Assistant Sales Manager / Sales Manager — Logistics (Dubai, Deira) - element

Role Purpose
The role is accountable for driving profitable sales growth across air, sea, and road logistics services, including import/export, FCL/LCL, cross-border GCC, last-mile distribution, warehousing, and customs brokerage. The mandate covers new-logo acquisition, share-of-wallet expansion within existing accounts, bid management for complex RFQs, and close coordination with Operations to ensure first-time-right execution and superior client experience. Candidates with 5+ years in UAE/GCC freight forwarding who can scale quickly are preferred.
 
Where This Role Sits
  • Reports to: Head of Sales / Country Manager
  • Key Interfaces: Pricing & Procurement, Air/Sea/Road Operations, Customer Service, Finance/Credit Control, Customs/Compliance, Warehousing & 3PL, Overseas Agent/Carrier Network
  • Location: Dubai (Deira); client travels across the UAE; occasional GCC travel as required
Core Responsibilities
  • Territory & Account Strategy
    • Develop a sector-based territory plan (e.g., general trading, retail/e-commerce, industrial, FMCG, auto parts; cold chain if applicable) with clear positioning, target lists, contact maps, and quarterly growth objectives.
    • Maintain an always-current Top-50 target universe with buying-center mapping, stakeholder roles, and access strategies.
  • Demand Generation & Pipeline Development
    • Run a disciplined prospecting rhythm across referrals, field visits, associations/events, and targeted outbound (phone, email, LinkedIn).
    • Qualify opportunities rigorously—volumes, lanes, commodity profile, seasonality, decision process, incumbent/competitor footprint, risk, and potential margin.
  • Consultative Sales & Solution Architecture
    • Lead discovery to quantify logistics pain points and hidden costs (e.g., dwell, exception handling), define outcomes, and shape scope.
    • Build end-to-end solutions that combine freight, customs, warehousing, distribution, and last-mile with clear SLAs, KPIs, and escalation paths.
    • Prepare precise proposals covering scope, assumptions, transit times, surcharges and validity, implementation plan, and exception management.
  • Pricing, Margin Protection & Commercial Governance
    • Coordinate with Pricing/Procurement to secure carrier/co-loader/agent rates; construct margin-positive offers with guardrails and give-gets.
    • Support commercial due diligence—credit assessment, contract terms, and documentation accuracy—to reduce exposure and disputes.
  • Opportunity Management, Forecasting & CRM Discipline
    • Maintain a stage-based pipeline with next actions, owners, and dates; ensure complete activity notes, contacts, and decision history.
    • Submit weekly forecasts (upside/base/commit) and structured win/loss analysis to inform pricing, positioning, and capacity strategy.
  • Implementation & Customer Success
    • Lead internal kick-off to Operations with signed SOW, SOPs, routing guides, documentation checklist, and escalation matrix.
    • Oversee the first cycles of execution to ensure booking/document accuracy, proactive ETA communication, service recovery, and lessons learned.
    • Conduct QBRs; expand adoption across lanes/services (e.g., adding customs, warehousing, or last-mile) based on delivered value.
  • Partner & Carrier Ecosystem Management
    • Build working relationships with airlines, shipping lines, feeders, co-loaders, last-mile partners, and overseas agents to secure capacity and preferential terms during peak.
    • Share structured market intelligence (capacity trends, rate movements, competitor programs, regulatory changes) with leadership.
  • People Leadership (Sales Manager band)
    • Coach and develop junior sellers on discovery depth, pricing logic, proposal quality, and deal strategy.
    • Lead complex RFQs/bids and cross-functional reviews; co-author vertical playbooks and case repositories.
Qualifications & Experience
  • Experience: Minimum 5 years in freight forwarding/logistics sales within the UAE/GCC across air/sea/road, with a documented record of new-logo wins and account scaling.
  • Education: Bachelor’s degree in Business, Supply Chain, Logistics, or a related field.
  • Certifications (advantageous): IATA/FIATA, CILT/CIPS, or equivalent professional modules.
  • Tools: Proficiency with modern CRM platforms (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho), productivity suites (MS Office/Google Workspace), and freight rate/track-and-trace portals.
Core Competencies
  • Business Development Discipline: Consistent outreach, multi-threaded stakeholder access, rigorous qualification, and structured follow-through.
  • Commercial Acumen: Clear pricing logic, margin mathematics, yield management, and scope control under competitive pressure.
  • Solution Orientation: Ability to integrate freight, customs, warehousing, and distribution into coherent, de-risked solutions with measurable outcomes.
  • Executive Communication: Crisp proposals and presentations; concise written and verbal updates; calm, proactive incident communication.
  • Operational Partnership: Respect for time-critical operations; early escalation; insistence on first-time-right documentation and clean handovers.
  • Relationship Building: Credibility with customers, carriers, and agent networks; trust-led account stewardship.
  • Integrity & Governance: Adherence to internal policies and external compliance requirements; audit-ready documentation and data hygiene.