Vice President, Routing & Transportation Excellence

Full-time

Pay

$164,300.00/Yr. - $240,955.00/Yr.

Benefits

• Health, prescription, dental, and vision coverage starting on day 1
• Flexible and health spending accounts (FSA/HSA)
• Supplemental life insurance
• 401(k)
• Paid time off
• Paid sick time
• Short-term and long-term disability coverage (STD/LTD)
• Employee stock ownership (ESOP)
• Holiday pay for company designated holidays

Overview

At KeHE, we’re obsessed with creating solutions, unboxing potential, and serving others—and it all starts with you. As an employee-owned distributor of natural and organic, specialty, and fresh products, we’re committed to making a positive impact and scaling our success together. With a culture that fosters development and opportunity, you’ll be embarking on a career that’s moving forward. When you join KeHE, you’re becoming part of a team that is a force for good.

Responsibilities

• Transportation Strategy & Leadership
  • Develop and execute a multi-year transportation network strategy aligned with KeHE's growth, customer service, and profitability objectives.
  • Establish the vision and roadmap for transportation planning, routing optimization, fleet utilization, and transportation technology transformation.
  • Partner with Executive Leadership to identify and prioritize strategic transportation initiatives that support enterprise growth and scalability.
  • Evaluate emerging market trends, transportation innovations, regulatory changes, and industry best practices to ensure KeHE maintains a competitive advantage.
  • Lead transportation-related strategic planning efforts, including network expansion, customer growth opportunities, acquisitions, and supply chain transformation initiatives.
• Network Optimization
  • Provide executive oversight for transportation planning and routing operations across the enterprise.
  • Drive continuous optimization of inbound and outbound transportation networks to improve service, efficiency, and network performance.
  • Partner with Distribution Center, Supply Chain, and Transportation leaders to optimize transportation flows, lane strategy, and service models.
  • Establish performance metrics and governance processes to ensure exceptional execution and accountability across the transportation organization.
  • Lead enterprise initiatives focused on reducing transportation costs while improving on-time delivery performance and customer satisfaction.
• Transportation Costing & Customer Proposals
  • Own transportation costing methodologies supporting customer proposals, bid opportunities, strategic growth initiatives, and Trademark Logistics pricing.
  • Partner with Sales, Finance, and Commercial leadership to ensure transportation pricing strategies support profitable growth.
  • Provide executive oversight of transportation spend, cost-to-serve analysis, and transportation investment decisions.
  • Develop business cases and ROI analyses for network, fleet, technology, and process improvement investments.
  • Identify opportunities to improve transportation economics through network design, optimization, carrier strategies, and asset utilization.
• Asset Utilization & Productivity
  • Establish enterprise strategies to maximize utilization of transportation assets, including tractors, trailers, drivers, and third-party transportation resources.
  • Drive initiatives that improve fleet productivity, reduce empty miles, increase backhaul opportunities, and optimize equipment deployment.
  • Partner with Fleet and Operations leaders to ensure transportation assets are effectively aligned to business demand and network requirements.
  • Monitor enterprise utilization metrics and identify opportunities to improve productivity, efficiency, and return on assets.
• Continuous Improvement
  • Define and execute the transportation technology roadmap, leveraging Transportation Management Systems, advanced analytics, automation, artificial intelligence, and optimization platforms.
  • Sponsor enterprise initiatives that improve visibility, decision-making, and operational performance through data-driven solutions.
  • Champion continuous improvement methodologies and foster a culture of operational excellence across the organization.
  • Lead large-scale transformation initiatives that improve transportation capabilities, organizational effectiveness, and customer outcomes.
• Executive Leadership & Talent Development
  • Develop leadership capabilities, succession plans, and talent pipelines across assigned transportation functions.
  • Foster collaboration across Sales, Operations, Supply Chain, Finance, Technology, and Customer Experience teams.
  • Serve as the executive transportation advisor to senior leadership, providing strategic recommendations on transportation investments, network design, risk mitigation, and growth opportunities.
  • Promote a culture centered on safety, accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Other duties and projects as assigned.

Requirements

• Education and Experience
  • Bachelor's Degree in Supply Chain, Logistics, Business Administration, Engineering, or related field (required).
  • 15+ years of progressive transportation, logistics, supply chain, or network optimization leadership experience, including executive-level responsibilities (required).
  • Master's Degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Engineering, or related discipline (preferred).
  • Experience in food distribution, grocery, wholesale, transportation, or retail supply chain environments (preferred).
  • Experience leading transportation network design and optimization initiatives (preferred).
  • Lean Six Sigma certification or equivalent operational excellence expertise (preferred).
  • Experience implementing advanced transportation technologies, analytics, and automation solutions (preferred).
• Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities
  • Ability to set long-term organizational direction and lead teams through transitions, restructuring, or growth; skill in balancing vision-setting with sound change management practices.
  • Knowledge of routing, scheduling, and network design principles; skill in optimizing transportation systems for efficiency, cost control, and service reliability.
  • Knowledge of financial principles and analytical methods; ability to interpret data and forecasts to inform planning, budgeting, and operational decisions.
  • Knowledge of process improvement methodologies; ability to maintain efficient, safe, and compliant operations aligned with quality and productivity standards.
  • Ability to identify and respond to internal and external customer needs; skill in maintaining service quality and responsiveness.
  • Skill in building relationships and coordinating across departments and stakeholders to align goals and execute initiatives.
  • Ability to mentor and coach staff; skill in succession planning and building organizational talent pipelines.
  • Demonstrated success leading enterprise transportation strategy, network optimization, fleet operations, and transportation planning functions.
  • Significant experience managing large-scale transportation budgets and transportation cost structures.
  • Proven ability to develop and execute transformational initiatives that improve operational and financial performance.
  • Strong financial acumen with experience in transportation economics, pricing strategy, cost modeling, and investment analysis.
  • Experience leading geographically dispersed teams and complex cross-functional organizations.
  • Exceptional executive communication, stakeholder management, and change leadership skills.
• Physical Requirements

  These physical demands are representative of the physical requirements necessary for an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of the job.