Specialised Cargo Sales Manager

CMA CGM | ABOUT US

The CMA CGM Group is a global player in sea, land, air and logistics solutions, true to its corporate Purpose: We imagine better ways to serve a world in motion. 

Present in 177 countries, it employs 160,000 people, including nearly 6,000 in Marseille, where its head office is located. 

As the world’s third-largest shipping company, CMA CGM serves more than 420 ports across five continents with a fleet of over 700 vessels. In 2025, CMA CGM carried more than 24 million twenty-foot equivalent containers (TEUs). Its subsidiary, CEVA Logistics, one of the top five global players, operates 1,000 warehouses and handled 15 million shipments in 2025. The Group’s air division operates a fleet of cargo aircraft under the CMA CGM AIR CARGO and Air Belgium brands

YOUR ROLE 

The Specialised Cargo Sales Manager will lead, implement and drive commercial strategy for the growth and development of our Specialised Cargo vertical within the UK market, including Reefer, Project, Breakbulk, Out of Gauge, Military and Class 1 cargo.

You will lead the Specialised Cargo Sales team to deliver the overall budget, which includes in external and internal Sales colleagues, while retaining direct hands-on responsibility for generating business, developing customer relationships and driving growth.

The role is accountable for delivering sales performance across the Specialised Cargo customer portfolio, maximising opportunities and ensuring the team operates in line with commercial strategy, customer segmentation and agreed performance expectations.

As a key member of the wider Sales Management team, the Specialised Cargo Sales Manager will contribute to commercial planning, performance reviews, market intelligence and continuous improvement activity. The role will act as a bridge between frontline specialised cargo sales activity, customer needs and wider business priorities, ensuring that sales opportunities are identified, pursued and converted effectively.

WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING 

• Lead, manage and coach a team of Specialised Cargo Sales colleagues, setting clear objectives, monitoring activity and supporting colleagues to deliver against agreed objectives.
• Manage and develop a dedicated portfolio of Specialised Cargo customers, including proactive calls, customer meetings and commercial follow-up activity.
• Drive the full opportunity lifecycle across the team, ensuring leads are identified, qualified, progressed and converted in line with commercial priorities.
• Lead the team in the generation of new business and development of existing customer relationships through proactive sales activity, consultative customer engagement and effective use of customer insights, CRM data and market intelligence.
• Ensure agency sales segmentation is understood, applied and kept up to date, using it to prioritise customer contact, sales campaigns and resource allocation across the team.
• Promote CMA CGM Group Services and non-maritime products, including e-commerce, value-added services, intermodal and CEVA solutions, ensuring the team proactively identifies cross-selling and upselling opportunities.
• Monitor all leads received through Nova Business and other channels, ensuring ownership is clear, follow-up is timely and outcomes are accurately recorded.
• Ensure all customer interactions, opportunities, leads, contacts, customer feedback and commercial data are accurately maintained in CRM to support visibility, reporting and decision-making.
• Review sales activity and performance data to identify trends, gaps and opportunities, using insight to coach the team and recommend actions to improve results.
• Support and challenge team members through regular one-to-ones, coaching conversations, call reviews and performance discussions, ensuring a high-performance and customer-focused culture.
• Contribute to Sales Challenge achievement by ensuring team engagement, tracking progress and taking action where additional focus is required.
• Provide competitive intelligence, market feedback and customer insight to Sales, Trade and senior management teams to support commercial decision-making.
• Work collaboratively with Sales teams, Customer Care, Trade, e-commerce and wider commercial teams to ensure customer requests are handled effectively and service levels are maintained.
• Effectively manage and resolve customer escalations where required, ensuring a solutions-focused approach and identifying root causes to prevent repeat issues.
• Support the implementation of commercial campaigns nd process improvements, ensuring the team understands priorities and executes actions consistently.
• Act as a key member of the wider management team, contributing to planning, reporting, communication, employee engagement and the development of best practice across the sales function.

WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR | KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE 

• Extensive sales management or business development experience within the shipping and/or Logistics industry, ideally within Specialised Cargo.
• Exceptional customer engagement skills, with the ability to effectively manage customer relationships directly whilst supporting the team in complex commercial discussions.
• Proven ability to lead, coach and develop a sales team, setting clear expectations, providing regular feedback and building capability through effective one-to-ones, call coaching, performance reviews and practical support.
• Experience of driving sales performance through structured activity management, pipeline review, opportunity conversion, lead follow-up and use of clear performance measures.
• A collaborative leadership style, with the confidence to contribute as an active member of the wider management team and support continuous improvement, employee engagement and best-practice sharing across the sales function.
• Strong knowledge of the shipping and logistics market, sales channels, customer segmentation, commercial processes, services and products and value-added services.
• Strong customer-facing capability, with the confidence to engage specialised cargo customers and prospects through calls, meetings, presentations and negotiations, while role-modelling high-quality customer ownership for the team.
• Commercially astute and results focused, with the ability to identify opportunities, prioritise activity, challenge performance and translate market insight into practical actions that support revenue, volume and digital adoption targets.
• Strong analytical and reporting skills, with the ability to interpret sales data, customer insight, campaign performance and market information, and use this to recommend corrective actions or improvement plans.
• Effective stakeholder management skills, with the ability to work transversally across Sales, Sales Support, Customer Care, Trade, Logistics, Operations, e-commerce and wider management teams to resolve issues and deliver customer-focused outcomes.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills, with the ability to articulate commercial priorities clearly to team members, customers, peers and senior stakeholders.
• Strong organisational skills and personal resilience, with the ability to manage competing priorities, support the team through challenging situations and maintain a professional, solutions-focused approach.
• Confident working with CRM and sales systems, including accurate maintenance of customer data, leads, opportunities, contacts, activity records and customer feedback to support visibility, governance and decision-making

WHAT DO WE OFFER

Not only do we offer a competitive salary, we also offer a generous benefits package including:

• 25 days annual leave (plus public holidays) increasing with length of service plus additional day over Christmas period and the opportunity to buy/sell annual leave
• Discretionary annual bonus
• Car Allowance
• Enhanced pension scheme up to 15% total contribution
• Life assurance x4
• Commitment to promoting awareness and understanding of Mental Health through our Mental Health and Wellbeing Charter
• Private healthcare (BUPA), BUPA Dental Plan + Healthcare Cash plan, including an Employee Assistance Programme
• Local and global development opportunities across 160 countries within the CMA CGM Group, including opportunities at our iconic Head Office tower in Marseille
• Hybrid Working
• Cycle to work scheme/ Season ticket loans
• Enhanced policies including Maternity & Paternity
• Employee recognition awards
• Considerable scope for personal and professional growth through the CMA CGM Academy

CMA CGM Group is proud to define itself as a family business built on strong human values.

• Excellence
• Exemplarity
• Imagination
• Boldness

CMA CGM respects, supports and values diversity in all forms. We seek to avoid discrimination and are committed to equal opportunities for all our employees.

Our long-held inclusive policy improves performance, creates growth opportunities for all, aligns with our customer's values and enhances employee engagement.

YOUR CAREER - WHY CMA CGM?

At CMA CGM Group, we Rise in Motion. Your career is always on the move - it grows as fast and as far as your ambition takes you. Join a global team of nearly 200 nationalities, shaping the future of global trade, moving essential goods, forging new paths, and pushing boundaries to serve an ever-changing world. The pace is fast, the challenges are real, but the rewards are greater: growth, purpose, and the chance to make a meaningful impact. This is more than a job. It’s a journey on which you rise.