DescriptionJob Summary: The Intermodal Operations Lead is a new role at M2. It owns M2's intermodal, drayage, and international service offerings, including their growth, service performance, and profitability. Reporting to the VP of Sales, this is a hybrid leadership role: to start, it will be hands-on, running shipments and serving as the point of contact for key customers, while laying the groundwork for the long-term strategy, service model, and team. As the offering grows, the role shifts toward leading and developing a team of Intermodal Specialists and driving growth.
- Own M2's intermodal, drayage, and international service offerings, including growth, service performance, and profitability.
• Lay the groundwork for the service offering: execute the strategy, build out the supporting service model, pricing approach, partner network, processes, and team structure needed to scale.
• Be hands-on at the start, owning day-to-day execution of intermodal, drayage, and international shipments, from quoting and booking through tracking, delivery, and billing.
• Coordinate international moves with ocean carriers, freight forwarders, and customs brokers, including port drayage and import and export documentation.
• Serve as the primary customer contact for intermodal, drayage, and international customers. Understand their requirements, lanes, timelines, and service expectations, and align M2 solutions to meet them.
• Build and maintain relationships with rail partners, drayage carriers, and international partners to secure capacity, equipment, and competitive pricing.
• Proactively manage service performance and communicate proactively with customers quickly and honestly.
• Manage accessorial risk across the shipment lifecycle by working with carriers on equipment availability and street turns, catching free-time deadlines early, and making sure every charge is validated and billed correctly.
• Own growth of the service offering in partnership with the VP of Sales. Identify truckload-to-intermodal conversion and cross-sell opportunities within existing M2 accounts, support pricing and proposals for new business, and grow volume and profitability.
• Report volume, margin, service KPIs, and team performance for the service offering to the VP of Sales, and build action plans for any metric that falls below expectations.
• Prepare for and participate in customer quarterly business reviews, including intermodal KPIs such as on-time performance, transit variance, cost per load, and accessorial spend.
• As the team grows, lead, coach, and develop a team of Intermodal Specialists. Set clear expectations, provide regular feedback, conduct performance reviews, support each teammate's growth plan, and hire new Specialists against documented role criteria.
• Serve as M2's subject matter expert on intermodal, drayage, and international, and train Specialists and internal teams on processes, systems, and customer expectations.
• Develop and maintain standard operating procedures, business rules, and TMS configuration for the service offering to improve consistency and efficiency.
• Lead root-cause analysis of recurring service issues and drive improvement initiatives that reduce cost and improve service.
RequirementsSkills and Competencies:• Strong working knowledge of intermodal and drayage operations (rail networks, ramps, ports, equipment, accessorial rules) and international freight
• Builder mindset; comfortable creating structure from the ground up and working hands-on while shaping strategy
• Customer-focused communicator who stays ahead of issues and gives clear, honest updates by phone and email
• Collaborates well within defined roles, trusts teammates' ownership, and raises disagreements constructively
• Receives and acts on feedback and coaching for continuous professional development
• Ability to organize thoughts and give updates on progress, challenges, and timelines to all levels of the organization
• Strong ability to negotiate with and influence customers, carriers, and rail partners
• Ability to plan and organize workload, prioritize changing needs, and act with urgency and initiative
• Analytical mindset; uses data and technology to drive efficiency and value-added services
• Effective leader who establishes trust and credibility, coaches for performance, and holds the team accountable
- Associates or Bachelor's degree or the equivalent combination of experience and education.
- Five (5) plus years of relevant transportation, supply chain, customer service or business management experience.
- Project Management experience is a plus.
- Advanced problem-solving skills.
- Intermediate proficiency in Microsoft applications such as Excel, Word, and PowerPoint; Transportation Management System (TMS) experience required.
- Interpersonal skills with the ability to develop effective customer and teammate relationships and work within all levels of an organization.
- Effective leadership, team building, mentoring, and oral/written communication skills.
- Ability to lead both centralized and decentralized teammates.
- Ability to travel up to 10%.
