Operations Specialist III, Aerospace & Defense (US)

Openkrill; United States; Remote; USD 36,000 - 41,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, vision, and dental care

401K with company contribution

Professional learning and training

Job summary

Airspace in Carlsbad, CA is seeking an Operations Specialist III to balance cost, speed, and customer impact on time-critical logistics. You will resolve the hardest escalations, coach teammates, and maintain sector-specific compliance while training on-site in Carlsbad.

Join a fast-growing team that values accountability, professional development, and collaboration. You’ll work with Zendesk, Twilio, and live dashboards to drive operational excellence and margin preservation.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated success as an Operations Specialist II with complex, time-critical logistics escalations.
• Working knowledge of margin and cost tradeoffs, and comfort applying that knowledge to real-time approval decisions.
• Deep, near-expert familiarity with the trade, regulatory, and compliance requirements relevant to your sector.
• Track record of coaching or supporting less-tenured teammates through difficult issues.
• Sound judgement under pressure, with a track record of getting ahead of problems.
• Willingness to obtain additional certifications, where applicable within your sector.
• Available for 2 weeks of training in person on-site in our Carlsbad, CA headquarters

Responsibilities

• Independently resolve all escalated issues using available resources with minimal to no assistance.
• Assist in resolving team member escalations and questions.
• Anticipate problems before they surface and act early.
• Understand margin versus total cost for an order and apply that knowledge to additional charge approvals.
• Balance speed, cost, and customer impact when making big-picture decisions.
• Maintain deep, practiced knowledge of the trade, regulatory, and compliance requirements relevant to your sector.
• Serve as the go-to resource on sector-specific process nuance and edge cases within the team.
• Flag SOP gaps and suggest improvements to your supervisor based on frontline experience.
• Uphold team expectations by leading through example.
• Maintain any certifications required for your assigned sector and stay current on related compliance requirements; assist teammates with related questions.

Skills

Escalation resolution

Decision making under pressure

Coaching teammates

Margin tradeoffs

Regulatory knowledge

Tools

Zendesk

Twilio

Live dashboards

Job description

Company Introduction:

Airspace is a tech-enabled freight forwarder that’s redefining how the world’s most critical packages are delivered. Headquartered in Carlsbad, California, Airspace has employees who are based around the world. Our European headquarters is in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

As a recognized leader in AI and machine learning, our team leverages data and patented technology to coordinate logistics across a global network of drivers and airlines. Our goal is to deliver those packages that are truly mission-critical in a way that is faster, more transparent, more secure, and more accountable than ever before. The items we deliver range from organs for transplant, to parts for critical machinery including grounded aircraft and highly sensitive components such as semiconductors.

Airspace has been rated one of America’s best Startup Employers and listed as one of CNBC’s Disruptor 50 companies. Airspace has the support of leading investors such as Telstra Ventures, HarbourVest Partners, Defy Partners, DBL Partners, and Scale Ventures. To date the company has raised more than $140m.

The company is growing rapidly and serving more places around the world than ever before. We are looking for passionate, motivated individuals who want to make an IMPACT every day to help us execute on our mission of reshaping the world of time-critical logistics.

Be the Team's Deepest Problem-Solver

Every ops floor needs a small number of people who can be handed the hardest problem in the queue and trusted to get it right — balancing cost, speed, and customer impact without defaulting to escalation. As an Operations Specialist III, you're that person for your team.

You resolve what OS I and OS II can't, you help the team solve it themselves next time, and you understand the business well enough to make the close calls — which carrier, which cost, which tradeoff — that protect both service quality and margin. For the rare issue that needs to be fielded by someone supporting Ops leadership and account managers directly, you know when to bring in an Ops Expert.

What You'll Do

Must be able to perform all responsibilities included in the Operations Specialist II job description, in addition to the following:

Resolve the Hardest Escalations

• Independently resolve all escalated issues using available resources with minimal to no assistance
• Assist in resolving team member escalations and questions
• Anticipate problems before they surface and act early

Make the Margin and Cost Tradeoffs

• Understand margin versus total cost for an order and apply that knowledge to additional charge approvals
• Balance speed, cost, and customer impact when making big-picture decisions, without defaulting to escalation (e.g., choosing a carrier based on service reliability and error-rate history rather than the fastest or cheapest option alone)
• Maintain deep, practiced knowledge of the trade, regulatory, and compliance requirements relevant to your assigned sector

Set the Standard for the Team

• Serve as the go-to resource on sector-specific process nuance and edge cases within the team
• Flag SOP gaps and suggest improvements to your supervisor based on frontline experience
• Uphold team expectations by leading through example
• Maintain any certifications required for your assigned sector and stay current on related compliance requirements; assist teammates with related questions

Maintain a Balanced Level of Performance

As an OS III, you'll be expected to maintain minimal to no errors or service failures, make sound decisions under pressure, and meet the customer service standards appropriate for this level. Specific metrics vary by sector and will be communicated by your direct reporting supervisor.

Requirements

• Demonstrated success as an Operations Specialist II, or equivalent experience independently resolving complex, time-critical logistics escalations
• Working knowledge of margin and cost tradeoffs, and comfort applying that knowledge to real-time approval decisions
• Deep, near-expert familiarity with the trade, regulatory, and compliance requirements relevant to your sector
• Track record of coaching or supporting less-tenured teammates through difficult issues
• Sound judgment under pressure, with a track record of getting ahead of problems rather than reacting to them
• Willingness to obtain additional certifications, where applicable within your sector
• Available for 2 weeks of training in person on-site in our Carlsbad, CA headquarters

Advancement to Ops Expert

Ops Expert is a step up in scope, not just tenure: it moves from executing within your sector to being the escalation point leadership and account managers turn to directly, with elevated coaching and live-operations responsibility. To advance, you'll need to demonstrate all of the following:

• Minimum of 9-12 months in the OS III role
• Consistently meeting or exceeding OS III performance standards, tracked through ongoing 1:1 check-ins and confirmed across two consecutive Semi-Annual Reviews (SARs)
• Demonstrated ability to guide teammates in real time — catching and correcting issues as they happen, not just after the fact
• Working familiarity with monitoring and resourcing tools (e.g., Zendesk, Twilio, live dashboards) beyond your own queue
• Willingness to obtain additional certifications required for the Expert tier, where applicable, in addition to your existing sector certifications
• Manager recommendation, confirming readiness to operate as the sector's top escalation resource and take on informal team-leadership responsibility

Compensation

• Hourly pay range: $26-30/hr
• High-quality health, vision, and dental care plan options
• 401K company contribution program
• Professional learning and training reimbursements

Core Values:

• We are One Team. We believe we all accomplish more when we are working together.
• We make an Impact. We are determined to have a positive influence on our environment, our customers, our industry, and our world.
• We are Passionate. We care deeply about our mission and are not afraid to raise the bar.
• We are Transparent. We pride ourselves on having open, honest, and sincere communication with our team and customers.
• We are Innovative. We never settle and are always striving to improve our product, service, and ourselves.

Airspace is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affir... Airspace participates in the E-Verify program for all locations.

A friendly reminder: Airspace will only contact candidates from an @airspace.com email, a no-reply notification from [e-mail], or a verified LinkedIn profile. We never request fees or sensitive personal/financial information during recruiting. If something seems suspicious or feels off, please reach out to us at [e-mail] before responding.

For this role the acquisition of recruitment agencies is not appreciated, thank you for your understanding.