Operational Excellence Manager – Freight Forwarding

Rhenus Logistics•Cranford, NJ

About The Position

The Operational Excellence Manager leads and coordinates operational excellence initiatives across the U.S. network in alignment with regional priorities and the Regional Head of Operational Excellence – Americas. The role supports operating model changes, improves and standardizes operational processes, monitors data quality and KPIs, and coordinates corrective actions and improvement projects across branches and support functions. It also applies the regional operational audit framework, benchmarks branch performance, and works with regional leadership to set priorities and track progress. The role plans and coordinates system rollouts across branches, from assessing requirements and readiness through testing, training, implementation, and post-launch support. It aligns operations, IT, and other stakeholders on rollout scope, timelines, responsibilities, and impacts; reports status and risks; monitors adoption and performance; and helps resolve issues and drive continued improvement.

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

An advanced degree.
Strong air and ocean freight knowledge.
Lean Six Sigma or similar training.
Additional language skills.

Responsibilities

Lead and coordinate operational excellence initiatives across the U.S. network in alignment with regional priorities.
Plan and support operating model changes, including country-to-regional in-sourcing and transitions from end-to-end workflows to defined front-end and back-end responsibilities.
Monitor branch- and country-level data quality, investigate recurring issues with operations teams, and implement corrective actions.
Review, document, standardize, and improve operational processes with commercial, finance, IT, and other support functions.
Develop and maintain operational KPI reporting for productivity, efficiency, data accuracy, compliance, and customer service, and turn findings into improvement plans.
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 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 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 introducing new systems or functionality.
Partner with Operational Excellence and IT leadership to define rollout standards, scope, milestones, and success measures.
Plan and coordinate system rollouts across branches, including testing, training, implementation, and post-launch support.
Align operations, IT, and other stakeholders on rollout timelines, responsibilities, and process impacts.
Provide project status updates, risks, and action plans to regional leadership and key stakeholders.
Monitor adoption, system performance, and operational KPIs after launch; address issues and identify further improvements.
Support implementation of new application features and ensure consistent use of approved tools and workflows.
Serve as a point of contact for branch teams during rollouts, coordinating issue resolution and ongoing process support.