Operational Excellence Manager – Freight Forwarding

Rhenus Logistics•Cranford, NJ

About The Position

The Operational Excellence Manager leads operational improvement initiatives across the U.S. freight-forwarding network, aligned with regional priorities and the Regional Head of Operational Excellence – Americas. The role supports operating-model changes, improves and standardizes processes, monitors data quality and operational KPIs, evaluates compliance and service performance, and helps branches adopt consistent practices. It works cross-functionally with commercial, finance, IT, operations, and regional leadership to assess improvement requests, prioritize changes, coordinate approved initiatives, and track progress against operational objectives. The role also coordinates system and application rollouts across branches. It assesses requirements, process gaps, and readiness; aligns stakeholders on scope, responsibilities, and timelines; and coordinates testing, training, implementation, and post-launch support. It monitors system adoption and performance, resolves rollout issues with branch teams, reports project status and risks, and identifies opportunities for further improvement. Travel may be required as business needs dictate.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in business, logistics, supply chain, engineering, IT, or a related field.
5–10 years of experience in freight forwarding or logistics operations, including hands-on process improvement or operational excellence responsibilities.
Experience leading cross-functional improvement projects, process standardization, and change management across multiple teams or locations.
Strong analytical and structured problem-solving skills, including experience with operational KPIs, data quality measures, and root-cause analysis.
Ability to balance operational efficiency, customer requirements, and commercial priorities when evaluating process improvements.
Effective stakeholder-management and communication skills, including the ability to influence branch teams and regional leadership.
Experience supporting transportation management or freight-forwarding system implementations, testing, training, or process rollouts.
Ability to manage multiple projects, work independently, and deliver measurable improvements.
Fluent written and spoken English.
Willingness to travel as business needs require.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree.
Strong knowledge of air and ocean freight.
Lean Six Sigma or similar training.
Additional languages.

Responsibilities

Lead and coordinate operational excellence initiatives across the U.S. network in alignment with regional priorities.
Plan and support operating-model changes, including in-sourcing and the transition from end-to-end workflows to defined front-end and back-end responsibilities.
Monitor branch- and country-level data quality, investigate recurring issues, and implement corrective actions.
Review, document, standardize, and improve operational processes in coordination with commercial, finance, IT, and other support functions.
Develop and maintain KPI reporting for productivity, efficiency, data accuracy, compliance, and customer service, and turn findings into improvement plans.
Gather and assess branch requests for process and application enhancements, prioritize them, and escalate proposals through the regional demand-management process.
Coordinate stakeholders and resources for approved process, system, documentation, and KPI changes, ensuring clear ownership and timely execution.
Apply the regional operational audit framework to evaluate process compliance, documentation quality, data integrity, and service performance.
Benchmark branch performance, identify root causes of performance gaps, and share proven practices across the network.
Partner with regional leadership to define operational excellence priorities and track progress against agreed objectives.
Lead cross-functional improvement projects, support change management, and help teams adopt new standards and ways of working.
Assess business requirements, process gaps, and operational readiness before system or functionality introductions.
Partner with Operational Excellence and IT leadership to define rollout standards, scope, milestones, and success measures.
Plan and coordinate branch system rollouts, including testing, training, implementation, and post-launch support.
Align operations, IT, and other stakeholders on rollout timelines, responsibilities, and process impacts.
Provide regional leadership and stakeholders with project status updates, risks, and action plans.
Monitor post-launch adoption, system performance, and operational KPIs; resolve issues and identify further improvements.
Support implementation of application features and consistent use of approved tools and workflows.
Act as a point of contact for branch teams during rollouts, coordinating issue resolution and ongoing process support.