Freight Operations, Team Leader

First Logistics; Sydney; On-site; AUD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

First Logistics Australia is seeking an experienced Freight Forwarding Operations Team Leader in Prestons, NSW. You will lead and develop our Airfreight, FCL and LCL operations team, coaching staff and ensuring smooth freight desks across Australia and offshore teams.

You’ll be the senior operational contact for the team, stepping in on desks as required, while maintaining margins, resolving issues and driving process improvements.

Qualifications

• Hands-on leadership of freight operations across Airfreight, FCL and LCL.
• Strong people leadership and coaching mindset.
• Solid grounding in Australian customs, DAFF/biosecurity compliance, dangerous goods, and Incoterms.
• Experience collaborating with offshore team members.
• Strong problem solving with recommendations, not just escalation.
• Commercial awareness of freight margins and costs.
• Willingness to own issues and lead resolution.
• CargoWise experience preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop our freight operators, building capability and confidence.
• Be the senior operational point of contact across Airfreight, FCL and LCL.
• Step onto any freight desk during leave periods as needed.
• Maintain visibility over file margins and cost erosion; identify issues early.
• Monitor workload and ensure appropriate resourcing with the Ops Manager.
• Identify gaps and opportunities to improve processes and efficiency.
• Know customers and their freight; connect new volumes to sales.

Skills

Airfreight

FCL

LCL

Leadership

Coaching

Customs/DAFF

Incoterms

Offshore team

Problem solving

Freight margins

CargoWise

Tools

CargoWise

Job description

We're looking for an experienced freight professional who knows international freight inside out, enjoys developing people, and wants to play a key role in a growing logistics business.

First Logistics Australia is a second-generation, freight forwarding and logistics business. Since 2004, we have built our business around long-term relationships, responsive service and a team that genuinely works together. Today, our approximately 20-person team manages international air and sea freight, customs, transport and 3PL warehousing across Australia and New Zealand. We're growing, our freight volumes are increasing, and our operations team is expanding.

We're now looking for a Freight Forwarding Operations Team Leader to be on the ground, full-time in our Prestons office, leading and developing our Airfreight, FCL and LCL freight operations team.

The Opportunity

Reporting directly to our Operations Manager, you'll lead and support our freight operations team across Airfreight, FCL, LCL, bookings and data entry, working with both our Australian and offshore team members.

This is a hands-on leadership role. You'll be the person your team turns to when a shipment becomes complicated, a transhipment goes sideways, there's a DAFF hold, or a customer needs a confident answer quickly.

But we don't want you simply taking the difficult files away from your operators. We want you sitting beside them, helping them work through the problem and building their knowledge and confidence so they're better equipped to handle it next time. You'll also remain operationally current and be comfortable stepping onto an Airfreight, FCL or LCL desk when senior involvement is required or to provide leave coverage.

Developing your team is a core part of this role.

What You'll Own

Leadership & Development

Coach, guide and develop our freight operators, building capability and confidence across the team.

Technical Guidance & Escalation

Be the freight team’s senior operational point of contact across Airfreight, FCL and LCL.

Operational Coverage

Be capable of stepping onto any freight desk when required, particularly during leave periods.

Margin & Cost Discipline

Maintain visibility over file margins and cost erosion and identify issues early.

Workload Management

Understand how your team is coping, identify pressure points and work with the Operations Manager to ensure appropriate resourcing.

Process Improvement

Identify gaps, inefficiencies and opportunities to improve the way we work, then help build the solution.

Commercial Awareness

Know your customers and their freight. When you identify new volumes, changing lanes or opportunities we are not currently capturing, connect the dots with our sales team.

What We're Looking For

You’ll need:

• Strong, current hands-on operational experience across Airfreight, FCL and LCL

• Genuine people leadership experience

• A natural coaching mindset and a desire to develop others

• Solid grounding in Australian customs, DAFF/biosecurity compliance, dangerous goods and Incoterms

• Experience working effectively with offshore team members

• Strong problem-solving skills and the confidence to make recommendations rather than simply escalating problems

• Commercial awareness and an understanding of freight margins and costs

• The ability to take ownership when things don't go to plan

CargoWise experience is strongly preferred, but it isn't necessarily a deal-breaker. If you have excellent multimodal freight knowledge and strong leadership experience, we're happy to talk.

Why First Logistics Australia?

We're big enough to provide variety, opportunity and career progression, but small enough that your ideas are heard and decisions can actually be made.

You’ll have:

• Direct access to our Operations Manager and business owners

• A structured handover and training period alongside our Operations Manager and existing Freight Team Leader

• Genuine responsibility for developing your team

• The opportunity to influence and improve our freight operation

• A growing business where roles evolve as the business grows

• The freedom to identify something that isn't working and help us fix it

• A supportive, team-focused working environment

Most importantly, we're looking for someone who wants to lead from within the operation. Someone who knows freight, enjoys solving problems, develops people and takes pride in building a strong team around them.

Interested?

We'd love to hear from you.

If you're an experienced freight professional who knows Airfreight, FCL and LCL, enjoys developing people and is ready to take genuine ownership of a team and its operation, we'd like to hear from you.