Director, Freight Transportation Eu

TA Contact Person: Mini Bawa Sharma- Purpose- The Director, Freight Transportation is a key in-house strategy execution role for an organized, passionate, goal-oriented and visionary people-leader who understands the challenges and the opportunities of EU wide supply chain and transportation network, and who is capable of end-to-end owning and driving the European Freight Delivery network with over a 120+ Million Euro annual spend.
- Own the Freight Transportation Budget and Performance
- Manage freight (FTL/LTL) carrier portfolio across all countries
- Drive major change initiatives in EU network (New DCs, Stores, Launches)
- Enable new services to provide convenience and choice to our customers/stores
- Upskill and develop the EU Freight Transportation Team
- Drive proper communication and stakeholder engagement
- Key Responsibilities
- Lead overall freight delivery network for EU in alignment with strategic direction
- Actively manage the EU freight carrier portfolio with proper cadence and governance
- Improve overall transportation KPIs (COTIF, Speed, Sustainability, VAS and cost) for wholesale/retail channels.
- Budget ownership over a 120+ Million Euro annual spend
- Run and optimize the transportation network, with optimized cost, service and reliability
- Drive the sustainability vision of the company for the B2B transportation network
- Improve the delivery process end to end from Customer Service, to Fulfillment, to Added Services with a holistic view
- Be customer centric in everything we do, owning the customer delivery experience
- Ensure the capacity is secured to serve the high volatile transportation demand
- Key Relationships
- Initiate and drive discussions with cross-functional internal stakeholders, as well as external partners; to collect and consolidate input, issues, feedback, and insights to prepare, plan, align and deliver solutions
- Deliver execution of the aligned tactical / strategical initiatives
- Proactively manage stakeholders, build relationships, and manage communication
- Stakeholders can relate (but not limited) to the following core functions
- EMEA Supply Chain Management (all functions)
- EMEA Market (all functions)
- External partners (carriers, solution providers and consultants)
- Global Operations (Global Transportation, Procurement, Digital, Strategy and IT)
- Corporate functions (e.g., legal, finance & performance management)
- Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
Soft skills:
- Thinks Big and has a bias for action. Expected to be creative, to plan, shine and deliver.
- End-to-end mindset with a holistic view of problems and opportunities on hand
- Has backbone, develops and constructively communicates his opinion, not scared to disagree, and yet commit to the decision. Seeks the best for the business always.
- Solution builder with a creative mind and solid experience in delivering results
- Highly self-motivated, and acts like an ‘owner’
- Earns trust, both of his/her team and internal/external stakeholders. Does what he/she says in due time, and dares to say ‘No’ when required so.
- Engaging, open and perceptive to feedback and improvement
- Autonomous and capable of handling all-way communication (upward, lateral and downward)
- Change management skills, influencing a network of internal and external stakeholders
- Solid presentation and storytelling skills
- Discipline in planning, time management and organization skills
- Hard skills
- Expertise on EU freight (FTL/LTL) carrier network, with suppliers, services, and customer requirements particularly for wholesale and retail channels
- Working experience with a Transportation Management and Optimization system
- Advanced MS Office skills, especially MS Excel and MS PowerPoint
- Dives deep with proven data analytics skills, and willing to ‘get his/her hands dirty’
- Frugal. Knows success is not to have the biggest team, but to deliver the biggest value.
- Financial literacy and budget ownership
- Has experience in building and evaluating Business Cases with scenario planning
- People management skills
- Hires and Develops the Best. Builds, Manages, Coaches and Upkeeps the EU Freight Transportation Team
- Works with an ‘authentic / servant leader’ mindset. Leads by example.
- Insists on the Highest Standards. Setting right expectations is a determinant of success.
- Good at prioritization, effort estimation, job assignment and delegation
- Provides feedback and owns the development and performance of his/her team
- dentifies needs and skills required, runs recruitment, and ensures a smooth onboarding
- Curious, Open to learn & develop. Encourages / puts leverage in his/her teams’ learning
- Fosters a team culture that encourages trust, open and constructive discussion
- Qualifications
- A Bachelor’s degree from relevant departments of universities required. A Master’s degree and PMP / lean sigma certification preferred.
- Minimum 8 years of relevant work experience in an advanced supply cha