Lead Specialist Freight Payment

SUMMARY Responsible for end-to-end execution and governance of freight claims operations, including damage, shortage, pilferage, seal discrepancies, liability determination, carrier/vendor follow-up, and recovery activities. The role coordinates with Field Operations, Accounts Payable, carriers, decon/consol partners, vendors, and US stakeholders to ensure claims are investigated, documented, communicated, and progressed to resolution in a timely manner. Acts as a key control point for claim accuracy, supporting documentation, C3 incident traceability, liability decisions, recovery/chargeback actions, and aging follow-up. Drives disciplined case management, escalation, reporting, and continuous improvement across the freight claims process. PRINCIPAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 1. Freight Claim Intake & Case Management: Own and coordinate freight claim cases arising from damage, shortage, pilferage, missing seals/seal discrepancies, and received-versus-invoiced quantity discrepancies. Ensure cases are categorized, documented, and moved through the defined workflow. 2. Investigation & Documentation: Review available shipment, receiving, invoice, incident, and supporting documentation; coordinate investigation activities and ensure required C3 incidents and claim records are created and maintained for traceability. 3. External Notification & Disposition: Coordinate timely external damage notification and ensure collect carriers and relevant decon/consol partners are notified within the required process window for disposition and next steps. 4. Liability Determination: Support evaluation and routing of claims based on collect vendor, prepaid vendor, carrier, decon/consol, collect vendor, or import vendor liability. Validate that the claim path and responsible party are supported by available evidence. 5. Recovery & Chargeback Execution: Drive claims toward recovery when liability is accepted, including tracking vendor checks or applicable automatic chargebacks. Where vendor liability applies, coordinate generation and follow-through of chargebacks in line with the process. 6. Carrier / Partner Follow-up: Research carrier responses and proactively follow up with carriers, decon/consol partners, and other responsible parties on pending or denied claims. Maintain clear status, next action, and aging visibility until resolution or formal closure. 7. Issue Resolution & Escalation: Identify disputed liability, repeated denials, stalled claims, documentation gaps, and other barriers to recovery. Escalate unresolved/high-risk items with a clear summary of evidence, prior follow-ups, financial exposure, and recommended next action. 8. Process Governance & Controls: Maintain consistent claim handling, documentation, approvals, and audit trail. Ensure claim decisions and recovery outcomes are traceable and aligned with defined policies and controls. 9. Performance Management & Reporting: Monitor claim volumes, aging, recovery status, denial trends, pending follow-ups, and unresolved exposure. Provide regular operational updates and actionable insights to stakeholders. 10. Continuous Improvement: Identify process gaps that lead to delayed or missed recoveries, including follow-up gaps on carrier refusals. Drive standard work, clearer escalation paths, root-cause actions, and opportunities for automation or workflow improvement. 11. Stakeholder Management: Partner with Field Operations, Accounts Payable, Finance, vendors, carriers, decon/consol partners, and US-based stakeholders to resolve discrepancies and improve claim outcomes. REPORTING / WORKING RELATIONSHIPS Reports to Manager - Finance / Freight Claims Operations (final reporting line to be confirmed by the business). Works closely with Field Operations, Accounts Payable, Finance, freight carriers, vendors, decon/consol partners, and US-based stakeholders involved in freight claim investigation, liability, recovery, and resolution. JOB REQUIREMENTS Minimum Qualifications