The Senior Transportation Procurement Manager leads Darigold's liquid bulk transportation, ensuring cost-effective, timely and compliant movement of milk while maximizing processing capacity. This critical role provides strategic and operational leadership, manages a high-performing team and collaborates across Planning, Operations and Commercial teams. Leveraging expertise in milk supply, processing and logistics, the Senior Transportation Procurement Manager drives efficiency, profitability, sustainability and continuous improvement across the network.
What You Will Do:- Manage relationships between regional bulk milk haulers and plant operations to ensure an efficient and balanced transportation network.
- Source and negotiate contracts with bulk haulers to support Darigold's bulk milk interplant and commercial activities, including managing freight claims, accruals, payments and audits.
- Manage the daily operations and tactical execution of the Darigold Bulk Milk Hauling Transportation Planning Team.
- Serve as the primary contact for resolving escalated operational issues between freight haulers and delivery plants, providing on-call support, as needed, for unexpected disruptions, tanker investigations and related matters.
- Develop innovative solutions to rebalance the network during unplanned downtime events
- Investigate hauler-related issues such as weight discrepancies, paperwork errors, process inefficiencies or SOP deviations and develop improvement plans to enhance operational performance.
- Act as SME to haulers and plant personnel on proper procedures for safe and efficient milk pickup and delivery at farms and processing plants.
- Support NDA Field Staff with producer and hauler issues, producer requests and farm milk quality issues and reroutes.
- Collaborate with Operations and Planning teams to develop short-term (0-2 months) operational plans for Darigold's processing and transportation network.
- Support daily and weekly fluid balancing for Darigold plants, factoring in planned maintenance, current market conditions and production schedules.
- Oversee root cause and corrective action investigations to address business questions related to bulk fluid supply, demand, inventory, transportation and processing.
- Develop the team by identifying skill gaps and creating targeted development plans to build capabilities across the team.
- Identify opportunities and implement cost-saving initiatives in coordination with haulers, plant operations and producers.
- Communicate effectively with stakeholders across all company levels and departments to ensure alignment and execution of the bulk fluid balancing strategy.
What You Will Bring:- Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain, Logistics or Engineering or equivalent combination of education and/or work experience.
- 10+ years of experience in closely related field (dairy, transportation, logistics, supply chain or related field).
- Knowledge of the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance and other related regulations for safe and proper handling of dairy products preferred.
- Experience with Dairy.com highly preferred.
- Experience with Oracle Transportation Management or other similar transportation management systems.
- Highly skilled in Microsoft Office, especially Excel and Power BI, with the ability to quickly learn and adapt to new software and systems.
- Proactive, goal-oriented team player with strong initiative, ownership and a sense of urgency; experienced in driving results through cross-functional collaboration.
- Strong communicator with a proven ability to build relationships across diverse backgrounds and all organizational levels; skilled in problem-solving and resolving conflicts effectively.
- Ability to travel regionally within the Darigold Pacific Northwest footprint (~25%).
Benefits of Working at Darigold:We understand that as an employee, benefits that support you and your family in and out of work are important. We're proud to offer eligible positions a competitive total rewards package that includes:
- 401k competitive employer matching
- Comprehensive medical, dental & vision benefits
- Employer paid life & disability coverage
- Paid time off and paid holidays
- 8 weeks paid parental leave
- Education assistance
- Employee assistance program
- Flexible hybrid working arrangement where it applies (up to 1 day/week after initial 90 days and approval by hiring manager and HR)
- Compensation range: $108,585 - $191,621.23 (individual wage based on previous experience, knowledge and skills)
