Director of Risk Management

PLS Logistics Services•Nashville, TN

About The Position

Build PLS's enterprise risk management function from the ground up — partnering with Legal, insurance brokers/carriers, and executive leadership to identify, quantify, and mitigate organizational, insurance, and litigation risk, including the elevated broker-liability exposure created by Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II — and to design the organizational structure needed to manage that risk on an ongoing basis. The role involves completing a comprehensive risk assessment, evaluating insurance coverage adequacy, designing and standing up an enterprise risk management (ERM) framework and organizational structure, hiring and onboarding a risk management team, building and operationalizing a negligent-selection/broker-liability defense strategy, optimizing the company's insurance program to reduce total cost of risk, and launching a live risk register with quarterly executive reporting. Key competencies include honesty/integrity, analysis skills, strategic thinking, relationship building, persuasion/negotiation, organization and planning, proactivity, and composure under pressure.

Requirements

Honesty/Integrity — Gives leadership an unvarnished view of organizational risk, even when it is uncomfortable.
Analysis Skills — Quantifies exposure across insurance, litigation, and operational risk to prioritize what matters most.
Strategic Thinking — Translates a fragmented risk landscape into an organizational structure and multi-year mitigation strategy.
Building Relationships — Builds trusted working relationships with Legal, insurance brokers/carriers, and executive leadership to execute strategy collaboratively.
Persuasion/Negotiation — Negotiates coverage terms with insurance carriers and builds internal buy-in for new risk controls.
Organization and Planning — Sequences a build-out spanning assessment, structure design, team hiring, and insurance renegotiation.
Proactivity — Identifies and moves to mitigate emerging risks before they become claims or litigation.
Composure Under Pressure — Stays level-headed and decisive when managing active claims, litigation, or crisis-level exposure.

Responsibilities

Complete a comprehensive risk assessment across PLS entities within 90 days.
Evaluate insurance coverage adequacy (cargo, auto liability, broker/contingent liability, E&O, cyber), litigation and claims exposure, and organizational/operational risk across both entities post-merger, and present prioritized findings to the President and executive team.
Design and stand up PLS's enterprise risk management (ERM) framework and organizational structure within 6 months.
Define risk ownership, escalation paths, and a reporting cadence to the President and executive team; recommend where the risk function sits organizationally as PLS scales.
Hire, onboard, and stand up a risk management team within 6–9 months.
Build the team needed to run claims handling, insurance program administration, and ongoing risk analytics without President-level involvement.
Build and operationalize a negligent-selection/broker-liability defense strategy with Legal within 6 months.
In direct response to Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, partner with the Director of Carrier Compliance and legal counsel to establish documentation standards, litigation-readiness protocols, and a coordinated response plan for negligent-hiring and broker-liability claims.
Optimize the company's insurance program and reduce total cost of risk by [X]% within 12 months (baseline to be established in month 1–2).
Review and renegotiate cargo, auto liability, broker liability, cyber, and E&O coverage with brokers/carriers to close gaps identified in the initial risk assessment while managing overall premium and retained-risk cost.
Launch a live risk register with quarterly executive reporting within 6 months, ongoing thereafter.
Track identified risks, mitigation owners, status, and residual risk ratings; report quarterly to the President and executive team.