Director of Transportation

Wholestone Farms Cooperative Inc•Fremont, NE

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director of Logistics provides strategic and operational leadership for the Company's transportation and logistics functions across multiple facilities. This position is responsible for developing and executing transportation strategies that ensure safe, reliable, timely, and cost-effective movement of products while supporting customer service, production requirements, and overall business objectives. The Director oversees transportation operations, carrier and fleet performance, logistics personnel, transportation technology, freight spend, regulatory compliance, international logistics, and continuous improvement initiatives. This position partners closely with Operations, Supply Chain, Sales, Customer Service, Finance, Warehousing, Information Technology, and other departments to optimize the Company's transportation network and ensure customer commitments are achieved. The Director is expected to balance service, cost, capacity, safety, compliance, and operational requirements while developing scalable logistics processes that support continued business growth.

Requirements

Three or more years of demonstrated leadership and people-management experience required.
Experience with Oracle Transportation Management (OTM) or a comparable Transportation Management System (TMS) required.
Working knowledge of applicable DOT, FMCSA, transportation safety, and carrier compliance requirements.
Experience with truckload, less-than-truckload (LTL), dedicated fleet, brokerage, intermodal, international, and other transportation modes as applicable to Company operations.
Demonstrated experience with carrier sourcing, rate negotiations, transportation contracts, and carrier performance management.
Strong financial and analytical skills, including transportation budgeting, forecasting, cost analysis, and KPI management.
Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Excel and working knowledge of Microsoft Office applications, databases, reporting tools, and transportation technology.
Strong verbal, written, presentation, negotiation, and interpersonal communication skills.
Demonstrated ability to analyze complex problems, identify root causes, make sound decisions, and implement sustainable corrective actions.
Ability to manage multiple priorities, work effectively under pressure, and meet deadlines in a fast-paced operating environment.
Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
Demonstrated ability to build effective working relationships with employees, customers, carriers, vendors, and senior leadership.
Must be able to read, write, speak and understand the language of the majority cultural group in order to communicate effectively.
Must be able to hear enough to understand those individuals as well.
Ability to read, interpret, and comprehend documents such as graphs/flow sheets, financials, general professional articles and publications, governmental regulations, safety rules, assignment sheets, and procedure manuals.
Must be able to write reports, business correspondence, policies and procedures, and other administrative forms as outlined above.
Must be able to effectively communicate in both individual and group settings.
Must be able to present information and respond to questions from individuals and/or groups including residents, employees, managers, and the general public.
In order to perform duties, must be able to: Add, subtract, multiply, and divide all units of measure such as whole numbers, fractions, percentages, and fractions.
Compute rate, discounts, ratios, and percent.
Make, read and interpret financials, graphs, rates, ratios, and percentages.
Ability to apply common sense and judgment in solving problems and interpreting and understanding instructions furnished in written or oral form.
Must be able to make independent decisions when circumstances warrant such action yet reason when to involve supervisor.
Basic computer knowledge with the ability to learn software.
Strong organizational and prioritization skills with the ability to manage multiple competing priorities and frequent interruptions.
Strong leadership, coaching, negotiation, and conflict-resolution skills.
Ability to work independently with appropriate judgment and accountability.
Ability to lead structured problem-solving and troubleshooting efforts involving complex operational issues.
Ability to motivate, develop, train, and coach employees to achieve strong performance and engagement.
Strong planning, organizational, and priority-setting skills.
Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, dynamic, multi-location environment.
Ability to establish strong working relationships across organizational levels and functional areas.
Ability to work in varying office, warehouse, transportation, and production environments, including areas subject to heat and cold.
Ability and willingness to work extended hours, weekends, holidays, or outside normal business hours when operational needs require.
Ability to provide visible leadership and guidance to employees in office, warehouse, production, and transportation environments.
The employee must occasionally lift/carry/move up to 15 pounds and occasionally up to 25 pounds.
Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Business Administration, Operations Management, or a related field preferred.
Five or more years of progressively responsible logistics, transportation, supply chain, or related experience preferred.
Experience managing transportation operations across multiple facilities or locations strongly preferred.
Experience managing company-owned or dedicated fleets, drivers, and third-party transportation providers preferred.
OTM experience strongly preferred.
International logistics experience, including working with freight forwarders, customs brokers, and import/export transportation processes, preferred.

Responsibilities

Develops and executes the Company's transportation and logistics strategy across multiple manufacturing and distribution locations.
Provides leadership and oversight for inbound, outbound, intercompany, customer, and international transportation activities, as applicable.
Optimizes the transportation network by evaluating routes, modes, carriers, capacity, equipment utilization, service requirements, consolidation opportunities, and total delivered cost.
Establishes and maintains transportation policies, procedures, routing guides, service standards, escalation protocols, and operating expectations across Company locations.
Partners with Operations, Sales, Customer Service, Supply Chain, Finance, Warehousing, and other departments to align transportation capabilities with production schedules, customer requirements, inventory needs, and business objectives.
Evaluates transportation capacity requirements and develops strategies to support seasonal demand, production changes, customer growth, new business, and changing market conditions.
Leads logistics planning for new customers, facilities, products, acquisitions, network changes, and other significant business initiatives as required.
Develops and maintains a reliable, competitive, and diversified carrier network capable of meeting Company capacity, service, safety, and cost requirements.
Leads carrier sourcing, bid processes, rate negotiations, contract negotiations, lane awards, and transportation-provider selection.
Establishes carrier performance standards and scorecards and conducts regular performance reviews addressing service, cost, capacity, safety, claims, responsiveness, and compliance.
Ensures appropriate carrier qualification and monitoring processes are maintained, including operating authority, insurance requirements, safety performance, and applicable regulatory requirements.
Develops contingency capacity and alternative transportation strategies to minimize disruption during carrier shortages, weather events, equipment failures, production interruptions, or other unexpected events.
Serves as the business leader for the Company's Transportation Management System (TMS), including Oracle Transportation Management (OTM), and promotes consistent utilization across facilities, employees, carriers, and other transportation partners.
Ensures transportation data is accurate, timely, and reliable and establishes expectations for carrier and employee system compliance.
Utilizes transportation technology, analytics, and reporting tools to improve routing, load optimization, carrier selection, shipment visibility, cost management, and decision-making.
Establishes and maintains meaningful transportation KPIs and dashboards and regularly reports performance and trends to senior leadership.
Uses data and root-cause analysis to identify service failures, excessive costs, process gaps, and improvement opportunities and ensures corrective actions are implemented and sustained.
Oversees international transportation activities and relationships with freight forwarders, customs brokers, carriers, and other logistics service providers, as applicable.
Ensures appropriate processes are maintained for international shipping documentation, customs clearance, Incoterms, duties and tariffs, and other applicable import/export transportation requirements.
Monitors international transportation risks, port or border disruptions, capacity constraints, and regulatory changes that may affect cost, lead time, or customer service.
Partners with appropriate internal and external resources to ensure international shipments comply with applicable Company policies and legal and regulatory requirements.
Determines staffing requirements necessary to meet the department’s needs.
Trains employees in performance of duties in compliance with all state and federal standards and laws as well as company requirements.
Plans and directs work schedules to assign and coordinate the work of office and salaried employees to promote efficiency of operations and in accordance with budgeted hours, ensuring that all duties are performed – work assignments to assist staff in completing and performing such tasks.
Delegates responsibility and accountability to staff as deemed necessary.