Seafreight Import Key Account Coordinator

Salary: From £33,000 per annum, depending on experience (with full experience K£36/£37)

Benefits:

Twice-yearly discretionary bonus, subject to both company and individual performance

Enhanced pension scheme with Legal & General

25 days annual leave plus bank holidays

Health scheme benefit

Life Assurance scheme, including GP access

Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) with 24/7 confidential support

Location: Erdington, Birmingham. Primarily office-based, with occasional attendance at another local office to provide holiday cover (with prior notice).

Hours: Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:00pm (one-hour lunch break)

Duties:

Account Administration and Shipment Coordination

• Create and maintain freight jobs using pro-forma invoices, purchase order information

• and supplier documentation.

• Chase suppliers and shippers for booking confirmations, shipping instructions,

• documentation and outstanding information.

• Maintain shipment trackers, schedules and customer visibility reports, ensuring

• milestones and outstanding actions remain current.

• Coordinate with the customer, suppliers, shipping lines, hauliers, warehouses and

• internal operational teams.

• Maintain accurate electronic records and upload customer-facing documents to the

• agreed platforms.

• Customs and Regulatory Compliance – Essential

• Complete and control UK import customs declarations, including the review of

• commercial invoices, packing lists, bills of lading, commodity information, origin data

• and customs valuation information.

• Check declaration accuracy, manage duty and deferment requirements and escalate

• discrepancies before submission.

• Create and manage IPAFFS notifications and CHEDs for applicable food and Products of

• Animal Origin movements.

• Manage Port Health queries, health certificate documentation and supporting

• regulatory records.

• Complete and track duty reclaims.

• Support HMRC or customer audits through accurate document collation and record

• retention.

• Support European movements and the associated customs or regulatory requirements

• where required.

• Customer Reporting, Financial Control and Billing

• Prepare weekly shipment schedules and operational status reports for the customer.

• Produce monthly management reports covering delivery activity, insurance, quay rent,

• container or shipping line information and related account measures.

• Complete weekly bulk invoicing, check charges and ensure deliveries are billed

• accurately.

• Prepare dummy costings and estimated landed cost information using complete

• commercial and shipment data.

• Respond to customer queries concerning invoices, duty and deferment, providing the

• relevant supporting documentation.

Operational Cover and Business Continuity

• Train to provide operational cover for the Account Supervisor during annual leave or

• other absence.

• Monitor vessel schedules, shipment progress and ETA changes, providing timely

• updates to the customer and internal teams.

• Liaise with shipping lines regarding releases, bills of lading, charges and operational

• exceptions.

• Coordinate hauliers, delivery bookings, warehouses, cold stores and delivery previews.

• Update landed costs, issue releases and support urgent operational decisions in

• accordance with customer instructions and Fracht procedures.

• Maintain account continuity through clear handovers, current trackers and accessible

• records.

Systems, SOPs and General Support

• Use CargoWise to maintain accurate operational, customs, costing and billing records.

• Use SharePoint, Web Tracker or equivalent platforms to maintain document control and

• customer visibility.

• Create, review and maintain account SOPs, work instructions and training records.

• Monitor shared operational mailboxes and respond to relevant customer or shipment

• requests.

• Provide account-specific presentations, process support and ad hoc reporting when

• required.

Experience required:

• Experience of deep-sea import freight forwarding.

• Practical experience of completing and controlling UK import customs declarations.

• A high level of accuracy when reviewing and processing shipment and customs

• documentation.

• Confident and professional customer communication.

• Ability to manage several live shipments and competing deadlines.

• Competent spreadsheet and reporting skills.

• Ability to identify, question and escalate incomplete or inconsistent information.

Highly Desirable

• CargoWise experience.

• Food import experience.

• Experience of IPAFFS, CHEDs and Port Health requirements.

• Experience of SharePoint, Web Tracker or comparable document management and

• customer visibility systems.

• Previous experience supporting a major key account.

Personal Attributes

• Methodical, organised and commercially aware.

• Calm and practical when working under pressure.

• Confident in questioning incomplete or potentially incorrect information.

• Proactive in identifying and escalating operational, customs or compliance risks.

• Comfortable working independently and as part of an account team.

• Willing to learn both the primary back-office role and the operational cover duties.

• Committed to maintaining accurate records, customer service and account continuity.

Performance and Conduct Expectations

• Maintain accurate and complete operational, customs, financial and compliance

records.

• Follow approved SOPs, customer instructions and Fracht procedures, escalating

matters where information is unclear or incomplete.

• Communicate with customers and operational partners in a timely, practical and

professional manner.

• Protect customer confidentiality and commercially sensitive information.

• Support cross-training, handover and business continuity so that critical account

knowledge is not held by one person.

Additional information:

The Key Account Coordinator / Key Account Specialist will provide dedicated operational,

customs, compliance, reporting, billing and customer support for a major, long-standing food

retail import account.

This is a hands-on, detail-focused role requiring close coordination with the customer,

suppliers, shipping lines, hauliers, warehouses, internal teams and regulatory authorities.

The successful candidate will take primary ownership of the account’s back-office function and

will also train to provide operational cover for the Account Supervisor during annual leave, other

absence and business continuity requirements.