Operations Manager

Operations Manager | مدير العمليات Company: WOSOOL Transportation & Logistics Location: Dammam, Saudi Arabia Employment Type: Full-time | On-site About the Company WOSOOL Transportation & Logistics provides integrated logistics services, including road transportation, customs clearance, freight forwarding, warehousing, and yard operations. We are seeking an experienced Operations Manager to lead service coordination and ensure consistent execution across customer accounts and operational departments. About the Role The Operations Manager will own the end-to-end management of customer jobs, from receiving approved instructions and opening operational files through service completion and handover to Accounts for invoicing. The role requires close coordination with Customs Clearance, Transportation, Freight Forwarding, Warehousing, Commercial, and Accounts. The successful candidate must establish clear accountability, control service timelines and operational costs, manage customer expectations, and ensure that every job is properly documented and closed. This position leads overall service coordination; specialist departments remain responsible for the technical execution of their respective activities. Key Responsibilities 1. Customer Onboarding & Job-File Management Review customer requirements, approved quotations, service agreements, and operating instructions before execution. Confirm that the necessary documents, commercial approvals, and credit or payment clearances are available. Ensure every shipment or service request has a unique job reference, an assigned owner, clear milestones, and a complete electronic file. Establish customer-specific operating instructions and identify missing information or execution risks before work begins. 2. End-to-End Logistics Coordination Coordinate service delivery across customs clearance, freight forwarding, transportation, ports, warehouses, and yards. Confirm readiness at each stage, including documentation, release status, transport capacity, loading and unloading arrangements, storage requirements, delivery appointments, and empty-container returns where applicable. Work with the Transport Manager to confirm capacity and execution schedules. Coordinate customs matters through the Customs Clearance Department rather than bypassing its technical responsibilities or approval controls. 3. Operations Team Leadership & Workload Control Lead operations supervisors, team leaders, coordinators, and customer-service staff. Allocate customers and jobs according to workload, complexity, and team capability. Establish clear responsibilities, handover procedures, backup coverage, and escalation routes. Conduct daily operational reviews, address bottlenecks, and ensure unresolved matters have a named owner and a defined next action. Train employees, evaluate performance, and develop team leaders to support department growth. 4. Customer, Agent & Service-Provider Follow-up Ensure customers receive accurate and timely updates on shipment status, expected completion, missing requirements, and operational exceptions. Manage escalations involving shipping agents, service providers, and internal departments. Enforce structured follow-up procedures, including documented calls and management escalation when written reminders do not produce results. Resolve complaints professionally, identify root causes, and follow corrective actions through to completion. 5. Delay Prevention & Operational Cost Control Monitor shipment milestones, document readiness, release dependencies, free-time deadlines, storage exposure, and equipment-return commitments. Identify risks of demurrage, detention, storage charges, missed appointments, and other avoidable costs. Escalate issues early and preserve evidence supporting objections, claims, or requests for charge waivers. Review additional service requirements against approved scope and obtain the necessary customer and internal approvals before incurring extra costs. 6. Billing Readiness & Job Closure Ensure completed jobs contain all documents required for invoicing, including approved rates, service confirmations, delivery records, supplier charges, supporting receipts, and approvals for additional services. Reconcile executed services with the approved commercial scope and flag missing revenue items or unexplained cost variations. Submit billing-ready files to Accounts within agreed timelines. Support the resolution of invoice disputes without independently changing agreed rates, granting credits, or writing off customer balances. 7. Systems, Reporting & Continuous Improvement Ensure operational activities, documents, status updates, and approvals are recorded in the company’s ERP or approved workflow system. Develop and maintain standard operating procedures covering job opening, execution, handovers, escalation, and closure. Reduce reliance on undocumented verbal instructions or isolated messaging conversations. Provide daily and periodic reports covering active jobs, delayed shipments, aging files, customer issues, cost exposure, completed-but-unbilled jobs, and team productivity. Recommend and implement measurable service improvements. Qualifications & Experience • Bachelor’s degree in Logistics, Supply Chain Management, Business Administration, Industrial Engineering, or a related field. • Proven managerial experience in transportation, logistics, freight forwarding, or integrated logistics operations. • Practical experience managing customer accounts, operational teams, and coordination across multiple service departments. • Strong understanding of shipment documentation, customs-clearance coordination, port processes, and transport and storage requirements in Saudi Arabia. Required Skills Strong leadership, customer communication, workload planning, and escalation-management skills. Ability to manage multiple jobs simultaneously while maintaining accurate documentation and clear accountability. Proficiency in Microsoft Excel and ERP or logistics-management systems is essential. Practical familiarity with Fasah and relevant import/export workflows is required. Fasah Professional working proficiency in English is required; Arabic is an advantage. Candidates must be able to communicate effectively with customers, agents, and multicultural operational teams. Preferred Skills Experience managing integrated services across customs clearance, transport, freight forwarding, warehousing, and yards. Experience with multi-branch operations, key-account management, ERP implementation, and operational process redesign is highly desirable. Key Performance Indicators — KPIs • On-time achievement of agreed service milestones and customer commitments. • Number and age of overdue operational jobs and unresolved exceptions.

Bachelor’s degree in Logistics, Supply Chain Management, Business Administration, Industrial Engineering, or a related field. Proven managerial experience in transportation, logistics, freight forwarding, or integrated logistics operations. Practical experience managing customer accounts, operational teams, and coordination across multiple service departments. Strong understanding of shipment documentation, customs-clearance coordination, port processes, and transport and storage requirements in Saudi Arabia.

1. Customer Onboarding & Job-File Management: Review customer requirements, approved quotations, service agreements, and operating instructions before execution. Confirm that the necessary documents, commercial approvals, and credit or payment clearances are available. Ensure every shipment or service request has a unique job reference, an assigned owner, clear milestones, and a complete electronic file. Establish customer-specific operating instructions and identify missing information or execution risks before work begins. 2. End-to-End Logistics Coordination: Coordinate service delivery across customs clearance, freight forwarding, transportation, ports, warehouses, and yards. Confirm readiness at each stage, including documentation, release status, transport capacity, loading and unloading arrangements, storage requirements, delivery appointments, and empty-container returns where applicable. Work with the Transport Manager to confirm capacity and execution schedules. Coordinate customs matters through the Customs Clearance Department rather than bypassing its technical responsibilities or approval controls. 3. Operations Team Leadership & Workload Control: Lead operations supervisors, team leaders, coordinators, and customer-service staff. Allocate customers and jobs according to workload, complexity, and team capability. Establish clear responsibilities, handover procedures, backup coverage, and escalation routes. Conduct daily operational reviews, address bottlenecks, and ensure unresolved matters have a named owner and a defined next action. Train employees, evaluate performance, and develop team leaders to support department growth. 4. Customer, Agent & Service-Provider Follow-up: Ensure customers receive accurate and timely updates on shipment status, expected completion, missing requirements, and operational exceptions. Manage escalations involving shipping agents, service providers, and internal departments. Enforce structured follow-up procedures, including documented calls and management escalation when written reminders do not produce results. Resolve complaints professionally, identify root causes, and follow corrective actions through to completion. 5. Delay Prevention & Operational Cost Control: Monitor shipment milestones, document readiness, release dependencies, free-time deadlines, storage exposure, and equipment-return commitments. Identify risks of demurrage, detention, storage charges, missed appointments, and other avoidable costs. Escalate issues early and preserve evidence supporting objections, claims, or requests for charge waivers. Review additional service requirements against approved scope and obtain the necessary customer and internal approvals before incurring extra costs. 6. Billing Readiness & Job Closure: Ensure completed jobs contain all documents required for invoicing, including approved rates, service confirmations, delivery records, supplier charges, supporting receipts, and approvals for additional services. Reconcile executed services with the approved commercial scope and flag missing revenue items or unexplained cost variations. Submit billing-ready files to Accounts within agreed timelines. Support the resolution of invoice disputes without independently changing agreed rates, granting credits, or writing off customer balances. 7. Systems, Reporting & Continuous Improvement: Ensure operational activities, documents, status updates, and approvals are recorded in the company’s ERP or approved workflow system. Develop and maintain standard operating procedures covering job opening, execution, handovers, escalation, and closure. Reduce reliance on undocumented verbal instructions or isolated messaging conversations. Provide daily and periodic reports covering active jobs, delayed shipments, aging files, customer issues, cost exposure, completed-but-unbilled jobs, and team productivity. Recommend and implement measurable service improvements.