Group Air Freight Procurement Manager

The Global Institute of Logistics has named B&H Worldwide as the world’s Best in Class Global Aerospace Logistics Company. As the benchmark independent freight forwarder in the global aerospace logistics space, our vision is to be the most respected, valued, passionate and entrusted leader in global aerospace logistics. We aim to provide our employees with a rewarding, safe and empowered environment that fosters high standards. Working at B&H Worldwide you will have the opportunity to grow your career supported by an award-winning team and industry

Our Mission

To support our customers with consistent, dependable, competitive and innovative logistics solutions which powers their business.

Our Vision

To be the most respected, valued, passionate and entrusted leader in global aerospace logistics.

The Group Air Freight Procurement Manager is accountable for the development and execution of B&H Worldwide's global air freight procurement and carrier strategy. The role owns global airline sourcing, commercial negotiations, capacity strategy, carrier portfolio management, procurement governance, market intelligence and procurement performance across the B&H network.

Initially as a standalone role and working closely with Global Sales, Operations, Strategic Accounts, Pricing, Finance and regional leadership, this role will convert B&H Worldwide's global air freight volumes and aviation specialisation into a measurable buying advantage. The role must balance rate competitiveness, guaranteed capacity, service reliability, routing resilience and gross-profit performance, with particular focus on AOG, time-critical, dangerous goods, high-value, engine, oversized and other specialist aerospace movements.

Location

B&H Worldwide office, London Heathrow

Line Manager

Group Head of Sales

Working Pattern

40 hours per week, Monday to Friday

Key Role Accountabilities

Global Air Freight Procurement Strategy & Operating Model

• Develop, own and maintain the global air freight procurement strategy aligned with B&H Worldwide commercial, operational and growth objectives.
• Create a global carrier architecture covering strategic core carriers, secondary carriers, tactical providers and contingency options by region and trade lane.
• Aggregate B&H buying power across stations and regions to reduce fragmented purchasing and improve commercial leverage with airlines.
• Define global procurement standards, decision rights, escalation routes and approved exceptions while allowing controlled local flexibility where market conditions require it.
• Translate growth plans and forecast demand into carrier, capacity, contracting and procurement requirements across the global network.
• Own senior relationships, including executive-level, with key global airlines, cargo sales organisations and strategic air freight suppliers.
• Lead negotiations covering contracted rates, tariffs, spot arrangements, allocations, incentives, rebates, credit terms, premium products and service commitments.
• Build structured carrier business reviews covering commercial performance, service reliability, capacity, route development, escalation performance and future opportunity.
• Develop preferred-carrier strategies by trade lane based on total value rather than rate alone, including reliability, uplift certainty, handling capability and recovery support.
• Ensure B&H retains sufficient carrier diversity to reduce dependency risk and protect service continuity during disruption or constrained capacity.
• Forecast capacity requirements with Sales, Operations and regional teams across strategic global trade lanes and major customer programmes.
• Secure appropriate allocations, blocked capacity or other capacity commitments where justified by volume, customer need and commercial return.
• Monitor utilisation of contracted capacity and airline allocations and intervene where under-utilisation, over-commitment or service risk emerges.
• Maintain credible contingency carrier and routing options for peak season, schedule disruption, geopolitical events and critical aviation movements.
• Ensure AOG and mission-critical shipments can access rapid premium capacity and senior carrier escalation where service certainty is more important than lowest cost.
• Establish visibility of buy-rate performance by carrier, trade lane, region, origin, destination, shipment profile and weight break.
• Work with Pricing and Finance to quantify procurement value, identify cost-to-serve, prevent margin leakage and improve gross-profit performance.
• Reduce unnecessary spot buying and local rate fragmentation by increasing utilisation of negotiated global and regional carrier agreements.
• Benchmark contracted and tactical buy rates against market conditions and identify opportunities for renegotiation, consolidation or carrier reallocation.
• Balance lowest sustainable total cost with capacity, service, handling capability, routing resilience and customer-specific service requirements.
• Lead global air freight procurement input into strategic RFIs, RFQs, tenders and major customer acquisition opportunities.
• Provide validated carrier, routing, capacity and procurement assumptions before commercial commitments are made to customers.
• Work with the Group Head of Sales, Strategic Accounts and regional sales leadership to design competitive, executable air-freight solutions.
• Use projected customer volumes and trade-lane data to strengthen carrier negotiations and secure opportunity-specific commercial positions where appropriate.
• Conduct post-award reviews to ensure tender procurement assumptions, rates, capacity and expected gross-profit performance are achieved after implementation.

AOG & Specialist Aviation Procurement

• Develop specialist procurement solutions for AOG, time-critical, aircraft engines, APUs, landing gear, avionics, dangerous goods, oversized and high-value aerospace cargo.
• Establish priority-uplift and escalation arrangements with carriers capable of supporting critical aviation shipments and demanding recovery requirements.
• Ensure specialist routing and carrier decisions consider aircraft type, cargo dimensions, handling restrictions, DG acceptance, transit risk and destination capability.
• Support charter, part-charter, on-board courier and other premium solutions where scheduled capacity cannot meet the customer requirement.
• Apply a procurement decision model for critical movements that balances speed, uplift certainty, routing resilience, handling capability, risk and cost.
• Build a structured global air freight market-intelligence capability covering capacity, rate movement, airline schedules, route launches, suspensions, fuel, congestion and disruption.
• Provide regular procurement intelligence to Global Sales, Operations and Executive Management identifying emerging commercial opportunities and supply-side risks.
• Maintain procurement governance covering strategic agreements, local agreements, spot buying, capacity commitments, rebates, incentives and commercial approvals.
• Ensure procurement decisions comply with B&H quality, aviation security, sanctions, export-control, dangerous-goods, financial and supplier-governance requirements.
• Maintain transparent and auditable records of carrier agreements, commercial terms, incentives, commitments and procurement performance.
• Introduce objective carrier scorecards covering on-time uplift, booking confirmation, offloads, transit reliability, capacity availability, billing accuracy and escalation response.
• Set minimum carrier and supplier performance expectations and lead corrective action, allocation reduction, suspension or replacement where standards are not met.
• Monitor procurement compliance by region and station, including approved-carrier utilisation, contract usage, spot-buy percentage and exception management.
• Identify and eliminate procurement leakage arising from inconsistent buying, missed agreements, unnecessary accessorials or failure to use negotiated capacity.
• Use performance and spend data to continuously refine carrier allocation and strengthen the global procurement portfolio.

Performance & Continuous Improvement

• Establish a global procurement dashboard covering gross-profit impact, carrier performance, capacity utilisation, contract compliance, spot buying, tender support and savings/value creation.
• Use data, root-cause analysis and commercial review to identify recurring procurement weaknesses and implement measurable corrective actions.
• Build procurement capability across the network through training, standard processes, carrier knowledge, market intelligence and consistent commercial discipline.
• Recommend systems, data, supplier and process investments that improve buying leverage, decision quality, scalability and profitable growth.

Your Experience

Personal Attributes

• Commercially authoritative and accountable procurement leader with strong judgement in fast-moving international air freight markets.
• Credible with senior airline executives and able to negotiate firmly while sustaining strategic long-term carrier relationships.
• Analytical and financially disciplined, with a clear focus on gross profit, total cost, procurement leverage and measurable value creation.
• Operationally aware and able to balance price, capacity, service reliability, customer urgency and commercial risk.
• Structured, decisive and collaborative, with the confidence to challenge fragmented or commercially weak buying practices.

Essential Experience and Capability

• 10+ years of progressive air freight, forwarding or airline procurement experience with proven responsibility for carrier sourcing, capacity or product management.
• At least five years in a senior procurement, air freight product or carrier-management management role with multi-regional accountability.
• Demonstrable experience negotiating contracted and tactical air freight rates, capacity allocations, incentives, rebates and strategic airline agreements.
• Strong knowledge of global air freight markets, airline networks, trade lanes, weight-break pricing, surcharges, consolidation economics and capacity dynamics.
• Proven experience supporting major RFQs, tenders, new-business implementations and complex customer pricing exercises.
• Strong understanding of forwarding economics including buy rates, sell rates, gross profit, yield, cost-to-serve and procurement leakage.
• Advanced analytical capability with experience using procurement, forwarding, BI and Microsoft Office systems to convert data into commercial action.
• Experience operating within a global matrix organisation and influencing regional teams without relying solely on direct authority.
• Comfortable travelling internationally and providing senior commercial escalation outside normal working hours when required.
• Direct experience within aviation, aerospace, AOG, MRO, engine, high-value or other time-critical logistics environments.
• Existing senior commercial relationships with major global airlines, cargo sales organisations or specialist air cargo providers.
• Experience procuring charter, part-charter, premium uplift, dangerous goods and oversized or specialist aviation freight solutions.
• Experience operating within IATA, AEO, ISO 9001, AS9120 or comparable aviation quality, security and compliance environments.
• Formal qualification in procurement, supply chain, logistics, aviation or business is advantageous.
• Experience leading geographically dispersed procurement teams are beneficial.

What We Offer

• Competitive salary and bonus structure focused on exceeding performance measurements.
  
• Paid vacation and holidays, and an additional day for your birthday.
• Generous annual holiday entitlement, plus UK public holidays and an additional day for your birthday.
• Contributory pension scheme, private health insurance and life assurance.
• Employee Assistance Programme.
• Free on-site parking.
• Opportunity to grow expertise through ongoing coaching, training and development sessions.
• Be the B&H Worldwide ambassador at local and global industry events, providing you with the opportunity develop and grow new and existing customer relationships and secure deals.

B&H Worldwide are an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive and diverse environment for all team members. If you do require any reasonable adjustments or support during the application process; please contact hr@bhworldwide.com

Proven progressive air freight, forwarding or airline procurement experience with responsibility for carrier sourcing, capacity or product management.