Senior Director, Transportation

Lactalis USA is currently seeking candidates to join our Transportation team in Buffalo, NY.

Lactalis, the world leader in dairy, is a family-owned business with more than 85,000 pragmatic and ambitious professionals worldwide, committed to nurturing the future by providing healthy and delicious dairy products that bring people together every day. We offer an enviable range of dairy brands including Galbani, President, Kraft Natural Cheese, Cracker Barrel, Black Diamond, Parmalat, Siggi's, and Stonyfield Organic in addition to several brands imported from our affiliates in Europe.

At Lactalis, our core values of AMBITION, ENGAGEMENT, and SIMPLICITY are at the heart of everything we do. We are dedicated to building a safe, diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace and we know that our candidates come from many different backgrounds, cultures, and experiences. If you're excited about this role but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with every qualification in the job posting, we still encourage you to apply and share with us your STORY, your PASSION, and your EXPERTISE! You may be just the perfect candidate for this or other roles within our company.

From your PASSION to ours

The Senior Director of Transportation is responsible for sourcing Transportation services for the modes of Truckload, Intermodal, and Less-than-Truckload to support domestic US transportation requirements of the business. This role is responsible for all aspects of carrier management and carrier operations, including contracts, relationship management, cost, service, and business / operational performance reviews. He / She balances internal and external customer requirements with available transportation services, to provide the best possible service at the lowest possible cost. Ensures the alignment between transportation service providers and distribution operations to fulfill customer needs. All product-type categories are supported, which include but are not limited to finished goods, raw materials, and include temperature control as well as ambient transportation. Creates functional strategies and specific objectives for Transportation, and develops budgets, policies, and procedures to support company objectives and the functional infrastructure.

This critical position provides leadership in working across multiple departments and multiple related companies, and create a shared purpose and to achieve goals. Works closely with all internal functions within Logistics, as well as with Supply Chain, Sales, and Finance to help evaluate and support service improvement as well as efficiencies and cost savings.

From your EXPERTISE to ours

Key responsibilities for this position include:

• Establishes, manages, and coordinates the entire transportation network.
• Meets or exceeds established Transportation KPI'S
• Provides strategic leadership in the development of new programs to meet internal and external customer requirements
• Proficient in Transportation Management Systems (Planning, Dispatch, Carrier Portals, Dock Scheduling)
• Responsible for leadership of transportation operations, assuring the company's transportation plan is met.
• Responsibilities include supervision of ~10 employees, delegating tasks accordingly, monitoring performance, and conducting regular follow-ups
• Oversee Expenses from budget to expense control.
• Maintain awareness of Key Performance Indicator results, and implementation of corrective actions to achieve KPI's
• Compliance: establish compliance of all programs with state and federal regulations, including those imposed by the Department of Transportation (DOT).
• Recruit and Train Employees
• This description reflects management's assignment of essential functions, it does not proscribe or restrict the tasks that may be assigned.

Supervisory Responsibilities: Supervises approximately 10 employees within the Logistics Department. Incumbent is responsible for the overall direction, coordination, and evaluation of these units in accordance with the organization's policies and applicable laws. Responsibilities include interviewing, hiring, and training employees; planning, assigning, and directing work; appraising performance; rewarding and disciplining employees; addressing complaints and resolving problems. This role provide guidance and mentorship to employees, and takes responsibility for overall performance

From your STORY to ours

Qualified applicants will contribute the following:

Education

• Bachelor's degree from a four-year college, preferably in Business or Supply Chain Management or a related discipline. MBA preferred but not required

Experience

• Fifteen (15) to Twenty (20) years' related experience in a management position, preferably with a specialization in transportation.
• Executive relationship management experience with external service providers or vendors.
• Specialized Knowledge
• Transportation contracts, transportation law, carrier operations, including fleet management
• Transportation expertise - this role requires an expert in this field, knowledgeable about industry trends, supply chain processes, best practices, and compliance requirements

Skills/Abilities

• Contract Negotiation
• Proactive and agile, taking swift action to effectively execute projects.
• Outstanding verbal and written skills, and adept at providing executive-level presentations.
• Demonstrated successful leadership of teams, including meeting budgetary, service, project, and/or development objectives
• Excellent, well-rounded communicators adept at making presentations, facilitating meetings, negotiating contracts, and holding one-on-one conversations
• Data analysis -able to synthesize data from multiple sources and distill findings into action steps for improvement

Lactalis is an equal employment opportunity employer. We will not discriminate against applicants with regard to any legally-recognized basis including, but not limited to: veteran status, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, sexual orientation, and physical or mental disabilities.