International Trade Operations Hub Lead

Role Purpose

The ITO Hub Lead is the regional functional and people leader for an assigned business portfolio within the Asia Pacific Control Tower. The role owns end-to-end ITO governance for the assigned portfolio, leads ITO Specialists, governs complex and systemic escalations, drives carrier/LSP performance, RCI/CAPA effectiveness, risk management and continuous improvement, and consolidates Hub performance for management reporting. The Hub Lead retains full ITO Specialist capability and may directly perform specialist activities when required by business criticality, complexity, workload or continuity needs.

Reports to : APAC Control Tower Manager Direct reports : ITO Specialists assigned to the respective business portfolio Coverage : Asia Pacific; assigned business portfolio Role orientation : Full ITO functional capability, people leadership, regional governance, systemic escalation, provider performance and continuous improvement

Key Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end ITO governance for the assigned business portfolio, including transportation priorities, critical lanes, service requirements, risks and performance.
• Lead, coach and develop ITO Specialists; allocate priorities, balance workload, maintain backup coverage and ensure consistent quality of specialist outputs.
• Retain full ITO Specialist capability and personally lead or perform specialist work for complex, critical, high-impact or resource-sensitive situations.
• Act as senior transportation SME across ocean, ISO tank, air and other applicable international transportation modes and provide direction on non-standard cases.
• Govern aged, repeated, high-impact, cross-country and cross-provider escalations; challenge recovery plans and ensure timely escalation to the correct stakeholder.
• Lead regional carrier and logistics service provider performance governance, covering booking/service performance, lead-time commitment versus actual, reliability, rollovers, space/equipment, drayage and recurring provider failures.
• Govern capacity, routing and allocation risks and escalate structural or commercial provider issues to the appropriate procurement / commercial owner.
• Lead governance of significant logistics incidents, root-cause investigations and corrective/preventive actions; challenge weak RCA / CAPA and validate effectiveness.
• Consolidate assigned-portfolio performance, risks, escalations, provider trends, RCI/CAPA and improvement priorities for direct reporting to the APAC Control Tower Manager.
• Maintain visibility of import-governance themes including broker/customs performance, clearance lead time, backlog, regulatory exceptions and cost exposure.
• Own the portfolio improvement pipeline and convert recurring failures into standardization, automation, productivity, cost-avoidance, service-quality and risk-reduction initiatives.
• Lead or support implementation of new providers, processes, systems, regulatory changes and regional/global initiatives, including training and stabilization.
• Provide performance, risk and improvement inputs for management and strategic customer-governance reviews in partnership with account and Control Tower leadership.

Leadership & Operating Model

• The Hub Lead is a hands-on functional leader, not solely a people manager. The role can perform the complete ITO Specialist scope while carrying broader portfolio accountability and leadership authority.
• Country Operations remains accountable for routine shipment execution, local operational provider management and first-level exception resolution.
• ITO Specialists perform assigned governance and specialist activities; the Hub Lead owns consolidated portfolio outcomes, prioritization, senior escalation and Specialist performance.
• The APAC Control Tower Manager retains overall Control Tower service governance and receives consolidated Hub performance and risk reporting.

Governance Cadence

• Daily / as required: critical escalation, service recovery, risk intervention and Specialist support.
• Weekly: portfolio ITO performance, exception aging, provider issues, RCI/CAPA, risk and improvement priority review.
• Monthly: regional ITO/LSP performance governance covering KPI/SLA, lead time, reliability, recurring failures, CAPA and improvement.
• Quarterly: strategic provider and management-governance support covering systemic trends, capability, risk and improvement roadmap.
• Annual: operating-model, capability/resource, service-strategy and improvement-roadmap planning.

Candidate Profile

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Logistics, International Trade, Business or a related discipline.
• Typically 7-10+ years of relevant international logistics, freight forwarding, transportation, supply chain or trade experience, with strong ocean and regional/multi-country exposure.
• People or team leadership experience together with hands-on functional expertise in provider management, escalation, performance governance, root-cause analysis and continuous improvement.
• Chemical, industrial, 3PL/4PL, LLP or Control Tower experience is advantageous.
• Strong executive communication, stakeholder management and ability to influence across operational, commercial and functional teams without relying solely on direct authority.
• Strong analytical judgment with the ability to convert performance data and recurring failures into practical, measurable actions.

Success in the Role

• Strong and improving transportation service performance for the assigned portfolio.
• Effective leadership and capability development of ITO Specialists with robust continuity and backup coverage.
• Reduction in aged, repeated and systemic service failures.
• Improved carrier/LSP performance and sustainable corrective-action effectiveness.
• High-quality RCI/CAPA governance with lower repeat root causes.
• Timely, accurate Hub performance and risk reporting to Control Tower leadership.
• Measurable continuous-improvement, productivity, cost, service-quality and risk-reduction outcomes.