Road Freight Commercial Manager - UAE

DHL Global Forwarding; Dubai; On-site; AED 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

DHL Global Forwarding, the air, ocean and road freight specialist, seeks a Road Freight Commercial Manager for the UAE. You will lead pricing, RFQ management and the development of competitive road freight solutions for intra-Gulf and cross-border traffic, partnering with sales, operations and procurement.

The role focuses on profitable growth, performance analysis and cross-country collaboration. Ideal candidates bring 10+ years in freight forwarding, strong English communication, and proven

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Logistics, Supply Chain, Transportation or related discipline.
• Significant commercial/pricing experience within freight forwarding, transportation or logistics.
• Strong knowledge of UAE/GCC Road Freight, including FTL, LTL and cross-border transport.
• Experience in RFQs, tenders, costing and commercial negotiations.
• Vendor management, spend analysis and vendor performance management experience.
• Experience designing customer solutions and driving innovation in transport or logistics.
• Experience implementing or managing automated costing/pricing tools.
• Strong understanding of transport cost structures, margins and profitability.
• Experience collaborating with Sales, Operations and Procurement.
• Strong Excel and commercial reporting tool proficiency; quantitative mindset.
• Excellent English communication and presentation skills.
• Previous team-management experience preferred.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute UAE Road Freight commercial strategy.
• Lead pricing and RFQ management to ensure competitive, profitable solutions.
• Drive pricing performance through costing, tender management and automation.
• Own RFQ response process from bid/no-bid through submission.
• Track RFQ hit ratio by customer and trade lane to improve competitiveness.
• Establish costing methodology and validation for quotations.
• Design and implement auto costing for Road Freight in collaboration with IT/Finance/Procurement.
• Coordinate with Procurement and Operations for competitive transporter rates.
• Maintain pricing tools and data for quotations.
• Develop cross-country commercial opportunities with Gulf stakeholders.
• Monitor profitability and performance of Road Freight portfolio.

Skills

Commercial negotiation

Pricing strategy

Vendor negotiation

RFQ management

Costing automation

Cross-functional collaboration

Data analytics

Problem solving

Business development

Multi-country coordination

Leadership

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Logistics, Supply Chain, Transportation or related discipline

Significant commercial/pricing experience within freight forwarding, transportation or logistics

Strong knowledge of UAE/GCC Road Freight, including FTL, LTL & cross-border transportation

Experience in RFQs, tenders, costing & commercial negotiations

Vendor management, spend analysis & vendor performance management experience

Experience designing customer solutions & driving innovation in transport or logistics

Experience implementing or managing automated costing/pricing tools

Strong understanding of transport cost structures, margins & profitability

Experience working across Sales, Operations & Procurement

Strong Excel and commercial reporting tool proficiency; quantitative mindset

Excellent English communication & presentation skills

Previous team-management experience preferred

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

Job Description:

Would you like to be part of the most international company in the world? A company operating in more than 220 countries worldwide and has been pioneering cross-border express shipping since 1969. Would you like to be part of a business that connects people across the globe and want to make a difference? DHL Global Forwarding, Freight (DGFF) is the Group's air, ocean, and road freight specialist. We offer standardized transport as well as highly specialized end-to-end solutions to customers in a wide range of industries globally.

Job purpose:

• The Road Freight Commercial Manager drives commercial development, pricing effectiveness, & profitable growth for the UAE Road Freight product while supporting other Gulf countries specifically Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar & Saudi Arabia.
• The role will lead the Road Freight Commercial Center for the UAE supporting Gulf region, ensuring competitive and commercially sustainable pricing for domestic, intra-Gulf & international road freight opportunities while supporting Sales, Operations & other product teams in developing & retaining profitable business. The role also owns the right-fit customer solution, innovative service design & automated costing capability for the region.
• A key focus of the position is strengthening commercial discipline across LTL, FTL, & domestic trucking in country; improving RFQ effectiveness & hit ratio; developing competitive & innovative solutions for strategic trade lanes; managing transport vendors & spend through a quantitative, fact-based approach; & ensuring close alignment between customer requirements, transport procurement, operational capability, & profitability.
• The position should act as the commercial bridge between Sales, Road Freight Operations, Procurement & regional/global Road Freight stakeholders, converting market opportunities into competitive, executable & profitable solutions.

DHL Global Forwarding has an opening Road Freight Commercial Manager - UAE in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Join us in connecting people and improving lives!

In this Road Freight Commercial Manager - UAE position

Commercial Strategy & Business Development

• Develop & execute the UAE Road Freight commercial strategy in alignment with overall Road Freight & country objectives while supporting other Gulf countries
• Support strategic customer development and create competitive road freight solutions to maximize revenue, profitability, and market share.
• Identify growth opportunities across existing & new customers, products & trade lanes.
• Support Sales in customer acquisition, retention & development of strategic Road Freight accounts.
• Develop commercially attractive solutions covering LTL, FTL, domestic transportation & cross-border movements.
• Monitor market developments, competitor activity, capacity trends & customer requirements.
• Support development of new lanes & service offerings based on customer demand & network capability.
• Work closely with Gulf/regional stakeholders to develop cross-country commercial opportunities & a consistent market approach.
• Identify & resolve recurring issues & suggest modifications related to transport operations focusing on increasing effectiveness & efficiency, & controlling costs
• May provide functional guidance, advice or training to less experienced positions

Pricing & RFQ Management

• Lead & own the Road Freight pricing function & provide direction to the Pricing team.
• Lead Road Freight pricing and RFQ management to ensure competitive, profitable, and timely commercial solutions.
• Drive pricing performance through effective costing, tender management, automation, and continuous improvement of win rates and margins.
• Manage RFQs, tenders & spot-quotation requirements from receipt through final commercial submission.
• Own the end-to-end RFQ response process, including bid/no-bid decisions, solution design, costing, commercial review, submission & follow-up.
• Track & improve RFQ hit ratio (RFQs won vs. submitted) by customer, trade lane, country & quotation type, & act on the findings.
• Ensure pricing is competitive while protecting required margins & profitability.
• Establish a clear & consistent costing methodology & commercial validation for quotations
• Lead the design, implementation & continuous improvement of auto costing (automated, rule-based quotation costing) for Road Freight, working with IT, Finance, Procurement & Operations to keep rate & cost inputs accurate.
• Review major or strategic quotations before submission.
• Coordinate with Procurement & Operations to secure competitive transporter rates & sustainable capacity.
• Maintain & continuously improve pricing tools, rate databases & quotation processes.
• Analyze lost & won quotations, including hit ratio trends & price gap to competitors, to identify opportunities to improve competitiveness & conversion.
• Ensure timely turnaround of pricing requests & RFQs.

Trade Lane & Product Development

• Develop competitive pricing & commercial strategies for key intra-Gulf & cross-border corridors between the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman & KSA.
• Maintain a strong understanding of route structure, transit requirements, border considerations & carrier capacity.
• Work with Operations & Procurement to develop new Road Freight services & expand existing trade lanes.
• Identify opportunities to consolidate volumes & improve LTL network competitiveness.
• Develop solutions for complex or non-standard customer requirements together with operational stakeholders.

Customer Solutions & Innovation

• Ensure the right solution is offered to each customer by understanding requirements, volumes, service expectations & operational constraints before pricing & responding.
• Work on innovative road freight solutions (for example consolidation, multi-country & milk-run models, dedicated fleets, network-based LTL offerings & multimodal combinations) together with Operations, Procurement & other product teams.
• Review solution designs for operational feasibility & profitability before commitment to the customer.
• Capture customer & market feedback & turn it into new or improved service offerings.
• Promote reuse of successful solutions & best practices across Gulf countries.

Vendor Management & Spend Analysis

• Lead vendor (transporter) management for Road Freight together with Transport Procurement, including vendor selection, onboarding, rate negotiation, capacity commitments & contract terms.
• Establish vendor performance management using a quantitative scorecard covering cost competitiveness, service quality, on-time performance, capacity reliability, claims & compliance; hold regular performance reviews & drive improvement actions.
• Perform regular spend analysis by vendor, country, trade lane & service type to identify savings, consolidation, rate-benchmarking & vendor-mix opportunities.
• Monitor vendor concentration & dependency, & develop alternative capacity to protect service continuity & cost.
• Link vendor rates & spend data to the auto costing tool & rate databases so quotations reflect actual market & contracted costs.

Profitability & Performance Management

• Monitor the commercial performance & profitability of the Road Freight portfolio.
• Review pricing levels, margins, volumes & commercial performance by customer & trade lane.
• Identify underperforming business & initiate corrective commercial actions.
• Ensure quotations account appropriately for transportation costs & material cost volatility.
• Support budgeting, forecasting & business planning activities.
• Develop actionable commercial KPIs & provide regular performance updates to Road Freight management.
• Apply a quantitative approach to evaluate performance of the commercial function, the pricing team, vendors & customers, using defined targets & trend analysis.
• Report regularly on key metrics including RFQ hit ratio, margin & gross profit, volume, quotation turnaround time, vendor performance & spend against budget.
• Balance revenue growth with sustainable gross profit & operational feasibility.
• Maintain close collaboration with International Trucking, Domestic Trucking & relevant service-center teams.

Stakeholders

• Head of Road Freight UAE
• Road Freight Commercial/Pricing Team
• International & Domestic Trucking Operations
• Transport Procurement
• Transporters & vendors
• IT / Digital teams (auto costing & reporting tools)
• Customer Service
• Finance
• Regional/Gulf Road Freight & sales organization
• Other freight-product teams where integrated solutions are required

Management Responsibilities:

• Lead & manage the Road Freight Commercial Center, including the Pricing team.
• Set clear objectives, priorities & performance expectations for the team.
• Coach & develop team members to strengthen commercial, pricing, RFQ & Road Freight product competencies.

Now, here is what we need from you!

• Commercial negotiation & contract management
• Strong commercial & business acumen
• Carrier & vendor negotiation
• Vendor performance managementSpend analysis
• Microsoft Office & reporting skills
• Strong problem-solving & decision-making capability
• Business development & opportunity management
• Quantitative & analytical performance measurement (KPIs, hit ratio, cost & margin analysis)
• Solution design & innovation
• Costing automation & pricing tools. Ability to work across multiple countries & cultures.

Education Level

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Logistics, Supply Chain, Transportation or a related discipline.
• Significant commercial/pricing experience within freight forwarding, transportation or logistics.
• Strong knowledge of UAE/GCC Road Freight, particularly FTL, LTL & cross-border transportation.
• Demonstrated experience in RFQs, tenders, costing & commercial negotiations.
• Experience in vendor management, spend analysis & vendor performance management.
• Experience designing customer solutions & driving innovation in transport or logistics services.
• Experience in implementing or managing automated costing/pricing tools.
• Strong understanding of transport cost structures, margins & profitability.
• Experience working across Sales, Operations & Procurement.
• Strong analytical capability & a quantitative, data-driven approach to measuring performance, with proficiency in Excel & commercial reporting tools.
• Excellent English communication & presentation skills.
• Previous team-management experience strongly preferred.

Experience Level

• More than 10 years with main experience in freight forwarding organization.

We offer:

• Opportunities in a global company where you can contribute your ideas and skills to move towards our shared goals.
• Possible further career development
• Competitive salary

Why join DHL Global Forwarding?

We are part of Deutsche Post DHL, the world’s leading logistics provider with operations in over 220 countries. Visit our career site on the web at https://www.logistics.dhl/us-en/home/careers.html

Our Vision:

The Logistics Company for the World.

Our Mission:

Excellence. Simply Delivered.

Our Purpose:

Connecting People, improving lives.

Our Values:

Respect & Results

Our Goals:

Employer, Provider, and Investment of Choice, Living Responsibility

DHL Global Forwarding is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, and other legally protected characteristics.

Requirements: