Senior Freight Planning Specialist

🏗 We're Hiring: Senior Freight Planning Specialist

Location: United Arab Emirates (Remote)

Employment Type: Full-Time

Experience Level: Mid-Level to Senior

Work Arrangement: Fully Remote

About Us

We are a construction-focused organization committed to delivering complex projects through disciplined contract management, operational excellence, and collaborative project delivery. Our distributed teams collaborate across Project Management, Construction, Engineering, Procurement, Commercial, Legal, Finance, Human Resources, Design, Quality, HSE, Consultants, Contractors, Suppliers, Logistics, Administration, Information Technology, and Executive Leadership to ensure efficient material movement, reliable project deliveries, and effective supply chain coordination.

We value professionals who combine logistics expertise, analytical thinking, and strong commercial awareness. Through strategic freight planning, transportation optimization, cost control, and cross-functional collaboration, we aim to improve delivery performance, minimize supply chain disruptions, and support the timely execution of construction projects and business operations.

The Role

We are seeking an experienced Senior Freight Planning Specialist to oversee freight planning activities, coordinate transportation arrangements, optimize shipment schedules, and manage the movement of materials, equipment, and goods across domestic and international supply chains. The ideal candidate will bring strong expertise in freight procurement, transport scheduling, shipment consolidation, carrier management, logistics cost analysis, and multimodal transportation planning.

This role will focus on developing effective freight strategies, coordinating shipment bookings, monitoring transportation performance, and ensuring that deliveries align with project schedules, operational requirements, and budgetary objectives. The Senior Freight Planning Specialist will collaborate with Procurement, Logistics, Warehouse Operations, Project Management, Finance, suppliers, freight forwarders, shipping lines, airlines, road transport providers, and customs brokers to maintain efficient and compliant freight operations in accordance with applicable United Arab Emirates laws and regulations.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead freight planning activities for construction materials, engineering equipment, spare parts, project cargo, and general business shipments.
• Develop freight plans aligned with procurement schedules, project milestones, inventory requirements, and customer delivery commitments.
• Coordinate domestic and international transportation requirements across road, sea, air, rail, and multimodal freight networks where available.
• Evaluate shipment volumes, cargo dimensions, weights, delivery locations, handling requirements, and transportation constraints.
• Determine appropriate freight modes based on delivery urgency, shipment characteristics, cost, risk, and operational priorities.
• Prepare shipment schedules and transportation plans that support timely delivery to project sites, warehouses, distribution facilities, and customer locations.
• Coordinate freight bookings with shipping lines, airlines, road carriers, freight forwarders, and other logistics service providers.
• Monitor shipment readiness and ensure that transportation arrangements are confirmed before cargo becomes available for dispatch.
• Align freight schedules with supplier production dates, purchase order commitments, warehouse capacity, and site receiving arrangements.
• Plan the movement of oversized, heavy, sensitive, hazardous, or specialized cargo in accordance with applicable handling and transportation requirements.
• Coordinate project cargo movements requiring specialized vehicles, lifting equipment, route surveys, permits, or dedicated handling arrangements.
• Assess transportation routes, transit times, border crossing requirements, port capacity, and delivery constraints when preparing freight plans.
• Identify suitable shipping routes and carrier options to balance cost, transit time, reliability, and risk.
• Develop contingency plans for shipment delays, carrier cancellations, port congestion, adverse weather, and other supply chain disruptions.
• Monitor geopolitical developments, route restrictions, capacity shortages, and other external factors that may affect freight availability and delivery performance.
• Evaluate opportunities to consolidate shipments and improve container utilization, vehicle loading efficiency, and overall transportation capacity.
• Coordinate less-than-container-load (LCL), full-container-load (FCL), full-truckload, less-than-truckload, airfreight, and other suitable shipping arrangements.
• Review shipment dimensions and cargo characteristics to select appropriate container types, trailers, vehicles, and handling equipment.
• Optimize shipment frequency, dispatch timing, and delivery sequencing to reduce unnecessary transportation costs.
• Coordinate multi-stop deliveries, project site distribution, and transport allocation according to operational priorities.
• Prepare freight forecasts based on procurement pipelines, project demand, historical shipping volumes, and anticipated delivery schedules.
• Maintain an updated freight planning calendar covering shipment readiness, booking deadlines, departure dates, arrival estimates, and delivery milestones.
• Track shipping deadlines, cargo cut-off times, vessel schedules, flight departures, and other critical transportation milestones.
• Verify that transportation plans meet required delivery dates and contractual service commitments.
• Coordinate with suppliers to confirm cargo availability, packaging readiness, loading arrangements, and dispatch documentation.
• Work with Procurement to align freight planning with purchase orders, supplier contracts, sourcing strategies, and material requirements.
• Collaborate with Warehouse Operations to coordinate loading slots, cargo staging, dispatch preparation, and receiving capacity.
• Coordinate with Project Management teams to prioritize critical materials and equipment needed to maintain construction schedules.
• Identify freight requirements for urgent site deliveries, equipment replacements, emergency procurement, and time-sensitive project activities.
• Maintain visibility over shipments from collection through transit, customs clearance, final delivery, and proof of delivery.
• Use transportation management systems and carrier tracking platforms to monitor shipment status and identify potential delays.
• Investigate shipment exceptions and coordinate corrective actions with carriers, freight forwarders, suppliers, and internal stakeholders.
• Communicate revised estimated arrival times and delivery schedules to relevant project teams and business stakeholders.
• Escalate critical delays, missed connections, cargo damage, lost shipments, and other material transportation issues.
• Coordinate recovery plans to minimize the operational impact of delayed or disrupted shipments.
• Review freight quotations and compare carrier rates, surcharges, transit times, capacity availability, and service conditions.
• Support freight procurement activities by preparing requests for quotation, evaluating bids, and reviewing proposed transportation solutions.
• Analyze freight rate structures, fuel surcharges, terminal handling charges, documentation fees, demurrage, detention, and other relevant logistics costs.
• Negotiate transportation rates and service conditions with approved carriers and logistics providers within delegated authority.
• Monitor freight market trends and identify opportunities to improve purchasing leverage and transportation cost efficiency.
• Maintain accurate freight rate databases, carrier schedules, contract terms, service agreements, and approved pricing records.
• Evaluate carrier performance using cost, reliability, transit time, cargo handling quality, capacity, and customer service metrics.
• Support carrier selection and allocation decisions using established performance standards and operational requirements.
• Identify opportunities to establish preferred carrier arrangements, consolidate logistics volumes, and improve long-term freight procurement outcomes.
• Review freight invoices against quotations, bookings, contracts, shipment records, and agreed service rates.
• Investigate billing discrepancies, duplicate charges, unapproved surcharges, and unexpected transportation costs.
• Coordinate with Finance and Accounts Payable to resolve freight invoice disputes and ensure accurate payment processing.