Skypace is the ocean freight division of Maxton Shipping Inc., an FMC-licensed NVOCC (OTI license 027662) headquartered in California. Skypace runs ocean freight and 4PL programs for 200+ organizations in 20+ countries, under commercial contracts with nine ocean carriers.
Shippers with global supply bases buy ocean freight through annual bids, service contracts and allocation commitments, and they hold carriers and forwarders to the volumes and service levels agreed. Skypace buys the same way on behalf of its customers. Because contracted space, rate validity and partner reliability decide what can be quoted and delivered, carrier and partner sourcing is managed as a global category.
The Global Sourcing Manager, Ocean Carriers and Partner Network owns that category: service contracts and rate agreements with ocean carriers, and commercial agreements with the overseas partners who handle origin and destination services.
Compensation: $120,000 to $155,000 base salary, plus an annual bonus tied to contract performance.
Location: The Woodlands, TX, on site.
Category Scorecard:
- Contract rate against spot and index benchmarks, by trade lane;
- MQC attainment and allocation utilization per service contract;
- Tender response time for customer bids and renewals;
- Rate completeness in the platform: lanes quotable without a manual request;
- Carrier performance: schedule reliability against the market figure, rolled cargo, equipment availability;
- Partner performance: documentation accuracy, response time, milestone reporting, claims handling;
- Partner qualification: licensing, compliance and financial checks current.
What You Will Do:
Carrier sourcing and contracts
- Build the annual carrier sourcing plan by trade lane: volumes, MQC, allocation, equipment and free time terms;
- Negotiate service contracts, named account and FAK rates, surcharges and validity periods with ocean carriers;
- Track GRIs, PSS, blank sailings and capacity shifts, and adjust sourcing during the contract term;
- Monitor MQC attainment and allocation use, and rebalance volume across carriers.
Partner network
- Source, qualify and contract overseas partners for origin and destination services;
- Negotiate partner tariffs and service levels;
- Hold partners to scorecards: documentation accuracy, response time, milestone reporting, claims handling;
- Verify licensing, compliance and financial standing before activation and at renewal.
Bids and pricing support
- Support customer bids and renewals with carrier-backed rate structures and allocation plans;
- Validate rate applicability by lane, commodity and customer profile.
Rate data and platform
- Keep contract rates, surcharges, validity and routing rules current in the Skypace platform;
- Provide clean cost inputs for quoting, booking and freight audit.
Reviews and governance
- Lead business reviews with carrier account managers and overseas partners, and agree corrective actions;
- Direct the work of carrier representatives inside the sourcing plan.
Operational Interfaces:
- External: ocean carrier account managers and pricing desks, overseas partners, co-loaders;
- Skypace side: carrier representatives, sales and customer programs, operations and booking teams, finance.
You're a Fit If:
- 7+ years in ocean freight procurement, carrier management or global logistics sourcing, at a shipper, NVOCC or forwarder;
- Experience negotiating service contracts or running annual ocean bids: MQC, allocation, free time, surcharges;
- Experience building or managing an overseas agent or partner network;
- Working knowledge of FMC rules for NVOCC pricing: tariffs, NRAs and NSAs;
- Fluency in data and market indices, with advanced Excel and a BI tool;
- Clear communication with carrier, partner and customer stakeholders at manager and director level.
This role sets the commercial foundation of ocean freight execution at Skypace. Its contracts decide which lanes can be quoted, at what cost, and with what space behind the quote. Skypace applies structured systems to rate data and sourcing logic, and relies on experienced sourcing managers to read carrier markets and negotiate terms that hold through the contract year.
Professionally, the role gives continuous exposure to carrier markets, trade lane dynamics and partner networks across origin and destination countries.
