Senior Freight Forwarding Operations & Process Specialist (Remote | Full-time)

Hours: 40 hrs/week | Rate: USD 5–7/hr | Start: ASAP | Location: Remote | Contract: Long-term
Pay: Weekly | Trial: 2-week paid trial (performance-based continuation + possible immediate rate increase)

ABOUT VLYOU
VLYOU builds and runs smooth operations for clients. Our core is process excellence: clear standards, checklists, quality control, and continuous improvement, supported by automation and AI. We are not just executing their processes, we are defining them and improving their service delivery by doing so. We are small (one person in The Netherlands and four in the Philipines), but have great ambitions to grow our business and we need you to do that.

Your primary assignment will be supporting our client CargoCare NL (freight forwarding). Over time you may also support other clients (including our own E-commerce website ---------- ) when priorities shift and it fits your personal interests and skills.

ROLE SUMMARY
We’re hiring a Freight Forwarding Operations & Process Specialist who can execute freight forwarding work with high quality and also think in processes and process improvement.
You will start by executing existing SOPs (so you can contribute fast), and gradually expand into documenting/improving SOPs together with the team and the client.

WHAT YOU’LL DO (EXECUTION FIRST, THEN IMPROVEMENT)
Execution (primary in the beginning)
• Run day-to-day freight forwarding tasks using existing SOPs and checklists - Our standards support you while your skills lead the way.
• Create / maintain shipment files in our freight forwarding software Scope (Riege) and keep data clean and up to date.
• Monitor carrier updates and schedule changes (ETD/ETA changes, amendments) and process them correctly.
• Submit / verify shipping milestones and key portal actions (e.g., VGM / Shipping Instructions in carrier portals when required).
• Coordinate documents and stakeholders: booking confirmations/amendments, pre-alerts, transport documents (HBL/MBL/CMR), handovers, and follow-ups for missing information.
• Provide proactive, consolidated status updates to avoid surprises.

Quality & escalation (always)
• Work with high standards: accuracy, completeness, and clear documentation. Quality first, efficiency second.
• Use checklists, QA steps, and “four-eyes” principles where required.
• Follow exception & escalation standards: escalate early with educated, targeted questions (not vague open questions).

Process building (grows over time)
• Help improve existing SOPs and create new SOPs in Notion (process documentation + continuous improvement).
• Identify recurring issues/root causes and propose fixes (process, checklist, tooling, automation, training).

MUST-HAVES
• At least 3 years of Freight forwarding experience within the last 5 years is required (you understand the logistics world and can get productive and proactive quickly). Note: this is a hard requirement!
• Fluent in English (C2 or higher), both spoken and written - communication is the foundation for quality
• Strong attention to detail and a “quality-first” mindset.
• Proactive communicator: clear updates, ownership, and initiative.
• Process mindset: you can follow SOPs precisely and also improve them.
• Comfortable using AI to work faster and better (drafting, checking, summarizing, creating checklists/SOPs).
• Stable internet + your own computer.

NICE-TO-HAVES
• Experience to work with European companies, or even better, in The Netherlands (Rotterdam Port)
• Experience with Scope (Riege) or similar forwarding systems (pré, not required).
• Customs coordination experience and/or Recruitment or staffing support experience (pré), as we may expand activities in those areas.
• Experience with process optimization / SOP writing / (AI) automation.

COMPENSATION & GROWTH
• Start at $5–7/hr (weekly payments) - we pay in Euro (Euro range: €4 - 6). Starting payment is defined based on relevant experience.
• 2-week paid trial: if performance is above expectations, rate can be increased immediately up to 10% - so show us everything you've got! ;-).
• Twice-per-year salary review (max 20% increase per year).
• Quarterly team bonus up to one week salary per quarter (plus occasional extra bonuses).

WORKING HOURS:
• Flexible, as long as we (as a team) can deliver excellent service to our customers. In practice, we see most activities are expected to take place between 08:00 and 18:00 CET, Monday to Friday.

AVAILABILITY / FOCUS
We need someone dedicated. If you currently have other obligations, that’s okay on the short term — but you must be transparent. We understand you might need some time to free yourself from other obligations. Long-term, we expect full focus on our work (no ongoing side freelance jobs). That is: we accept that you spend some time on other obligations in the first month, but expect full dedication after that. We are flexible and we believe acceptable working hours will help to promote health and stay focused, so we don't expect you to work day and night, but we do have a hard rule of not taking up any other work- or study when working for us to avoid conflicting situations.

HOW TO APPLY (IMPORTANT – REQUIRED)
To be considered, you MUST answer the questions below in numbered format. Applications that skip questions will be rejected without explanation - we want to focus our time on candidates who are considering their application the way we would like you to put attention on your work.
Also: start your application message with the word “VESSEL”.

1) Freight forwarding background: years of experience, import/export, sea/air/road, and your typical responsibilities.
2) Describe 1 real example of an exception you handled (e.g., schedule change, missing docs, portal issue). What did you do and how did you communicate it?
3) Describe a SOP/checklist you followed or created/improved. How did you ensure quality (QA / four-eyes / error prevention)?
4) Confirm: (a) you can work ~40 hrs/week, (b) your expected hourly rate within €4 - 6/hr, (c) when you can start, and (d) any obligations in the next 3 months that could impact availability (job/study/family/holidays). Honesty is valued.

Looking forward to your submission.

Kind regards,

Koen van Dam
Owner VLYOU Value Creation & ----------