Director, Transportation Operations Role reports to: Sr Director Regional Distribution Ops Location: North America, United States, New Jersey, Summit Work Location: Hybrid What you will do The Director, Transportation Operations – Regional & International Transportation is responsible for leading the end-to-end transportation operating model across domestic regional transportation and international/inter-regional transportation flows. This role provides strategic and operational leadership across U.S. transportation, inbound and outbound international transportation, inter-regional freight, carrier and logistics service provider management, transportation process automation, budget ownership, network transformation, and continuous improvement. This role is based in Summit, NJ; however, for the right candidate, we are open to considering a remote work arrangement. This leader will oversee transportation operations across truckload, LTL, intermodal, drayage, ocean, air, import/export, and cross-regional freight movements. The role is accountable for ensuring service reliability, product availability, cost performance, operational transparency, supplier quality, compliance, and an exceptional customer experience across a complex, highly matrixed supply chain network. This combined role integrates domestic transportation leadership requirements, including transportation processes, digital maturity, policies, standards, carrier negotiations, cost and transit-time performance, routing, mode selection, and KPI management, with international/inter-regional responsibilities, including global freight process ownership, transportation reliability, control tower operations, import/export execution, cross-regional optimization, and sourcing implementation support. - Domestic U.S. transportation operations, including truckload, LTL, intermodal, and domestic freight management. - Inbound and outbound international transportation, including ocean freight, air freight, drayage, import/export execution, freight forwarding, and international transportation RFPs. - Inter-regional transportation lanes, including process design, operational management, reliability reporting, and continuous improvement across cross-regional freight flows. - Transportation process automation and digital maturity, including execution automation, performance management capabilities, shipment visibility, and analytics. - Transportation budget ownership, including current operational spend, future operational spend, forecasting, cost governance, and financial performance. - Large infrastructure and network projects, including warehouse site changes, transportation operating model changes, and transportation-related system changes. - Carrier, freight forwarder, broker, 3PL, control tower, and global logistics service provider performance management. - Transportation sourcing, supplier relationship management, vendor selection, contract implementation, and execution of transportation network changes. Major Duties and Responsibilities 1. Lead domestic, regional, and international transportation operations - Oversee domestic transportation operations across truckload, LTL, intermodal, and related U.S. transportation modes. - Oversee inbound and outbound international transportation operations, including ocean freight, air freight, drayage, import/export execution, and freight forwarding. - Lead operational management of inter-region transportation lanes and drive improvements in transportation reliability and reporting. - Manage transportation exceptions, service disruptions, supplier quality issues, and operational escalations. - Partner with Distribution, Planning, Manufacturing, Customer Service, Quality, Procurement and Control Tower teams to improve total end-to-end flow. 2. Build and standardize best-in-class transportation processes - Define and implement standard transportation operating processes across domestic, regional, and international flows. - Develop process standards for transportation execution, event management, exception management, freight planning, and issue resolution. - Harmonize processes across Distribution, Planning, and Procurement. - Identify process gaps and implement corrective actions that improve reliability, quality, cost, and customer experience. - Drive consistent adoption of transportation business process standards across regions and functions. 3. Lead transportation process automation and digital transformation - Lead transportation automation initiatives that reduce manual work, improve visibility, strengthen control, and increase execution consistency. - Partner with technology, Control Tower, logistics service providers, and to improve digital transportation capabilities. - Drive digital maturity in performance management, shipment visibility, analytics, exception tracking, and reporting. - Support transportation system changes connected to warehouse site changes, network projects, and operating model improvements. - Use data and automation to improve decision-making, reduce process variation, and strengthen transportation reliability. 4. Own transportation performance, KPIs, reliability, and analytics - Define and govern transportation KPIs across domestic and international operations. - Monitor transportation reliability, supplier quality, transit time, cost performance, and service execution. - Use analytics to identify trends, root causes, service risks, and improvement opportunities. - Partner with Control Tower teams to strengthen visibility, exception management, reliability reporting, and proactive issue resolution. - Translate transportation data into clear operational and executive-level insights. 5. Manage transportation budgets and financial performance - Manage transportation budgets across domestic, regional, and international transportation operations. - Govern current operational transportation spend and future operational spend requirements. - Identify cost improvement opportunities while balancing service, quality, compliance, and risk. - Partner with Finance, Procurement, Distribution, Planning, and Supply Chain leadership on budget planning, forecasting, and cost performance. - Ensure transportation decisions consider total landed cost, service requirements, capacity constraints, network impacts, and customer expectations. 6. Lead carrier, freight forwarder, and logistics service provider management - Manage relationships with domestic carriers, freight forwarders, drayage providers, ocean freight providers, air freight providers, intermodal providers, brokers, and 3PLs. - Partner with Procurement on transportation RFPs, sourcing strategy, supplier selection, negotiations, and implementation. - Ensure supplier quality, transit time, reliability, cost, and service performance goals are met. - Lead corrective action plans for underperforming transportation providers. - Support vendor onboarding, lane transitions, new carrier implementation, and logistics service provider governance. 7. Optimize routing, mode, network design, and end-to-end flow - Optimize transportation modes across truckload, LTL, intermodal, ocean, air, drayage, and freight forwarding. - Improve lane-level performance across cost, service, transit time, quality, and reliability. - Partner with Distribution and Planning to improve end-to-end lead times on strategic lanes. - Evaluate transportation issues and determine effective remediation actions with stakeholders. - Identify opportunities to improve routing, mode mix, supplier utilization, and network resilience. 8. Lead large infrastructure, network, warehouse site, and system-change projects - Represent transportation in large network, infrastructure, warehouse site, and system-change projects. - Lead transportation readiness for new sites, site transitions, new transportation lanes, new distribution flows, and system-enabled process changes. - Ensure transportation requirements are included in project design, testing, implementation, and stabilization. - Partner with Distribution, Planning, IT, Procurement, Quality, and external logistics partners to ensure operational readiness. - Ensure network and system changes are scalable, compliant, financially sound, and operationally executable. 9. Lead transportation transformation and continuous improvement - Lead continuous improvement programs focused on reliability, quality, cost, service, and productivity. - Drive transformation across people, process, systems, automation, and supplier management. - Identify operational improvement opportunities and translate them into executable plans. - Improve transportation execution discipline through clear governance, metrics, and accountability. - Build sustainable processes that improve scalability, transparency, and operational resilience. 10. Lead and develop a high-performing transportation organization - Lead, coach, and develop direct and indirect transportation team members. - Build capabilities across domestic transportation, international transportation, analytics, automation, supplier management, and operational execution. - Foster collaboration, accountability, inclusion, psychological safety, and strong engagement. - Set clear priorities, goals, expectations, and development plans. - Lead effectively across a highly matrixed global organization. What we are looking for Required qualifications: - Bachelor’s degree required. - Minimum 14 years of experience across Supply Chain, including transportation and distribution experience. - Minimum 5 years of inbound and outbound international transportation experience, including ocean freight operations, air freight operations, and transportation RFPs. - Minimum 5 years of experience automating transportation processes. - Minimum 7 years of experience managing transportation budgets, including current and future operational spend. - Minimum 3 years of experience managing large infrastructure or network projects, including warehouse site changes and system changes. - Experience working across at least two end-to-end Supply Chain functions such as Source, Plan, Make, and Deliver. - Experience leading domestic transportation operations and/or managing domestic freight operations. - Experience managing global or international transportation organizations, processes, or lanes. - Knowledge of international transportation processes, systems, and import/export execution. - Demonstrated ability to lead in a highly matrixed global organization. - Demonstrated people leadership experience, including building and developing high-performing teams. Preferred qualifications: - Master’s degree preferred. - APICS, Lean Six Sigma, or other relevant industry certification preferred. - Experience transforming transportation teams, processes, systems, and supplier performance. - Experience with Transportation Management Systems, Control Tower operations, shipment visibility platforms, automation, transportation analytics, and digital performance management. - Experience managing carrier, freight forwarder, 3PL, and logistics service provider relationships across domestic and international transportation. - Experience in consumer health, healthcare, pharmaceutical, medical device, or similarly regulated supply chain environments. #LI-MA1 What’s in it for you Annual base salary for new hires in this position ranges: $190,825.00 - $269,400.00 This takes into account a number of factors including work location, the candidate’s skills, experience, education level & other job-related factors. - Competitive Benefit Package* - Paid Company Holidays, P