Job Title: Team Leader

RCS Grade: L

Job Location: DHL Global Forwarding, Freight (DGFF) GSC, India (Mumbai)

In this role, you will have the opportunity to lead a team of associates/members, and be responsible for process, stakeholder & employee management.

Key Responsibilities

1. Tender & Bid Management

• Lead the GSC pricing function for global, regional, and Ocean Commercial Centre requirements.
• Coordinate with Sales, Tender Management, and Regional Pricing teams to deliver accurate, competitive, and timely pricing solutions.
• Review and support complex pricing structures for high-value RFQs and long-term contracts.
• Ensure consistency of pricing across countries, trade lanes, and customer requirements.
• Support strategic business opportunities while maintaining commercial discipline and healthy margins.
• Monitor tender performance and identify opportunities to improve pricing effectiveness and win rates.

1. Sales Performance & Hit-Ratio Improvement

• Establish regular communication with Country Sales teams to understand business requirements, market challenges, and pricing opportunities.
• Analyze sales performance, quotation volumes, hit-ratio, conversion trends, and profitability to identify improvement opportunities.
• Identify key drivers of lost business and recommend actionable solutions to improve hit-ratio.
• Collaborate with Country Sales, Trade Management, and Regional Pricing teams to develop and implement hit-ratio improvement initiatives.
• Monitor the effectiveness of improvement initiatives and present sales performance, pricing insights, and recommendations to Business Partners and relevant leadership forums.

1. Cost Management & Commercial Optimization

• Support cost of sales optimization in collaboration with Trade Management, Procurement, Carrier Management, and other relevant stakeholders.
• Analyze local charges, origin and destination handling, pickup and delivery costs, and other cost components to identify improvement opportunities.
• Support the review of buying conditions and their impact on customer profitability.
• Ensure cost-related information is accurately reflected in pricing solutions and relevant systems.
• Coordinate with stakeholders to support the timely resolution of cost and rate disputes.

1. Stakeholder Engagement & Business Reviews

• Act as the primary GSC pricing interface for assigned countries, regions, trade lanes, and customer segments.
• Collaborate with Sales, Trade Lane Managers, Carrier Management, Procurement, Tender Management, and Regional / Global Pricing Offices.
• Build strong working relationships with internal and external stakeholders to support pricing delivery and commercial objectives.
• Participate in and support Business Reviews (BRMs) with Business Partners and relevant stakeholders.
• Prepare and deliver presentations on pricing performance, hit-ratio, profitability, operational performance, and improvement initiatives.
• Identify and share best practices across countries to improve pricing effectiveness and operational performance.

1. Data Governance, Compliance & Process Excellence

• Support data quality, audit readiness, and compliance requirements across the pricing function.
• Drive process improvement initiatives to enhance pricing workflows, turnaround time, and operational efficiency.
• Identify opportunities for automation, standardization, and digitalization of pricing processes.
• Support the timely resolution of rate disputes and service delivery issues.
• Ensure effective implementation of process changes and continuous improvement initiatives.

1. Team Leadership & People Development

• Supervise staff in accordance with company policies and procedures.
• Establish employee goals and conduct employee performance reviews.
• Provide inputs towards staff scheduling, including work assignments / rotations, employee training, vacations, breaks, overtime assignments, back-up for absent employees, and shift rotations.
• Allocate resources and set priorities to support pricing requests, tenders, and strategic projects.
• Monitor team performance against agreed service levels, quality, productivity, turnaround time, and key deliverables.
• Lead, coach, and develop a team of pricing specialists, fostering a high-performance and customer-focused culture.
• Conduct periodic team meetings to discuss productivity, performance, feedback, and development needs.
• Assist staff in resolving complex problems and ensure effective quality control.
• Drive employee engagement and customer satisfaction initiatives.
• Ensure effective knowledge management, process training, and succession planning.

1. Process Improvement & Change Management

• Evaluate department processes and recommend required changes based on process analysis.
• Work closely with colleagues in the business to identify solutions, best practices, and KPIs to improve existing processes.
• Participate in problem-solving and process improvement initiatives with the Team Manager and relevant stakeholders.
• Support and manage transitions and change management initiatives.
• Identify opportunities to improve pricing accuracy, turnaround time, productivity, and customer satisfaction.
• Support the implementation of standardized processes and continuous improvement initiatives across the GSC pricing function.

Key Stakeholders

Country Sales | Regional & Global Pricing | Trade Management | Tender Management | Procurement & Carrier Management | Business Partners | Service Delivery

Required Skills / Abilities

• Graduate (Bachelor’s degree from a recognized university in any discipline).
• Minimum 5 years of experience in team management, preferably in a pricing, commercial operations, or GSC / shared services environment.
• Experience in freight forwarding pricing, commercial operations, tender management, or related logistics functions.
• Strong understanding of Ocean Freight pricing.
• Experience managing RFQs, tenders, pricing analysis, and commercial performance.
• Proven experience in leading large teams of 20+ employees.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to convert data into commercial actions.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with experience working with countries and senior Business Partners.
• Strong presentation and Business Review skills.
• Experience in process improvement, automation, and operational excellence is preferred.
• Strong people management, communication, and interpersonal skills.
• Good knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Ability to manage transitions and change initiatives.
• Strong logistics experience and commercial understanding.