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.
Every door-to-door ocean shipment ends on a truck. Drayage, transload, warehousing and final delivery decide whether a container leaves the terminal inside free time and reaches the consignee on the promised date. Because inland cost and performance carry the door price and the delivery promise, the North American provider base is managed as a procurement category, with sourcing events, contracts, scorecards and business reviews.
The Logistics Category Manager, North America owns that category. The role sources, contracts and manages drayage, trucking, transload and warehousing providers across US ports and inland ramps, and keeps contracted rates current in the Skypace platform, where they feed door-to-door quotes.
Compensation: $100,000 to $135,000 base salary, plus an annual bonus tied to documented savings and provider performance.
Location: Houston, TX, on site.
Category Scorecard:
- Savings documented against baseline, by lane and provider;
- Rate coverage: port and ramp pairs with a contracted rate current in the platform;
- Sourcing cycle time from RFQ to award, and tender response time for customer bids;
- Provider performance: on-time pickup and delivery, tender acceptance, claims ratio;
- Inland charge exposure: chassis, per diem, storage and wait time;
- Provider compliance: insurance, operating authority, UIIA participation and safety records current;
- Business reviews delivered on schedule, corrective actions closed.
What You Will Do:
Category strategy and sourcing
- Build and maintain the category plan for drayage, trucking, transload and warehousing across US ports and inland ramps;
- Run sourcing events from RFI and RFQ through award recommendation and contract implementation;
- Analyze lanes, volumes, accessorials, fuel mechanisms and total landed cost to set negotiation targets;
- Benchmark contracted rates against market indices and spot movements.
Contracts and provider management
- Negotiate rate agreements, accessorial schedules and service levels with providers;
- Onboard providers and keep insurance, operating authority, UIIA participation and safety records current;
- Hold providers to scorecards and lead business reviews, escalations and corrective action plans;
- Develop backup capacity at congested ports and ramps.
Rate data and platform
- Maintain contracted inland rates, validity periods and service parameters in the Skypace platform;
- Ensure door quotes, drayage dispatch and freight audit read from clean, current rate data.
Internal coordination
- Support sales and customer programs with inland cost structures for bids and renewals;
- Work with drayage coordinators and operations on capacity, exceptions and claims;
- Work with finance on accruals, invoice variance and margin analysis.
Operational Interfaces:
- Provider side: drayage carriers, trucking companies, transload and warehouse operators, chassis providers;
- Skypace side: drayage coordination, operations, sales and customer programs, carrier procurement, finance.
You're a Fit If:
- 5+ years in transportation or logistics procurement, category management or carrier sourcing, at a shipper, 3PL or forwarder;
- Experience running RFQs or bid events and negotiating rate agreements for drayage, FTL, LTL, intermodal, transload or warehousing;
- Working knowledge of US port and ramp operations: free time, per diem, chassis, appointments, accessorials;
- Experience managing providers through scorecards, business reviews and corrective actions;
- Fluency in data: advanced Excel, a BI tool, a TMS or an ERP purchasing module;
- Knowledge of contract terms for transportation services, insurance and carrier compliance.
This role sets the inland cost base and the provider bench behind every door delivery Skypace promises. Its sourcing decisions show up in customer door prices, in charge exposure at the terminal and in delivery dates. Skypace applies structured systems to rate data and dispatch, and relies on experienced category managers to read the market and hold providers to contract.
Professionally, the role gives continuous exposure to US port and ramp markets, provider economics and the way contract terms meet live container moves.
