---
title: 'Senior Manager, Ocean Gateway, Japan at Flexport'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-manager-ocean-gateway-japan-flexport-tokyo-6dqz9mwrkmvk'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-09'
---

# Senior Manager, Ocean Gateway, Japan at Flexport

- **Company:** Flexport
- **Location:** Tokyo, Japan
- **Posted:** 2026-06-01
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-09
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/flexport/jobs/7971617

## Job description

About Flexport:

At Flexport, we believe global trade can move the human race forward. That’s why it’s our mission to make global commerce so easy there will be more of it. We’re shaping the future of a $10T industry with solutions powered by innovative technology and exceptional people. Today, companies of all sizes—from emerging brands to Fortune 500s—use Flexport technology to move more than $19B of merchandise across 112 countries a year.

The recent global supply chain crisis has put Flexport center stage as we continue to play a pivotal role in how goods move around the world. We are proud to have the support of the best investors in the game who believe in our mission, solutions and people. Ready to tackle global challenges that impact business, society, and the environment? Come join us.

The Opportunity:

Flexport is insourcing operations in Japan — one of the world's most quality-driven and relationship-led freight markets. To stand up our in-house Tokyo operations team, we are seeking a Senior Operations Developer: a deeply experienced freight forwarding operator who will help us build the local team, establish the right vendor relationships, and accelerate the velocity of our insourcing initiative.

Japan is a market where seniority and trust take precedence in business dealings, and where local relationships with carriers, CFS providers, and drayage partners are difficult and slow to build from the outside. As Senior Operations Developer, you will use your existing network and operational expertise to dramatically shorten that ramp time — laying the foundation for a Tokyo operations function that supports a projected ~150 FCL, ~30 LCL, and ~44 Air shipments per month by year-end 2026.

You will:

- Establish and strengthen Flexport's relationships and operating arrangements with key local vendors in Japan, including CFS, drayage providers, ocean carriers, and customs partners.
- Lead the sourcing, screening, and hiring of the local Tokyo operations team — including Ocean and Air operators — and act as the in-country hiring authority for operational roles.
- Design the end-to-end operational process for Japan: booking management, documentation, customs interaction, terminal handling, drayage coordination, exception management, and post-arrival processes.
- Drive operational execution readiness, ensuring SOPs, SLAs, and KPIs are in place before each new shipment flow is brought in-house.
- Increase the velocity of insourcing by leading the transition from external partners to in-house execution, including knowledge transfer, system setup, and partner offboarding.
- Act as the senior operational voice in client-facing meetings where local credibility is required, working closely with the commercial team on benchmarking opportunities and net-new deals.
- Collaborate cross-functionally with APAC operations, Procurement, Pricing, and Account Management to ensure Japan operations align with global Flexport standards while respecting local market practice.
- Coach and mentor newly hired Japanese operations staff, helping them grow into long-term Flexport leaders.

You should have:

- Bachelor's degree or equivalent.
- Minimum 10+ years of experience in freight forwarding, NVOCC, or supply chain operations, with significant time in Japan and meaningful leadership exposure.
- Deep, current knowledge of Japan's freight forwarding ecosystem: ports, terminals, CFS networks, customs brokers, trucking providers, and the major ocean and air carriers serving Japan.
- An established professional network with Japanese carriers, CFS, drayage, and customs partners — and the credibility to negotiate operating arrangements directly with senior counterparts.
- Demonstrated experience designing or improving freight forwarding SOPs and operational KPIs for Ocean (FCL/LCL), and ideally Air.
- Proven ability to hire, build, and develop operations teams from the ground up.
- Native or near-native Japanese (verbal and written) and professional working English; comfortable representing Japan in a global, English-speaking matrix organization.
- Builder mindset: comfortable with ambiguity, decisive in early-stage environments, and pragmatic about balancing global standards with local realities.
- High integrity, strong sense of ownership, and alignment with Flexport's values.

Nice to have:

- Prior experience leading a country launch, gateway opening, or insourcing transition in Japan or another mature APAC freight market.
- Experience with technology-enabled or platform-based freight forwarding operations.

Commitment to Equal Opportunity

At Flexport, our ability to fulfill our mission of making global commerce easy and accessible relies on having a diverse, dedicated and engaged workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, physical and mental disability, health status, marital and family status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, military and veteran status, and any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Global Data Privacy Notice for Job Candidates and Applicants

Depending on your location, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) may regulate the way we manage the data of job applicants. By submitting your application, you are agreeing to our use and processing of your data as required. Please see our Privacy Notice available at [www.flexport.com/privacy](http://www.flexport.com/privacy) for additional information.

## About Flexport

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Flexport is a technology-driven freight forwarding and supply chain platform that uses AI to coordinate global logistics from factory to customer door.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series E)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, USA
- **Founded**: 2013
- **Founders**: Ryan Petersen

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Logistics, Supply Chain Technology, Freight Forwarding
- **Target customers**: B2B — enterprise and SMB businesses that import/export goods globally across industries
- **Mission or purpose statement**: "To make global trade so easy there will be more of it."

## Products & Services
- **Ocean & Air Freight**: Full-service ocean and air freight solutions with SKU-level visibility, real-time tracking, and cost management.
- **Customs Brokerage**: Licensed customs brokers using AI to review 100% of entries before submission, achieving a compliance error rate 10x better than next best in class.
- **Booking Management**: Platform to manage ocean contracts and bookings, track real-time performance, and optimize allocation strategies.
- **Buyer’s Consolidation**: Service to maximize container utilization by grouping multiple suppliers into one container, reducing freight and labor costs.
- **Supply Chain AI Platform**: AI-driven decision-making platform that automates processes, reduces freight spend by 10% or more, and deploys large language models and AI agents for real-world logistics optimization.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed (private company)
- **Key Metric**: 2.9x net revenue growth since 2024; serves more than 13,000 customers across 147 countries
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Ryan Petersen (Founder & CEO); major investors include Founders Fund, SoftBank Vision Fund, and others (specific lead investors not fully detailed in provided sources)
- **Growth Signals**: Rapid AI deployment in logistics; 400+ software engineers focused on AI; net revenue growth of 2.9x since 2024; expanding global presence with offices worldwide

## Competitive Advantages
- **Real-world AI deployment**: Unlike many supply chain AI startups, Flexport is deeply embedded in actual operations of moving cargo by ocean, air, truck, and rail, with proprietary data and integrations.
- **Scale and trust**: 13,000+ customers and integration with enterprise systems, logistics service providers, and governments.
- **Customs compliance**: AI auditor reviews 100% of entries, achieving 10x better error rate than next best in class.
- **End-to-end platform**: Single platform covering freight, customs, booking, and consolidation, reducing silos and complexity.
- **Data ontology**: Proprietary data ontology for global logistics, enabling powerful AI models.

## Strategic Focus
- **AI-driven autonomous supply chain**: Building AI agents to create an autonomous supply chain, deploying the latest foundational AI models on top of proprietary data and integrations.
- **Customer obsession**: Prioritizing customer success and hard cost savings (e.g., 10%+ reduction in freight spend).
- **Global expansion**: Operating across continents and time zones, with offices in multiple global locations.
- **Talent development**: Aiming to hire 80% of manager and above roles from within, developing early-career talent into leaders.

## Why Work Here
- **Meritocracy**: Compensation and advancement based on value created, with rapid growth opportunities for smart, hardworking people. Many leaders started on the ground floor.
- **Learning environment**: Described as "the best company to learn about how the world works" — logistics underlies the global economy. Employees speak over 70 languages.
- **Cutting-edge technology**: 400+ software engineers deploying latest AI models in real-world logistics; roles include Senior Software Engineer: Applied AI, Autonomous Freight Systems, and Data Infrastructure.
- **Culture**: Values include "Win as a Team," "Empower the Client," "Play the Long Game," "Act Like an Entrepreneur," and "Simplify." Recognized as a Great Place to Work.
- **Global and remote-friendly**: 125 open positions across Engineering, Operations, Sales, Customs, and more, with offices worldwide and remote options.
- **Impact**: Working on the $8.6T global logistics market — "the single largest opportunity to apply AI anywhere in the world."

## Sources
1. [flexport.com](https://www.flexport.com/company/careers/)
2. [flexport.com](https://www.flexport.com/)
3. [flexport.com](https://www.flexport.com/company/about-us/)
4. [flexport.com](https://www.flexport.com/careers/jobs/)
5. [flexport.com](https://www.flexport.com/careers/jobs/?gh_src=c0d6caef1)

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