Trade Manager - Ocean Freight
About the job
- Five or more years of experience in ocean freight trade, procurement, or carrier management.
- Strong hands-on experience with the Asia–Europe ocean trade lane.
- Ability to operate as a senior individual contributor with high ownership in a lean environment.
- Solid understanding of ocean freight contracts, full container load and less than container load allocations, and operational execution.
- Familiarity with freight forwarder or agent networks in Asia, including how they operate and what they need.
- Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills across carriers and internal teams.
- Comfort operating in a fast-moving, evolving environment where processes are still being built.
- Fluency in English.
- Own and manage day-to-day commercial and operational relationships with assigned ocean carriers on the Asia–Europe trade lane.
- Lead and support carrier negotiations within scope, including seasonal adjustments, space protection, and commercial discussions.
- Execute ocean freight trade and pricing strategies, managing contracts, allocations, and performance against agreed commitments.
- Act as the primary trade and pricing interface for Voyfai members and group companies from the Hong Kong side.
- Collect volume forecasts, align stakeholders, and drive adherence to agreed carrier and trade strategies.
- Work closely with the EU-based Trade Manager as a tandem partner to keep origin and destination aligned on pricing, allocations, and operational execution.
- Handle trade-related escalations, exceptions, and operational issues across carriers, agents, and members.
- Monitor market and carrier intelligence and contribute insights to trade strategy and continuous improvement.
- Mandarin or Cantonese language skills.
About the company
Voyfai builds an ecosystem for small- and mid-sized freight forwarders to compete by joining a membership network that pools volumes to access competitive multi-modal rates (air, sea, rail, trucking). Members use automated end-to-end logistics processes and intelligent rate allocation to see top rates instantly and reduce administrative tasks. This approach differs from traditional brokers by focusing on a collaborative ecosystem that aggregates volumes and provides integrated workflow tooling for members. The goal is to improve efficiency and profitability for freight forwarders by simplifying operations and delivering cost-effective, streamlined logistics across multiple transport modes.
Company Size
11-50
Company Stage
Series A
Total Funding
$40.7M
Headquarters
Berlin, Germany
Founded
2023
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- Voyfai raised a $25 million Series A on April 15, 2025.
- As of September 2026, its website says the network is growing globally.
- Voyfai listed six open roles in August 2026, including engineering and Dutch sales.
What critics are saying
- Flexport, Freightos, and project44 already own shippers' digital workflows and pricing data.
- A rate-only pitch gets copied quickly, erasing Voyfai's moat before 2027 renewals.
- If member growth stalls, the network collapses into another niche Berlin SaaS startup.
What makes Voyfai unique
- Voyfai pools SME forwarder volumes to negotiate multi-modal rates across air, sea, rail, trucking.
- Its membership model bundles automated end-to-end workflows, reducing manual quoting and administration.
- Berlin-based founders target independent forwarders that lack enterprise scale and procurement leverage.
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Benefits
- Flexible Work Hours
- Hybrid Work Options
- Paid Vacation
- Stock Options