Central Router, Transportation

KeHE Distributors, LLC•Naperville, IL

About The Position

At KeHE, we’re obsessed with creating solutions, unboxing potential, and serving others – and it all starts with you. As an employee-owned distributor of natural and organic, specialty, and fresh products, we’re committed to making a positive impact and scaling our success together. With a culture that fosters development and opportunity, you’ll be embarking on a career that’s moving forward. When you join KeHE, you’re becoming part of a team that is a force for good.

Requirements

Strong working knowledge of route optimization, load planning, stop sequencing, private-fleet operations, and the ability to interpret driver hours-of-service, route duration, cube and weight, equipment and temperature requirements, customer delivery windows, and Distribution Center constraints.
Working knowledge of Transportation Management Systems and route-optimization tools, preferably Manhattan Active Transportation Management and Manhattan routing or modeling capabilities.
Strong analytical, root-cause analysis, and problem-solving skills, with close attention to data integrity and the ability to make fact-based planning decisions under time-sensitive cutoffs and connect routing decisions to service, utilization, mileage, route count, capacity, and cost.
Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, Outlook, Word, and PowerPoint.
Strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to explain routing decisions and collaborate across Centralized Scheduling, Centralized Dispatch, Fleet, Transportation Systems, Customer Care, and Distribution Center Operations while maintaining clear role ownership and decision rights.
Ability to manage multiple Distribution Centers, planning cycles, priorities, and exceptions; follow standardized work; maintain clear documentation; and contribute to continuous improvement in a high-volume environment.
Ability to work a schedule aligned with routing cutoffs, including evenings, weekends, or holidays when required.
Minimum of 3 years of experience in transportation routing, transportation planning, dispatch, logistics, distribution operations, or transportation management systems required.
Hands-on experience with a Transportation Management System or route-optimization platform required.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Power BI, reporting tools, or transportation analytics is preferred.
Experience with Manhattan Active Transportation Management, Manhattan Modeler, PCS, AS400-NTS, Samsara, Omnitracs, or similar platforms is preferred.
Experience supporting food distribution, a private or dedicated fleet, multi-Distribution Center planning, or centralized transportation operations is also preferred.

Responsibilities

Converts released transportation demand into safe, service-compliant, and executable route plans for assigned KeHE Distribution Centers through the centralized routing function.
Balances customer delivery requirements, Distribution Center cutoffs, driver hours-of-service, fleet capacity, equipment needs, cube and weight, mileage, and transportation cost using Manhattan Active Transportation Management (MATM) and approved enterprise standards.
Owns pre-execution route planning and plan release.
Documents exceptions, overrides, manual adjustments, changes after cutoff, and key decisions.
Investigates data-quality concerns and routes master-data, configuration, integration, or system issues to the appropriate owner.
Monitors on-time delivery risk, cube per route, cube per mile, planned miles, route count and routes avoided, capacity utilization, outside-carrier exposure, plan-release timeliness, and changes after cutoff.
Partners with Analytics and Operations on plan-versus-actual variance and corrective action.
Follows transportation SOPs, routing governance, data standards, customer requirements, safety expectations, and applicable DOT and driver hours-of-service requirements.
Participates as a routing business user in testing, release validation, go-live support, and stabilization for approved MATM changes.
Other duties and projects as assigned.