International Trade Operations Specialist

Role Purpose : The ITO Specialist is a regional logistics governance and subject-matter role supporting international transportation performance across Asia Pacific. The position works across Country Operations, carriers and logistics service providers to strengthen service reliability, manage escalated exceptions, identify systemic risks, support root-cause resolution and drive measurable process improvement. Routine shipment execution remains with local operational teams. Reports to : ITO Hub Lead Coverage : Asia Pacific; assigned business portfolio, countries, lanes and logistics providers Role orientation : Transportation governance, escalation support, provider performance, risk, RCI/CAPA and continuous improvement Key Responsibilities : • Monitor assigned international transportation performance across ocean, ISO tank, air and other applicable modes, focusing on service reliability, lead time, booking performance, space/equipment constraints and recurring exceptions. • Provide ITO subject-matter support for escalated or non-standard transportation issues and coordinate recovery across Country Operations, carriers and logistics service providers. • Support governance of aged, repeated or higher-impact shipment exceptions after first-level operational resolution has been attempted. • Track carrier and logistics service provider performance, identify recurring service failures and follow corrective actions through closure. • Support capacity, routing and service-reliability governance, including space/equipment risks, off-routing trends and allocation/service-compliance issues. • Support significant logistics incident reviews, root-cause investigations and corrective/preventive action follow-up; ensure actions are owned by the relevant failed-process owner. • Monitor import-governance themes such as customs/broker performance, clearance lead time, backlog, regulatory exceptions and accessorial-cost exposure without replacing shipment-level execution. • Prepare accurate performance analysis, exception trends, risk visibility and inputs for weekly/monthly governance reviews. • Support trade-compliance and regulatory matters in coordination with the appropriate compliance or process owner. • Identify and implement opportunities to eliminate, simplify, standardize, automate, consolidate and optimize logistics processes. • Support regional SOPs, work instructions, change initiatives, new-provider/process implementation and post-implementation stabilization. Operating Model • Country Operations owns routine shipment execution, local provider follow-up, first-level exception resolution and routine operational customer communication. • The ITO Specialist provides regional governance and specialist support; the role does not duplicate routine local execution. • Complex, systemic, repeated or high-impact matters are escalated to the ITO Hub Lead according to severity and agreed governance timing. Candidate Profile • Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Logistics, International Trade, Business or a related discipline. • Typically 5+ years of relevant experience in international logistics, freight forwarding, transportation, supply chain or trade operations. • Practical experience with ocean freight and regional or multi-country logistics; ISO tank, air freight, chemical or industrial logistics exposure is advantageous. • Strong analytical, problem-solving and root-cause capability with confidence working across carriers, logistics providers and operational teams. • Good stakeholder communication, structured follow-up and ability to work in a regional matrix environment. • Comfortable using operational data, dashboards and performance trends to drive action and improvement. • Language: Fluent in English. Japanese will be an advantage for consideration. Success in the Role • Timely and effective governance of escalated transportation issues. • Improved carrier/LSP performance and lower recurrence of systemic service failures. • High-quality RCI/CAPA follow-up and stronger prevention of repeat root causes. • Reliable performance reporting, risk visibility and action closure. • Measurable contribution to standardization, productivity, service quality and continuous improvement.