Sea Logistics Operational Key Account Manager

It's more than a job

As a member of the Freight Forwarding team at Kuehne+Nagel, you will play a key role in transporting goods, optimising processes, and fulfilling our customers' promises. By transporting medicines, toys and important machine parts, you are not only delivering goods, you are making small and big moments possible for people all around the world. At Kuehne+Nagel, our contribution counts in more ways than we imagine.

Join our Sea Logistics team as an Operational Key Account Manager, where you will play a critical role in delivering operational excellence and enhancing customer satisfaction for key global clients. In this position, you will act as the bridge between customers and operations, ensuring seamless service delivery, driving process improvements, and implementing tailored solutions that meet client needs. You will work in a fast-paced, international environment, collaborating closely with Global Key Account Managers, operational teams, and system experts to optimise performance, improve transparency, and support business growth.

• Establish and maintain strong, trust-based relationships with key customers
• Serve as the primary escalation point for operational issues and customer concerns
• Manage and align customer expectations while ensuring fulfillment of service commitments
• Clarify, negotiate, and formalise operational requirements with customers
• Design and implement customer-specific solutions to increase satisfaction and loyalty
• Act as a subject matter expert on service offerings and operational capabilities to support new business
• Coordinate and facilitate onboarding of new business, customer projects, and special requests
• Identify operational risks and ensure visibility among all relevant stakeholders
• Advocate for customer needs within the internal operational organisation
• Develop, maintain, and standardise processes (MOPs/SOPs) across global and local operations
• Support system set‑up, digitalisation, and process automation initiatives
• Define and agree on customer KPIs in collaboration with key stakeholders
• Monitor operational performance through reporting and KPI tracking
• Analyse root causes of performance gaps and drive continuous improvement initiatives
• Prepare and present operational performance metrics and insights during customer business reviews

• Strong experience in Sea Logistics operations and supply chain processes
• Solid understanding of operational systems and process optimisation
• Proven ability to manage key customer relationships in a complex environment
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills
• Customer-focused and solution-oriented mindset
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret KPI data and drive improvements
• Ability to work independently with strong organisational and prioritisation skills
• Experience in process documentation, standardisation, and continuous improvement
• Flexibility and adaptability to changing customer and operational demands

This position is not eligible for employment visa sponsorship. Applicants must be currently authorised to work in the United States on a full-time basis without the need for current or future employer sponsorship.

At Kuehne+Nagel we strive daily to inspire, empower, and deliver not only to our customers, but also to our colleagues. We offer a dynamic global work environment with opportunities for excellent training programmes and career mobility. The target base salary range for this position is between $85,000 and $100,000. Base salary is part of a competitive total rewards package that includes health and welfare benefits, a 401(k) retirement savings plan, tuition reimbursement and incentive compensation for eligible roles.

Individual pay may vary from the target range and is determined by a number of factors including experience, skills, job location, internal pay equity and other relevant business considerations. Kuehne+Nagel reviews pay ranges regularly to ensure competitive and fair pay based on industry market data.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools may be used to assist in specific processes (e.g. screening applications,…