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