Director of IT- Transportation

Ashley Furniture Industries•Tampa, FL

129d

About The Position

Ashley Furniture Industries is the world's largest manufacturer of furniture, serving customers in more than 123 countries. Every day, our transportation technology powers the movement of products across North America through our shipper, brokerage, and private fleet operations. As we continue investing in AI, automation, cloud technologies, and modern digital platforms, we're looking for a technology leader who wants to transform how transportation operates at enterprise scale. This is a highly visible technology leadership role responsible for defining and executing the technology strategy behind Ashley's transportation ecosystem. You'll lead the modernization of the platforms that power our shipper, brokerage, and private fleet operations, partnering closely with Product, Supply Chain, and executive leadership to deliver innovative solutions that improve efficiency, visibility, and customer experience. You'll oversee transportation technology strategy while driving enterprise initiatives around AI, intelligent automation, modern architectures, and next-generation digital capabilities. This role is ideal for a leader who enjoys building high-performing teams, influencing executive strategy, and delivering technology that directly impacts business performance.

Requirements

8+ years leading enterprise IT organizations
Experience supporting transportation, logistics, or supply chain technology
Leadership experience delivering large-scale digital transformation initiatives
Expertise with Transportation Management Systems (TMS)
Experience supporting shipper, carrier, brokerage, or fleet operations
Enterprise systems integration (ERP, WMS, planning platforms, etc.)
Experience leading production support for mission-critical applications
AI, machine learning, automation, or intelligent workflow initiatives
Cloud platforms, modern architecture, and enterprise integration strategies
Experience managing enterprise vendors and technology partnerships
Deep knowledge of transportation and logistics operations
Strong enterprise architecture and systems integration expertise
Experience implementing AI-powered optimization and automation
Excellent executive communication and stakeholder management skills
A strategic mindset balanced with strong execution
Proven success leading large, cross-functional technology organizations
A passion for innovation and continuous improvement

Responsibilities

Define and execute the long-term technology strategy supporting Ashley's transportation business.
Partner closely with Product leaders to develop roadmaps, prioritize investments, and maximize business value.
Build scalable, modern platforms that support transportation execution across shipper, brokerage, and private fleet operations.
Evaluate emerging technologies and identify opportunities to create competitive advantage.
Lead initiatives including predictive analytics, intelligent automation, AI-powered decision support, agentic AI workflows, autonomous orchestration, and machine learning-driven optimization.
Identify opportunities where AI can improve routing, carrier selection, transportation planning, exception management, payment processing, operational efficiency, and customer experience.
Own the strategy, modernization, and lifecycle of transportation technologies including Transportation Management Systems (TMS), carrier management platforms, driver mobile applications, onboard computer systems, fleet asset tracking solutions, and transportation integrations across ERP, WMS, planning, and enterprise platforms.
Drive continuous modernization while ensuring platforms remain secure, scalable, reliable, and aligned with business priorities.
Ensure transportation technology operates with the reliability expected of a mission-critical enterprise platform.
Lead teams responsible for production support and operational stability, platform availability and performance, incident management and root cause analysis, disaster recovery and business continuity, continuous service improvement, and cybersecurity compliance and operational resilience.
Serve as a senior technology leader during critical production incidents and major business events.
Lead complex technology initiatives from strategy through execution.
Deliver large-scale enterprise programs on time and within budget.
Align IT execution with Product roadmaps and business priorities.
Translate complex transportation challenges into scalable technology solutions.
Communicate progress, risks, and outcomes to executive leadership.
Drive consistent delivery practices across the organization.
Build strong partnerships with strategic technology vendors and implementation partners.
Evaluate emerging solutions, negotiate vendor relationships, oversee implementations, and ensure partners consistently deliver measurable business value.
Develop and inspire a high-performing technology organization.
Foster a culture of innovation, ownership, and continuous improvement.
Lead workforce planning, succession planning, and performance management.
Build strong partnerships across Product, Engineering, Supply Chain, and Operations.