Ocean Operations Manager

The Opportunity:

Flexport is insourcing operations in Japan — one of the world's most quality-driven and relationship-led freight markets. To stand up our in-house Tokyo operations team, we are seeking a Senior Operations Developer: a deeply experienced freight forwarding operator who will help us build the local team, establish the right vendor relationships, and accelerate the velocity of our insourcing initiative.

Japan is a market where seniority and trust take precedence in business dealings, and where local relationships with carriers, CFS providers, and drayage partners are difficult and slow to build from the outside. As Senior Operations Developer, you will use your existing network and operational expertise to dramatically shorten that ramp time — laying the foundation for a Tokyo operations function that supports a projected ~150 FCL, ~30 LCL, and ~44 Air shipments per month by year-end 2026.

This role will start as a contractor engagement, with the intent to transition into a full-time employment relationship once Flexport's Japan payroll and labor infrastructure is fully established.

You will:

• Establish and strengthen Flexport's relationships and operating arrangements with key local vendors in Japan, including CFS, drayage providers, ocean carriers, and customs partners.
• Lead the sourcing, screening, and hiring of the local Tokyo operations team — including Ocean and Air operators — and act as the in-country hiring authority for operational roles.
• Design the end-to-end operational process for Japan: booking management, documentation, customs interaction, terminal handling, drayage coordination, exception management, and post-arrival processes.
• Drive operational execution readiness, ensuring SOPs, SLAs, and KPIs are in place before each new shipment flow is brought in-house.
• Increase the velocity of insourcing by leading the transition from external partners to in-house execution, including knowledge transfer, system setup, and partner offboarding.
• Act as the senior operational voice in client-facing meetings where local credibility is required, working closely with the commercial team on benchmarking opportunities and net-new deals.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with APAC operations, Procurement, Pricing, and Account Management to ensure Japan operations align with global Flexport standards while respecting local market practice.
• Coach and mentor newly hired Japanese operations staff, helping them grow into long-term Flexport leaders.

You should have:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent.
• Minimum 10+ years of experience in freight forwarding, NVOCC, or supply chain operations, with significant time in Japan and meaningful leadership exposure.
• Deep, current knowledge of Japan's freight forwarding ecosystem: ports, terminals, CFS networks, customs brokers, trucking providers, and the major ocean and air carriers serving Japan.
• An established professional network with Japanese carriers, CFS, drayage, and customs partners — and the credibility to negotiate operating arrangements directly with senior counterparts.
• Demonstrated experience designing or improving freight forwarding SOPs and operational KPIs for Ocean (FCL/LCL), and ideally Air.
• Proven ability to hire, build, and develop operations teams from the ground up.
• Native or near-native Japanese (verbal and written) and professional working English; comfortable representing Japan in a global, English-speaking matrix organization.
• Builder mindset: comfortable with ambiguity, decisive in early-stage environments, and pragmatic about balancing global standards with local realities.
• High integrity, strong sense of ownership, and alignment with Flexport's values.

Nice to have:

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