Amazon Global Logistics is reshaping how goods move across the world's oceans, and this Principal role is central to that transformation. By driving strategic carrier partnerships and optimizing ocean freight economics, you will directly lower Amazon's cost structure, fueling the flywheel of lower prices, broader selection, and better customer experience.
As Principal, Ocean Freight Business Development, you will own Amazon's non-vessel operating common carrier (NVOCC) commercial strategy across multiple geographies and trade lanes. You will serve as the recognized authority on ocean freight partnerships, influencing VP-level leaders, shaping competitive positioning, and setting the strategic direction for how Amazon procures and manages ocean capacity. This is a high-impact individual contributor role requiring deep industry expertise, commercial rigor, and the ability to drive alignment across complex, cross-functional organizations without direct authority.
Key job responsibilities
- Own and set the multi-year ocean freight strategy, defining the roadmap for carrier partnerships, rate structures, and market expansion across global trade lanes, with measurable impact on cost and capacity at the division level
- Lead high-value negotiations with carrier C-suite executives, structuring Negotiated Rate Arrangements and service agreements that balance cost optimization with supply chain resilience across 20+ trade lanes
- Serve as the enterprise-wide authority on NVOCC market dynamics, advising senior leadership on competitive positioning, regulatory shifts, and emerging opportunities that influence logistics strategy across multiple organizations
- Drive cross-functional alignment across operations, finance, legal, and technology, building frameworks and mechanisms that scale carrier partnerships while influencing product and systems roadmaps
- Identify and incubate new commercial models (capacity guarantees, revenue-sharing arrangements, co-investment structures) that differentiate Amazon's freight forwarding capabilities and create durable competitive advantage
A day in the life
You open the day analyzing trade lane performance data and market rate movements to inform a strategic recommendation. Mid-morning, you lead a negotiation with a major carrier's commercial leadership to finalize terms on a multi-market agreement. After lunch, you join a cross-functional working session with operations and technology teams on a new carrier integration. You close the day preparing a strategic brief for your VP on a market entry opportunity you identified through competitive analysis.
About the team
Amazon Global Logistics moves freight across oceans, skies, and continents to deliver for customers worldwide. Our NVOCC team builds and manages the carrier relationships that keep goods flowing through Amazon's international supply chain. We combine deep industry expertise with Amazon's technology and scale to challenge how global freight forwarding works. We are builders, negotiators, and strategists who obsess over cost, speed, and reliability.
