Manager, Transportation

Bay State Milling Company•Saint Louis Park, MN

41d

About The Position

The Transportation Manager plays a critical leadership role within Bay State Milling’s Corporate Transportation function, supporting both day-to-day execution and long-term strategic development across truckload, rail, international logistics, and warehousing interfaces. This position provides essential leadership capacity to manage the growing scope and complexity of Transportation operations, strengthen cost and service performance, support regulatory compliance, and advance process and systems improvements. The role serves as a key partner to the Sr. Manager of Corporate Transportation and acts as a central resource for plants, Supply Chain, Sales, Customer Support, and external transportation service partners. This position is also an important element of succession planning for the Transportation function.

Requirements

BACHELOR’S DEGREE IN SUPPLY CHAIN, LOGISTICS, BUSINESS, OR RELATED FIELD.
MINIMUM 7 YEARS OF PROGRESSIVE, MULTI-MODAL EXPERIENCE IN TRANSPORTATION OR LOGISTICS, PREFERABLY WITHIN FOOD MANUFACTURING, AGRICULTURE, OR CPG.
DEMONSTRATED LEADERSHIP ABILITY THROUGH INITIATIVE OWNERSHIP, CROSS-FUNCTIONAL INFLUENCE, AND DECISION-MAKING.
STRONG ANALYTICAL, PROBLEM-SOLVING, AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS, WITH THE ABILITY TO TRANSLATE DATA INTO OPERATIONAL AND STRATEGIC INSIGHTS.
EXPERIENCE WITH TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS, ERP ENVIRONMENTS (E.G., AX/D365), CARRIER PORTALS, AND DATA/ANALYTICS TOOLS.
PROVEN ABILITY TO INTERPRET AND APPLY DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL FREIGHT REGULATIONS, INCLUDING DOCUMENTATION REQUIREMENTS, COMPLIANCE STANDARDS, AND INDUSTRY BEST PRACTICES.
ABILITY TO MANAGE MULTIPLE PRIORITIES, RESPOND EFFECTIVELY TO OPERATIONAL CHALLENGES, AND SUPPORT TACTICAL AND STRATEGIC NEEDS IN A FAST-PACED, HYBRID ENVIRONMENT.
ABILITY TO BUILD TRUST-BASED RELATIONSHIPS AND DEMONSTRATE STRONG INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS.
HIGH STANDARDS OF ACCURACY, ORGANIZATION, AND PRECISION IN REPORTING.
STRONG ETHICAL STANDARDS AND INTEGRITY IN HANDLING FINANCIAL DATA.
ABILITY TO ADAPT TO CHANGING BUSINESS NEEDS AND SUPPORT CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT INITIATIVES.
English fluency is essential.
Must have strong verbal and written communication skills, with ability to respond to either common and sensitive inquiries or complaints from internal and external customers.
High attention to detail and a keen eye for esthetics.
Competency in Spreadsheet and Word Processing software required (Microsoft Excel, Word and PowerPoint windows applications preferred).
The ability to adopt emerging technology resources is a plus.
The ability to apply concepts such as fractions, percentages, ratios, and proportions to practical situations is essential.
Must possess acumen and judgment in business situations, with ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions.

Responsibilities

Partner with the Sr. Manager to develop and implement transportation strategies that align with company goals.
Provide leadership across multimodal transportation activities, ensuring alignment with plant operations, customer expectations, and internal service standards.
Lead or support strategic initiatives across functions and business units such as network and distribution optimization, sustainability efforts, and digital transformation.
Analyze and communicate transportation performance, market trends, risks, and opportunities to key stakeholders.
Oversee daily execution of transportation activities across truckload, rail, ocean, intermodal, and warehousing connections, balancing cost, service, and capacity requirements.
Act as an escalation point for service issues, plant capacity challenges, or urgent customer-facing transportation needs.
Collaborate with internal stakeholders and external partners to resolve service issues, warehouse and transportation capacity constraints, and shipment delays promptly and effectively.
Provide cross‑functional backup support for key transportation roles, demonstrating flexibility to shift between strategic and tactical work as needed.
Provide oversight for transportation compliance, documentation accuracy, regulatory requirements, and the timely resolution of freight claims and accessorial issues.
Manage relationships with transportation service providers and logistics partners to ensure alignment with business needs.
Support contract negotiations, rate discussions, and commercial evaluations with transportation service providers
Support carrier performance management through KPIs, scorecards, quarterly reviews, and corrective action plans
Act as a key liaison between Corporate Transportation and internal stakeholders including Supply Chain, Sales, Customer Support, Operations, Quality Assurance.
Represent Corporate Transportation on cross-functional teams and support leadership in business unit communications.
Drive continuous improvement through data-based decision making, KPIs, and root cause analysis.
Support enhancements to transportation systems such as D365, TMS functionality, freight AP/EDI workflows, visibility platforms, and carrier integrations.
Provide day-to-day guidance, development, and support to team members across transportation functions.
Serve as a decision-maker in the absence of the Sr. Manager and contribute to organizational planning and development.
Contribute to building team capability through cross-training, coaching, and supporting skill development.