Senior Director, Global Transportation - Unilever Prestige

Dermalogica•Carson, CA

2d•$190,000 - $220,000•Remote

About The Position

Senior Director, Global Transportation - Unilever Prestige Location: Remote, Travel required Unilever Prestige is the Luxury Beauty division of Unilever that holds eight companies/brands: Dermalogica, Murad, Living Proof, Hourglass, Tatcha, Paulas Choice, K18 and Garancia. These businesses have a global footprint, are omni-channel in nature and with a heavy index to e-commerce and direct to consumer offerings. Our brands blend luxury physical in-store experiences with digitalized e-commerce offerings including digital technologies embedded within product offerings. It operates a unique organizational model that places high emphasis on independence, entrepreneurship, and speed, all rooted in individual breadth and depth of capability. The division is one of Unilevers key strategic bets and has seen consistent double-digit growth through both organic and M&A growth. The Opportunity: The Global Transportation Director will lead the design, optimization, and long-term strategy of the transportation network across a portfolio of prestige beauty brands. This role will build a future-fit, cross-brand transportation capability that unlocks cost efficiencies, improves service, and enables multi-brand synergy across inbound, intercompany, and outbound transportation flows. This director will serve as the group transportation architect. They will evaluate the current-state network, identifying consolidation and collaboration opportunities across brands, lead carrier strategy, and partner cross-functionally to improve cost, service, and visibility. The role will work closely with Supply Chain, Finance, Procurement, Customer Operations, 3PLs, and brand leadership to build an optimized, scalable transportation model that meets the needs of a dynamic, high-growth portfolio.

Requirements

10+ years in transportation, logistics, supply chain, or network design roles; DTC experience is required.
Expertise in domestic and international transportation, with strong commercial negotiation experience.
Experience leading RFPs, building routing guides, and constructing multi-node transportation network models.
Proficiency with TMS platforms (Oracle, SAP, Blue Yonder, Manhattan, etc.).
Strong analytical capability and comfort working with large data sets.
Exceptional cross-functional collaboration skills, with ability to influence senior stakeholders across brands.
Ability to work as both individual contributor and team director.
Proven experience in fast-moving, multi-brand or matrixed environments.
Strategic thinker with the ability to distill complexity into actionable roadmaps.
Ability to work flexibly to manage a Global scope, majority of partner on the West Coast.

Responsibilities

Transportation Strategy & Operating Model Develop and own the global, multi-modal transportation strategy (inbound, intercompany, outbound) across the portfolio of prestige beauty brands.
Define and implement the optimal operating model (centralized / hybrid / COE-led) to maximize cost efficiency, service, and scalability.
Serve as the group decision owner for transportation strategy, vendor selection, and strategic partnerships.
Identify and unlock cross-brand synergies, including shared suppliers, overlapping networks, multi-brand orders, and consolidation opportunities.
Leverage enterprise and Unilever-level contracts where appropriate to drive savings and standardization.
Commercial Management & Vendor partnership Own group freight contracts and lead all carrier sourcing, RFPs, negotiations, and rate benchmarking across modes.
Establish routing guides, carrier segmentation, and performance scorecards with clear governance and escalation paths.
Build and maintain strategic relationships with global and regional transportation providers.
Partner with Procurement to establish scalable, harmonized commercial models across brands.
Transportation Operations & Enablement Design and build a shared Transportation Management capability, including operating model, processes, KPIs, and governance.
Drive load consolidation, mode optimization, and multi-brand shipment orchestration in partnership with 3PLs and brand teams.
Act as the escalation point for network performance issues, service failures, freight security incidents, and systemic transportation risks.
Technology, Data & Visibility Define requirements and partner with IT to implement transportation technology (TMS, visibility, freight audit & payment).
Enable multi-brand data harmonization, reporting, and shipment visibility across brands, carriers, and nodes.
Financial Management & Continuous Improvement Own transportation cost strategy and savings roadmap, delivering YOY cost reductions and improved cost to serve.
Partner with Finance on budgeting, forecasting, accruals, and variance analysis.
Lead continuous improvement initiatives to improve OTIF, reduce exceptions, and strengthen carrier performance.
Risk, Compliance, Sustainability & Freight Security Establish and enforce freight security standards across carriers, 3PLs, and nodes, including theft prevention, monitoring, and incident response.
Ensure compliance with global transportation regulations, trade requirements, and security protocols.
Develop contingency and risk-mitigation strategies for capacity constraints, disruptions, and cargo loss.
Advance sustainability initiatives through consolidation, mode shifts, and responsible carrier selection.
Cross-Brand Alignment & Collaboration Build a centralized transportation capability while balancing brand-level business requirements.
Facilitate cross-brand collaboration forums to share insights, best practices, and aligned continuous improvement.
Serve as the transportation SME for discussions regarding SLAs, service level improvements, and cost-to-serve initiatives.