Director, Truckload & LTL Operations
Primary Function
The Director of Truckload & LTL Operations provides strategic and operational leadership for Knichel Logistics' contractual and transactional truckload and LTL business. This position is responsible for profitable growth, operational execution, service performance, carrier capacity, pricing discipline, team development, and overall financial results.
The Director partners closely with Sales by providing pricing support, solution design, operational expertise, customer onboarding, and account growth support but does not directly manage Sales personnel. The position ensures the department has the people, processes, technology, and carrier capacity necessary to execute both new and existing business profitably and at the service levels promised to customers. You will be joining a team that lives by our core values: Customer Obsessed, Team Focused, Be Valuable, Do The Right Thing.
Position Outcomes
The Director of Truckload & LTL Operations is expected to:
- Grow truckload and LTL revenue and gross profit in accordance with the company's annual plan while protecting margin quality and service performance.
- Provide Sales with responsive pricing, operational expertise, capacity solutions, and reliable implementation of new business.
- Maintain strong operational performance across contractual and transactional truckload and LTL services.
- Develop managers and employees who demonstrate sound judgment, proactive communication, accountability, and a commitment to customer service.
- Build scalable processes, technology, and carrier strategies that support continued growth.
Duties and Responsibilities
Business and Financial Leadership
- Own the department's performance related to volume, revenue, gross profit, margin, productivity, staffing, and controllable expenses.
- Develop and execute growth plans for contractual truckload, transactional truckload, contractual LTL, and transactional LTL.
- Review results by mode, customer, lane, and team; identify performance gaps and implement corrective actions as necessary.
- Identify customer, lane, carrier, and service opportunities that can expand the department, improve efficiency, or increase profitability.
- Establish performance expectations and ensure departmental activities remain aligned with the company's financial and strategic objectives.
Operations and Service Execution
- Direct the daily execution of truckload and LTL shipments from order acceptance through delivery, billing readiness, and issue resolution.
- Establish and maintain operating standards for order entry, pricing, carrier selection, tendering, tracking, appointments, documentation, accessorials, and customer communication.
- Maintain clear ownership and escalation procedures for service, capacity, pricing, billing, claims, accessorials, and carrier-related issues.
- Monitor service performance and implement corrective action when established standards are not achieved.
- Ensure customer commitments are understood, documented, and consistently executed.
Carrier Capacity and Procurement
- Maintain qualified, compliant, and cost-competitive carrier capacity to support contractual commitments, transactional freight, and anticipated growth.
- Monitor carrier cost, acceptance, service, claims, and compliance performance.
- Develop strategic carrier capacity for core customers, key lanes, and constrained markets.
- Partner with Pricing and Procurement resources to maintain competitive market intelligence, purchasing discipline, and appropriate rate validity.
- Balance service, capacity, cost, and risk when making carrier and procurement decisions.
Sales Support and Business Development
- Partner with Sales on prospect qualification, pricing, mode selection, RFPs, customer meetings, solution development, and operational feasibility.
- Provide operational input to ensure new opportunities can be executed successfully and profitably.
- Lead the operational onboarding of new customers, including gathering requirements, system setup, pricing controls, capacity planning, communication expectations, and escalation procedures.
- Review customer books of business with Sales and Account Management to identify retention risks, underperforming freight, profitability concerns, and growth opportunities.
- Provide reliable operational support for new sales wins and customer expansion initiatives.
People and Organizational Development
- Lead, coach, develop, and hold accountable assigned managers, team leaders, and employees through measurable expectations, ongoing feedback, and timely performance reviews.
- Develop staffing plans that appropriately balance service requirements, productivity, growth, and financial performance.
- Establish career development, onboarding, succession planning, and ongoing training programs for contractual and transactional operations.
- Create effective cross-training and backup coverage to reduce customer and operational dependence on individual employees.
- Promote a culture of accountability, teamwork, proactive communication, continuous improvement, and customer service.
Process and Technology
- Effectively utilize TAI, Highway, HubSpot, DAT, Power BI, and other approved systems to improve execution, pricing, carrier management, visibility, and reporting.
- Establish and maintain standard operating procedures and customer-specific playbooks.
- Identify and implement automation, technology, and process improvements that increase productivity, expand departmental capacity, improve visibility, and reduce errors.
- Use operational and financial data to identify trends, measure performance, and support business decisions.
Compliance and Risk Management
- Ensure departmental compliance with applicable laws, customer and carrier contracts, insurance requirements, company policies, and approved carrier-vetting practices.
- Ensure claims, theft, fraud, service failures, and other material risks are properly documented and escalated.
- Develop practices and controls designed to reduce preventable financial, operational, compliance, and service exposure.
- Partner with appropriate internal resources when significant risk or compliance concerns arise.
Authority
The Director of Truckload & LTL Operations is authorized to:
- Direct assigned managers and employees, delegate responsibilities, establish performance expectations, and recommend staffing or corrective action while retaining accountability for departmental results.
- Approve operating decisions, carrier selections, and customer actions within established pricing, contractual, operational, and financial limits.
- Establish departmental procedures consistent with company policies and strategic objectives.
- Negotiate operational and carrier arrangements within delegated authority.
- Submit contracts and other agreements requiring executive approval through the company's established approval process.
Measures of Performance
Performance will be evaluated based on factors including:
- Volume, revenue, gross profit, margin, and budget performance across contractual truckload, transactional truckload, contractual LTL, and transactional LTL.
- On-time pickup and delivery, tender acceptance, tracking compliance, customer communication, and complaint levels.
- Pricing and billing accuracy, accessorial recovery, carrier cost, and preventable operating losses.
- Customer retention, successful onboarding, account expansion, and operational support of new sales wins.
- Productivity, staffing efficiency, employee retention, employee development, cross-training, and succession readiness.
- Carrier performance, capacity availability, compliance, and cost competitiveness.
- Successful implementation of operational, process, and technology improvements.
Position Requirements
Education
Required: High school diploma or equivalent.
Preferred: Bachelor's degree or relevant coursework in logistics, supply chain management, business management, or a related field.
Experience
Required:
- Minimum of seven years of transportation, logistics, or brokerage experience.
- Minimum of three years of experience leading employees, teams, or transportation operations.
Preferred:
- Leadership experience across truckload and LTL brokerage operations.
- Experience managing both contractual and transactional freight.
- Experience with carrier procurement, customer implementation, pricing, and service execution.
- Experience with financial management and profit-and-loss responsibility.
Representative Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities
- Strong knowledge of truckload and LTL brokerage operations, carrier markets, pricing, accessorials, claims, regulations, and accepted industry practices.
- Demonstrated ability to combine commercial judgment, operational discipline, financial analysis, and people leadership.
- Strong leadership, coaching, goal setting, planning, decision-making, problem-solving, conflict-resolution, and accountability skills.
- Ability to analyze financial and operational performance and translate findings into appropriate business actions.
- Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced transportation environment.
- Clear and professional written and verbal communication skills.
- Ability to effectively communicate and collaborate with customers, prospects, carriers, employees, Sales, Account Management, and senior leadership.
- Working knowledge of transportation management, carrier compliance, CRM, analytics, productivity, and accounting systems.
- Ability to lead change, establish standardized processes, and develop teams capable of supporting continued business growth.
