Principal, Ocean Freight Business Development

Based in Bellevue, Washington and onsite, this principal level role owns Amazon's NVOCC ocean freight commercial strategy across geographies and trade lanes, shaping partnerships and rate structures to reduce costs and improve service. It demands deep industry expertise and cross-functional alignment as a high-impact individual contributor.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute a multi-year ocean freight strategy, establishing the framework for carrier partnerships, pricing structures, and market expansion across global trade lanes, with measurable improvements in cost and capacity at the division level.
• Lead strategic negotiations with carrier executives at the C-suite level, designing Negotiated Rate Arrangements and service agreements that balance cost efficiency with supply chain resilience across more than 20 trade lanes.
• Serve as the enterprise authority on NVOCC market dynamics, advising senior leadership on competitive positioning, regulatory developments, and emerging opportunities shaping logistics strategy across multiple organizations.
• Foster cross-functional alignment across operations, finance, legal, and technology, establishing frameworks to scale carrier partnerships and influence product and systems roadmaps.
• Identify and pilot new commercial models such as capacity guarantees, revenue-sharing arrangements, and co-investment structures to differentiate Amazon's freight forwarding capabilities and sustain a durable competitive advantage.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in operations, customer service, retail, distribution, shipping, logistics, healthcare, hospitality, or manufacturing, or five years of relevant professional work experience outside of internships.
• Bachelor's degree in Business, Logistics, Business Engineering, Supply Chain, or a closely related field.
• 10+ years of experience in business development, commercial strategy, or strategic partnerships within ocean freight, logistics, or freight forwarding.
• Proven track record of setting and delivering multi-year commercial strategies with measurable impact across multiple geographies or business units.
• Experience negotiating complex contracts with C-suite or VP-level external stakeholders.
• Experience influencing cross-functional teams and senior leadership in matrixed organizations without direct authority.

Benefits

• Comprehensive health benefits including medical, dental, vision, and prescription coverage, Basic Life and AD&D insurance with optional supplemental life, Employee Assistance Program, mental health support, Medical Advice Line, Flexible Spending Accounts, and adoption and surrogacy reimbursement coverage.
• 401(k) matching
• Paid time off
• Parental leave
• Sign-on incentives and restricted stock units (RSUs)

A Day in the Life

• Open the day by analyzing trade lane performance data and market rate movements to inform a strategic recommendation.
• Mid-morning lead negotiations with a major carrier's commercial leadership to finalize terms on a multi-market agreement.
• Afternoon cross-functional working session with operations and technology teams on a new carrier integration.
• Conclude the day by preparing a strategic brief for the Vice President on a market entry opportunity 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 focus on cost, speed, and reliability.