Air Freight Warehouse Manager

Your tasks

Lead, supervise, manage and control day-to-day air freight warehouse operations within a time-critical transit and cross-dock environment. The role is accountable for safe, secure and efficient cargo flow; facility readiness; material-handling equipment; regulatory and ISO compliance; service quality; cost control; and the performance of warehouse employees and service providers. The position ensures that cargo is received, checked, staged, transferred and released accurately and on schedule, with minimal dwell time and without loss, damage or service disruption.

1. Transit and Cross-Dock Operations

• Plan, manage and monitor inbound, outbound, transfer and cross-dock activities to meet flight, trucking, cut-off and customer timelines.

• Ensure cargo is received, identified, verified, weighed, measured, labelled, scanned, staged, built up, broken down and released in accordance with approved procedures.

• Maintain fast and controlled cargo movement with minimal dwell time, unnecessary handling or storage.

• Coordinate closely with air freight import and export teams, airlines, ground handling agents, truckers, customs or permit teams, security providers and customers.

• Manage operational priorities, manpower deployment, dock allocation and shift coverage based on cargo volume, special handling needs and time-critical connections.

• Ensure accurate handover, documentation, cargo status updates and system transactions at each control point.

• Investigate shortages, overages, damage, misrouting, delays and service failures, and implement corrective and preventive actions.

• Maintain contingency plans for shipment peaks, system outages, equipment breakdowns, flight disruptions and other operational emergencies.

1. Cargo Handling, Security and Special Cargo (including DG)

• Ensure cargo is handled in accordance with applicable regulatory, airline, customer, security and internal requirements.

• Maintain cargo integrity and chain of custody throughout receipt, staging, transfer and release.

• Enforce access control, visitor management, cargo segregation, seal control, key control and incident-reporting requirements.

• Ensure suitable handling and segregation of dangerous goods, temperature-sensitive shipments, valuables, perishables, oversized cargo, live animals and other special cargo where applicable.

• Confirm that damaged or non-conforming cargo is isolated, documented, photographed where required and escalated promptly.

• Perform or oversee routine operational checks, stock or location checks and cargo reconciliation.

• Ensure DG cargo is identified, documented, segregated and stored according to IATA DGR and local requirements.

• Maintain the DG register and the training records of warehouse staff.

• Ensure compliance with aviation security, customs, workplace safety (WSH) and company standards; prepare for and close out audits.

1. Facility Management

• Manage the day-to-day condition, security, cleanliness and operational readiness of the warehouse, loading bays, staging areas, offices and external operational areas.

• Coordinate preventive and corrective maintenance for building systems, dock equipment, racking, lighting, ventilation, fire-protection systems, CCTV, alarms and access-control systems.

• Conduct routine facility inspections and ensure defects, hazards and maintenance issues are recorded, prioritized and closed promptly.

• Manage facility-related vendors and contractors, including service scope, permits to work, safety compliance, service quality and cost.

• Ensure emergency equipment, evacuation routes, assembly points and business continuity arrangements remain available and effective.

• Support facility budgets, utilities control, space utilization and improvement projects.

1. Material-Handling Equipment and Warehouse Assets

• Ensure forklifts, reach trucks, pallet jacks, weighing scales, racking and other warehouse equipment are safe, serviceable and fit for purpose.

• Implement pre-use checks, planned maintenance, inspection, certification, defect reporting and equipment isolation processes.

• Ensure only trained and authorized employees operate material-handling equipment.

• Monitor equipment utilization, damage, repair cost, battery charging or fuel arrangements and replacement needs.

• Maintain an accurate equipment and asset register, including service records and statutory or manufacturer-required inspections.

• Promote safe loading, stacking, lifting, securing and movement practices to prevent injury, cargo damage and property damage.

1. ISO, Quality, Safety and Environmental Compliance

• Maintain operational compliance with the organization’s applicable management systems, including ISO 9001, ISO 45001, GDP, STP , where adopted.

• Ensure warehouse procedures, work instructions, risk assessments, inspection records, training records and operational forms are current, controlled and followed.

• Prepare for and support internal, customer, certification and regulatory audits; maintain evidence and close findings within agreed timelines.

• Report, investigate and follow up on incidents, near misses, unsafe conditions, cargo claims, quality failures and non-conformities.

• Lead root-cause analysis and corrective and preventive action and verify the effectiveness of implemented controls.

• Conduct toolbox meetings, safety briefings, workplace inspections and emergency drills.

• Ensure compliance with workplace safety and health, fire safety, environmental, waste-management and other applicable legal requirements.

• Identify operational risks and opportunities, maintain relevant registers and drive continual improvement.

1. Team Leadership and Workforce Management

• Lead, coach and develop warehouse supervisors and warehouse assistants.

• Plan shifts, rosters, overtime, leave coverage and manpower allocation according to workload and service requirements.

• Set clear performance expectations, conduct regular reviews and address attendance, conduct, capability or performance concerns promptly.

• Maintain a competency and training matrix covering induction, SOPs, safety, security, special cargo and equipment operation.

• Promote disciplined execution, teamwork, accountability, open communication and a strong safety and quality culture.

• Manage outsourced labour and service providers against agreed standards, legal requirements and contractual obligations.

1. Performance, Cost and Continuous Improvement

• Track operational performance, analyse trends and report results to management.

• Control warehouse labour, overtime, equipment, maintenance, consumables and facility-related expenditure within budget.

• Review workflows, layouts, staging logic and resource use to improve productivity, safety, capacity and cargo velocity.

• Lead or support Lean, 5S, digitalization, automation and process-improvement initiatives.

• Maintain accurate operational data and recommend actions based on volume, productivity, cost, quality and service trends.

• Work with commercial and operations teams on new or changed customer requirements, feasibility reviews and operational implementation.

Authority Levels The position is authorized to act within approved company policies, budgets, procedures, customer requirements and applicable laws. Matters outside the limits below must be escalated to the Head of Air Freight, or Cluster Management or the relevant functional authority. Key Performance Indicators

• On-time cargo receipt, transfer and release performance
• Cross-dock dwell time and shipment connection success
• Cargo discrepancy, damage, loss and claims rate
• Warehouse productivity and cost per shipment or unit handled
• Equipment availability and preventive-maintenance completion
• Facility inspection and defect-closure performance
• Safety incidents, near misses and corrective-action closure
• Audit findings, non-conformities and closure timeliness
• Training, certification and competency compliance
• Customer complaints and service-recovery performance
• Overtime, absenteeism and labour-cost control

Other

1. Work Timings

• Two shifts on weekdays plus a half day on Saturday.

• The manager must be available to cover both shifts and to respond to urgent operational issues