, OTI/NVOCC distinctions, C-TPAT

·      Mandarin or Cantonese language skills