Senior Manager, Transportation (Temperature-Controlled Logistics)

Kinder's•Walnut Creek, CA

8d•Hybrid

About The Position

Kinder’s is seeking a Senior Manager to own transportation strategy, the temperature-controlled 4PL partnership, and the refrigerated carrier base for its growing frozen and chilled foods businesses. The role is accountable for how products move from co-manufacturers through cold storage to retail and club distribution centers nationwide. The 4PL partner handles day-to-day load execution; this role establishes how the partner operates, governs its performance, and safeguards cold-chain integrity as the business grows. The position develops the multi-year transportation strategy and end-to-end temperature-controlled network, including refrigerated capacity and mode decisions, and translates business plans and seasonal demand into capacity plans. It owns the 4PL relationship, routing guide, refrigerated carrier strategy and procurement, transportation food-safety compliance, cold-chain monitoring, freight budget and performance. The role also manages supporting cold-storage partners and works closely with Supply Planning, Quality, Sales, Finance, co-manufacturers, Logistics Operations and Analytics. It reports to the Senior Director, Transportation & Logistics Strategy. The role may be based at Kinder’s Walnut Creek, California or Bentonville, Arkansas office. The work arrangement is hybrid, with four days in the office each week and flexible Fridays that may be worked in the office or from home. Approximately 25% travel is required to partner, carrier, co-manufacturer and cold-storage locations.

Requirements

At least 8 years of transportation or logistics experience, including at least 3 years in a strategic or leadership role in frozen, refrigerated or perishable food.
Proven experience owning a 3PL, 4PL or managed transportation relationship, including contracts, service levels and performance governance.
Deep knowledge of refrigerated truckload markets, reefer carrier procurement and freight bid management.
Working knowledge of FSMA Sanitary Transportation requirements, temperature monitoring and cold-chain practices.
Experience meeting routing, compliance and in-stock expectations of large retail and club customers such as Walmart, Costco and Sam’s Club.
Strong commercial and financial acumen, including negotiating, building cost models and making trade-offs with incomplete information.
Data-driven approach and hands-on experience using TMS, visibility and BI tools such as Tableau or Power BI.
Excellent communication and influence skills with executives, partners, co-manufacturers and cross-functional teams.
Approximately 25% travel to partner, carrier, co-manufacturer and cold-storage locations.
Ability to work in a hybrid arrangement with four office days per week and flexible Fridays at the Walnut Creek, CA or Bentonville, AR office.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Business or a related field; equivalent experience is considered.
Familiarity with SAP.
Working knowledge of AI tools, such as generative AI assistants, machine-learning forecasting, and AI-enabled TMS and visibility platforms, and their application to transportation decisions, analysis and partner management.

Responsibilities

Develop and own a multi-year transportation strategy for the Frozen and Chilled businesses that can scale with growth in volume, items and customers.
Design the end-to-end temperature-controlled network, including co-manufacturer pickups, cold-storage and warehouse moves, and outbound transportation to retail and club distribution centers.
Shape refrigerated freight mode and network decisions, including multi-stop, consolidation and dedicated capacity where advantageous.
Translate commercial plans, launches, promotions and seasonal peaks into refrigerated capacity plans in advance of demand.
Advise cross-functional leaders on how temperature-controlled transportation can protect in-stock performance and enable growth.
Own the temperature-controlled 4PL relationship, including scope of work, service-level agreements, governance cadence and quarterly business reviews.
Set expectations for 4PL execution of tendering, appointment scheduling, temperature tracking, exception handling, carrier payment, freight audit and claims, and hold the partner accountable.
Negotiate and manage partner agreements covering service levels, service credits, cold-chain and food-safety requirements, rate and cost transparency, data access and audit rights.
Direct the 4PL to follow Kinder’s routing guide and use Kinder-contracted carriers; pursue continuous improvement with the partner.
Manage cold-storage and other partners supporting frozen and chilled freight, ensuring they operate cohesively with the 4PL.
Own the refrigerated carrier portfolio, including carrier qualification, contracting, onboarding and performance management.
Lead temperature-controlled freight bids with the procurement partner and build the routing guide from bid results.
Build relationships with core refrigerated carriers to secure reliable capacity through peak seasons and tight markets.
Manage accessorial, detention and fuel programs for refrigerated operations, including pre-cool, continuous-run and multi-temperature requirements.
Own transportation compliance with the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food rule in partnership with Quality.
Set temperature requirements, monitoring and data standards for partners and carriers, and ensure loads are traceable from pickup to delivery.
Lead investigation and resolution of temperature excursions, product damage and rejected loads, and drive root-cause fixes with partners, carriers and co-manufacturers.
Work with co-manufacturers and cold-storage partners on loading, dock and handoff practices that protect product quality.
Partner with Logistics Analytics to define and review carrier and partner scorecards, cost-to-serve and network performance, and act on findings.
Own the temperature-controlled freight budget and forecast with Finance; identify and deliver cost improvements without compromising service or product integrity.
Protect customer service, in-stock performance and retailer compliance for the frozen business, particularly with major retail partners.
Champion visibility and temperature-monitoring technology and ensure partner systems provide Kinder’s with needed data.
Apply AI and automation to transportation analysis, bids, exception alerting, partner reporting and forecasting, and encourage partners to do the same.
Coordinate with Supply Planning, Quality, Sales, Customer Operations and Finance so transportation decisions support the overall business.
Provide direction and escalation support to Logistics Operations on frozen and chilled pre-shipment work and partner handoffs.
Lead in accordance with Kinder’s values and take ownership of outcomes.
Anticipate refrigerated capacity, rate, weather and equipment risks and develop contingency plans with partners, carriers and cold-storage providers.
Lead responses to disruptions and cold-chain failures, prioritizing consumers, customers and the long-term interests of the business.