Head of Logistics at The Lignum Group Head of Logistics at The Lignum Group in Jessup, Maryland Posted in about 5 hours ago.

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full-time About the Role The Head of Logistics will build and lead a centralized logistics function, providing enterprise-level ownership of transportation strategy, freight commercial management, carrier relationships, standards, systems, and performance across the U.S. business. This is a newly established leadership position focused on creating the structure, visibility, and commercial framework required to support rapid growth while improving service, cost control, and execution consistency. The role will operate through a centralized governance model, with strong partnership and dotted-line alignment to plant logistics teams. Local teams will continue to manage day-to-day shipping activities, while the Head of Logistics establishes common processes, carrier strategy, performance expectations, and escalation mechanisms across the network. The ideal candidate will bring deep transportation and logistics expertise, with a proven ability to build and centralize a logistics function across multiple manufacturing facilities. What You'll Do Enterprise Logistics Strategy & Governance Own and execute the enterprise transportation and logistics strategy across the U.S. business. Build a centralized logistics operating model defining central ownership versus local plant execution. Establish consistent logistics policies, standard work, controls, and escalation processes. Provide functional leadership and dotted-line governance to plant logistics teams. Develop a scalable logistics roadmap to support business growth, expanding manufacturing operations, and complex customer requirements. Freight Commercial Management & Costing Own the freight quotation and costing process, ensuring transportation costs are accurately understood and incorporated into customer and project decisions. Establish commercial standards for freight, including rate structures, terms and conditions, accessorials, fuel, detention, claims, and other transportation cost drivers. Lead carrier sourcing, competitive bid events, negotiations, and contracting to improve cost, capacity, and service. Create visibility to freight spend and identify structural cost-reduction opportunities across the network. Partner with Procurement, Finance, Sales, Project Management, and Operations to improve freight forecasting, budgeting, and commercial decision-making. Carrier Strategy & Performance Develop and maintain strategic relationships with national and regional freight carriers and logistics partners. Establish a preferred carrier strategy based on service requirements, equipment needs, geography, capacity, and cost. Define service-level expectations and implement carrier scorecards and business reviews. Monitor on-time pickup and delivery, tender acceptance, claims, accessorials, expedited freight, and other key performance measures. Lead escalation and recovery efforts for significant transportation service or capacity issues. Operational Excellence & Cross-Functional Execution Partner with plant logistics teams to improve shipment planning, execution discipline, and consistency across locations. Standardize processes for freight booking, shipment visibility, documentation, claims, and exception management. Improve coordination between Logistics, Procurement, Operations, Project Management, Customer Service, and Sales. Identify root causes of expedited freight and recurring service failures and drive corrective actions. Support logistics planning for major customer programs, new sites, and business expansion initiatives. Systems, Data & Performance Management Establish enterprise logistics KPIs and reporting that provide visibility to freight cost, service, carrier performance, and operational risk. Develop the TMS, ERP, and transportation-data roadmap required to improve planning, execution, visibility, and decision-making. Use data and analytics to identify cost, service, and network improvement opportunities. Create consistent freight-spend reporting and performance dashboards across locations. Drive continuous improvement and measurable year-over-year gains in logistics cost and service. Risk, Compliance & Organizational Capability Identify transportation and logistics risks and develop mitigation and business-continuity strategies. Ensure compliance with applicable transportation regulations, company policies, and contractual requirements. Build strong logistics capability through coaching, standard work, and functional leadership. Define the future-state logistics organization and resource requirements as the business continues to scale. Promote a culture of accountability, customer focus, operational excellence, and continuous improvement. What You'll Bring Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Logistics, Business, Engineering, or a related field required. Master's degree preferred. 10+ years of progressive transportation and logistics experience, including senior leadership responsibility in a multi-site manufacturing, industrial, or project-based environment. Demonstrated experience building, centralizing, or transforming a logistics function across multiple facilities. Strong experience with truckload, LTL, and specialized transportation. Flatbed and project-freight experience strongly preferred. Proven success leading carrier sourcing, freight bid events, commercial negotiations, and national or enterprise carrier relationships. Strong understanding of transportation pricing, freight terms and conditions, accessorials, claims, service-level agreements, and cost drivers. Experience establishing transportation KPIs, carrier scorecards, and enterprise freight-spend visibility. Experience with ERP, TMS, and logistics analytics/reporting tools, including the ability to define systems and data requirements for a growing organization. Strong financial and commercial acumen, including freight budgeting, forecasting, cost modeling, and cost-reduction initiatives. Demonstrated ability to influence and lead across a matrix organization, including plant teams and stakeholders who may not report directly to the role. Excellent leadership, communication, negotiation, and executive stakeholder-management skills. Experience supporting high-growth manufacturing, engineered-to-order products, data centers, or other complex project environments preferred. This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced logistics leader to take ownership of a growing transportation function, build a scalable operating model, and make a measurable impact on cost, service, and operational performance across a multi-site manufacturing network.