Lead Specialist Freight Payment

ROLE SUMMARY

Responsible for end-to-end execution and governance of freight claims operations, including damage, shortage, pilferage, seal discrepancies, liability determination, carrier/vendor follow-up, and recovery activities. The role coordinates with Field Operations, Accounts Payable, carriers, decon/consol partners, vendors, and US stakeholders to ensure claims are investigated, documented, communicated, and progressed to resolution in a timely manner.

Acts as a key control point for claim accuracy, supporting documentation, C3 incident traceability, liability decisions, recovery/chargeback actions, and aging follow-up. Drives disciplined case management, escalation, reporting, and continuous improvement across the freight claims process.

PRINCIPAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Freight Claim Intake & Case Management: Own and coordinate freight claim cases arising from damage, shortage, pilferage, missing seals/seal discrepancies, and received-versus-invoiced quantity discrepancies. Ensure cases are categorized, documented, and moved through the defined workflow.

2. Investigation & Documentation: Review available shipment, receiving, invoice, incident, and supporting documentation; coordinate investigation activities and ensure required C3 incidents and claim records are created and maintained for traceability.

3. External Notification & Disposition: Coordinate timely external damage notification and ensure collect carriers and relevant decon/consol partners are notified within the required process window for disposition and next steps.

4. Liability Determination: Support evaluation and routing of claims based on collect vendor, prepaid vendor, carrier, decon/consol, collect vendor, or import vendor liability. Validate that the claim path and responsible party are supported by available evidence.

5. Recovery & Chargeback Execution: Drive claims toward recovery when liability is accepted, including tracking vendor checks or applicable automatic chargebacks. Where vendor liability applies, coordinate generation and follow-through of chargebacks in line with the process.

6. Carrier / Partner Follow-up: Research carrier responses and proactively follow up with carriers, decon/consol partners, and other responsible parties on pending or denied claims. Maintain clear status, next action, and aging visibility until resolution or formal closure.

7. Issue Resolution & Escalation: Identify disputed liability, repeated denials, stalled claims, documentation gaps, and other barriers to recovery. Escalate unresolved/high-risk items with a clear summary of evidence, prior follow-ups, financial exposure, and recommended next action.

8. Process Governance & Controls: Maintain consistent claim handling, documentation, approvals, and audit trail. Ensure claim decisions and recovery outcomes are traceable and aligned with defined policies and controls.

9. Performance Management & Reporting: Monitor claim volumes, aging, recovery status, denial trends, pending follow-ups, and unresolved exposure. Provide regular operational updates and actionable insights to stakeholders.

10. Continuous Improvement: Identify process gaps that lead to delayed or missed recoveries, including follow-up gaps on carrier refusals. Drive standard work, clearer escalation paths, root-cause actions, and opportunities for automation or workflow improvement.

11. Stakeholder Management: Partner with Field Operations, Accounts Payable, Finance, vendors, carriers, decon/consol partners, and US-based stakeholders to resolve discrepancies and improve claim outcomes.

REPORTING / WORKING RELATIONSHIPS

• Reports to Manager - Finance / Freight Claims Operations (final reporting line to be confirmed by the business).
• Works closely with Field Operations, Accounts Payable, Finance, freight carriers, vendors, decon/consol partners, and US-based stakeholders involved in freight claim investigation, liability, recovery, and resolution.

JOB REQUIREMENTS

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Commerce, Finance, Supply Chain, Logistics, or equivalent.
• 3-5 years of relevant experience in financial operations, freight claims, transportation/logistics operations, Accounts Payable, or a related operational finance environment.

Core Competencies

• Strong understanding of claim investigation, discrepancy resolution, liability assessment, and recovery workflows.
• High attention to detail and accuracy in financial and operational case handling.
• Strong analytical, research, and problem-solving skills, including the ability to evaluate supporting evidence and disputed claims.
• Ability to manage multiple claims, priorities, aging items, and follow-ups within defined timelines.
• Effective written and verbal communication with internal stakeholders, vendors, carriers, and external partners.
• Strong ownership mindset with disciplined follow-through on unresolved or denied claims.
• Working knowledge of ERP/financial systems and MS Excel; familiarity with incident/case-management tools is beneficial.
• Focus on controls, documentation, audit readiness, continuous improvement, and recovery outcomes.

KEY OUTCOMES

• Timely progression and resolution of freight claims from identification through recovery or documented closure.
• Improved recovery of valid carrier/vendor liabilities through structured follow-up and escalation.
• Accurate, complete, and audit-ready claim documentation and status tracking.
• Reduced aging and unresolved claim exposure through proactive case ownership.
• Actionable reporting on claim trends, denials, root causes, and process improvement opportunities.