Senior Manager, Software Engineering - Global Forwarding Technology

Chrobinson; United States; On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

C.H. Robinson is seeking a Senior Manager of Software Engineering to lead Global Forwarding engineering teams, driving modernization, automation, and AI-driven solutions.

You will mentor engineers, align technical initiatives with business goals, and partner with product, business, and technology leaders to deliver impactful software and integrated platforms. The role emphasizes strategic leadership in a fast-paced, global environment.

Qualifications

• Proven ability to lead multiple engineering teams.
• Experience driving AI-driven solutions and automation initiatives.
• Strong understanding of modern software engineering practices.

Responsibilities

• Define strategy across Global Forwarding capabilities with leaders from product, business, operations, and technology.
• Lead teams to modernize and automate complex workflows (pricing, contracts, planning, booking, visibility).
• Collaborate to move opportunities from discovery to production, balancing speed, quality, and business value.
• Apply automation, AI, and agentic technologies to reduce manual work and scale operations.
• Establish practical AI-enabled workflow patterns including human-in-the-loop design, observability, and security.
• Encourage adoption of emerging technologies while maintaining production readiness and measurable outcomes.
• Define product and technology vision aligned with business goals and opportunities.
• Build and maintain technology roadmaps linked to measurable outcomes.
• Communicate strategy ensuring stability, scalability, reliability, and security.

Skills

Strategic leadership

AI technologies

Automation

Software architecture

Roadmap planning

Cross-functional collaboration

Job description

C.H. Robinson is seeking a Senior Manager, Software Engineering, to join our Global Forwarding team as we continue to expand our strategic technology portfolio and engineering capabilities. In this leadership role, you will provide day-to-day direction for engineering teams, develop and mentor technical talent, and partner closely with product, business, and technology leaders to deliver innovative solutions that drive business impact. You will be responsible for leading high-performing engineering teams that design, build, and support complex software solutions across our application platforms, while also integrating third-party technologies into our broader technology ecosystem. As a strategic and forward-thinking leader, you will help shape the engineering roadmap, drive modernization and automation initiatives, and champion the adoption of AI-driven solutions to improve efficiency, scalability, and customer outcomes.

The ideal candidate is a proven people leader and technical bar raiser who fosters a culture of innovation, engineering excellence, and continuous improvement. You bring a strong understanding of automation, AI technologies, and modern software engineering practices, coupled with the ability to align technical strategies with business objectives and deliver results in a fast-paced, global environment.

This role can be based only in MN, IL or Kansas City

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Partner with product, business, operations, and technology leaders to define strategy across Global Forwarding capabilities and ensure engineering teams are aligned to the highest-value business outcomes
• Lead engineering teams responsible for modernizing and automating complex Global Forwarding workflows across areas such as pricing and rating, carrier contracts, shipment planning and execution, booking, visibility, documents, and operational workflows
• Collaborate with cross-functional leaders to move opportunities from discovery through delivery and into production, balancing speed, scalability, technical quality, and business value
• Identify opportunities to apply automation, AI, large language models, and agentic technologies to reduce manual work, improve decision-making, and create more scalable Global Forwarding operations
• Partner with senior engineers and architects to establish practical patterns for AI-enabled workflows, including human-in-the-loop design, evaluation, observability, security, governance, and appropriate guardrails
• Encourage teams to experiment with emerging technologies and AI-assisted development tools while maintaining strong engineering discipline, production readiness, and measurable business outcomes
• Help define product and technology vision in the context of established Global Forwarding business goals and evolving strategic opportunities
• Build and maintain technology roadmaps that connect engineering investments to measurable business outcomes
• Define and communicate technical and organizational strategy while ensuring product stability, scalability, reliability, and security
• Lead teams through ambiguity and evolving priorities, helping translate broad business opportunities into clear engineering objectives and incremental delivery plans
• Work across Technology teams and domains to recruit expertise, resolve dependencies, remove roadblocks, and prevent duplication of capabilities
• Drive reuse of common platforms, services, patterns, and automation capabilities across the Global Forwarding technology ecosystem
• Identify additional technical resource needs across teams and raise awareness early to support timely delivery and realization of value
• Balance investment between new strategic capabilities, modernization, technical debt reduction, production health, and ongoing business commitments
• Manage disputes and competing priorities between technical teams to maintain progress against shared goals
• Build and maintain technology product roadmaps with an emphasis on repeatable, scalable, secure solutions, continuous improvement, and speed of delivery
• Manage escalated technical and operational issues and ensure appropriate ownership and resolution
• Engage and assist other teams in high-priority incidents
• Follow enterprise goals around HPIs and critical/major outages
• Address production issues with a sense of urgency while driving systemic improvements that reduce recurrence
• Ensure teams meet quarterly commitments while maintaining flexibility to respond to changing business priorities
• Ensure defects and production issues are resolved within identified levels of service
• Establish strong engineering practices around architecture, testing, observability, security, reliability, and software delivery
• Encourage creativity, experimentation, and collaboration without organizational boundaries while maintaining accountability for delivery
• Establish, maintain, and communicate clear measures that quantify