National Logistics Manager - Refrigerated Transportation

Location: Cashmere, Washington (On-Site Only)

Relocation assistance may be available for qualified candidate.

Position Type: Full Time Exempt, Benefits Eligible

Reports To: Director of Sales

The National Logistics Manager is responsible for leading and optimizing all refrigerated transportation activities for a high-volume perishable food manufacturing operation. This role oversees the movement of temperature-sensitive fresh fruit and snack products from the Cashmere, Washington production facility to customer distribution centers throughout America, ensuring that shipments arrive On Time In Full (OTIF) while achieving industry-leading transportation cost efficiency, service reliability, and product integrity.

This position is responsible for carrier management, network optimization, freight procurement, route planning, and transportation analytics. The National Logistics Manager will leverage available technology and resources to continuously improve transportation performance, reduce costs, enhance visibility, and strengthen customer service levels.

The ideal candidate combines strong logistics expertise, analytical thinking, negotiation skills, and technology adoption capabilities to build a best-in-class transportation network that supports the company’s growth and customer commitments.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Transportation Strategy & Execution

• Manage all domestic refrigerated transportation activities from manufacturing facilities to customer distribution centers across the United States.
• Develop and execute transportation strategies that optimize freight costs while maintaining superior service levels and product quality.
• Ensure all customer deliveries meet or exceed OTIF performance targets.
• Coordinate daily shipment planning, carrier assignments, route optimization, and load scheduling.
• Identify opportunities to reduce empty miles, improve trailer utilization, increase shipment consolidation, and maximize transportation efficiency.
• Evaluate transportation lane structures and recommend network improvements to support changing customer demand and business growth.

Carrier Management & Procurement

• Develop, negotiate, and manage relationships with refrigerated freight carriers, brokers, and third-party logistics providers.
• Lead annual and spot-market freight procurement activities to secure competitive rates and reliable capacity.

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• Monitor carrier performance metrics including:
• On-time pickup performance
• On-time delivery performance
• Claims rates
• Temperature compliance
• Service failures
• Cost competitiveness
• Create scorecards and performance reviews for transportation providers.
• Negotiate transportation contracts that balance service requirements with cost optimization.

Technology, Data Analytics & AI

• Lead implementation and continuous improvement of AI-powered logistics and transportation optimization tools.
• Apply predictive analytics to forecast freight demand, capacity constraints, trucking market conditions, and transportation risks.
• Leverage AI and machine learning technologies to:
• Improve route optimization
• Predict service failures
• Analyze transportation trends
• Optimize carrier selection
• Identify cost reduction opportunities
• Improve load planning and shipment consolidation
• Develop dashboards and KPI reporting tools to provide actionable business insights.
• Stay current on emerging logistics technology and automation opportunities.

Cost Optimization

• Drive continuous improvement initiatives to reduce transportation spend while maintaining service standards.
• Analyze freight costs by customer, lane, carrier, and product category.
• Develop strategies to improve freight budget performance and reduce transportation costs per pound and per shipment.
• Monitor market conditions and proactively adjust transportation strategies to minimize exposure to rate volatility.
• Identify opportunities for backhaul utilization, multi-stop routing, pool distribution, and network efficiencies.

Customer Service & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner closely with Sales, Customer Service, Production Planning, Inventory Control, and Operations teams to ensure seamless order fulfillment.
• Support sales team with shipment visibility, issue resolution, and proactive communication.
• Act as primary escalation point for transportation-related service disruptions.
• Coordinate with production and scheduling teams to align shipping priorities with customer requirements.

Compliance & Quality

• Ensure compliance with all transportation regulations, food safety requirements, and customer shipping specifications.
• Partner with Quality Department to assure carrier compliance with applicable DOT, FMCSA, food safety, and temperature-control requirements.
• Support food safety initiatives by ensuring proper handling and transportation of perishable products.
• Monitor transportation claims and implement corrective action plans to reduce losses.

Success in this role will be measured by:

• OTIF (On Time In Full) delivery performance.
• Freight cost per pound shipped.
• Freight cost as a percentage of sales.
• Carrier service performance.
• Temperature compliance rates.
• Damage and claims reduction.
• Routing efficiency.
• Load utilization.
• Transportation budget performance.
• AI-driven process improvement implementation.
• Customer service satisfaction metrics.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Operations Management, Business, or related field.
• Minimum 5 years of transportation, logistics, or supply chain management experience with some experience managing refrigerated or temperature-sensitive food transportation.
• Experience negotiating freight contracts and managing carrier relationships.
• Strong knowledge of domestic transportation markets and refrigerated trucking operations.
• Advanced Excel and data analysis skills.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Excellent communication, leadership, and negotiation abilities.
• Experience in fresh produce, fresh-cut foods, or perishable food manufacturing.
• Experience managing nationwide transportation networks.
• Knowledge of AI, machine learning, and logistics optimization technologies.

Exempt Salary Range: $90,000 – $115,000 Annually