Senior Truckload Procurement Leader

Socket.dev; Chattanooga (TN); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Socket.dev in Chattanooga is seeking a leader to head the carrier procurement team, shaping people, performance, and culture in Evans' Chattanooga office. You will hire, onboard, coach, and set KPIs, while ensuring the office meets standards and collaborates with account management and other leaders.

You will drive growth of truckload business, expand carrier networks, and optimize load coverage with repeat capacity, while maintaining TMS discipline and escalation handling.

Qualifications

• Experience / Training: 5+ years in truckload brokerage, 3PL, or transportation operations, with at least 2 years leading people.
• Technology / Equipment: Experience working inside a TMS and managing a team’s work from operational queues/boards. Comfortable with AI, automation, and technology, and understands that technology should reduce routine manual work.

Responsibilities

• Own carrier procurement in the Chattanooga office: headcount, daily execution, performance, and the environment the team works in.
• Provide day-to-day leadership presence for the full office, including account management - set the tone, hold the standard on the floor, and elevate issues to the appropriate leader.
• Own hiring for carrier procurement - define the profile, run interviews with the assistance of the recruiting team, sell the opportunity, and make the hiring recommendation for every carrier procurement seat in the office.
• Own onboarding and ramp so new hires reach productivity on a defined timeline rather than figuring it out on their own.
• Train and coach the business itself: pricing logic, negotiation, carrier vetting, carrier conversations, and escalation judgment.
• Set clear, written expectations for every carrier procurement seat and manage to them using KPIs, scorecards, and real deal examples.
• Address underperformance on the carrier procurement team early and directly - document it, coach it, and make the termination recommendation when the standard will not be met.
• Set and hold the work-ethic standard on the floor in Chattanooga: people at their desks working the phones and the boards through a full day, with covered loads, follow-ups, and commitments closed out before anyone goes home rather than pushed to tomorrow.
• Own engagement and retention on the carrier procurement team: keep the team engaged and bought in, recognize strong performers, build a promotion path, and know why anyone who leaves chose to leave.
• Grow the truckload side of the business through carrier network development, expanding repeat capacity in Evans' core lanes, and increasing loads covered per rep.
• Own the office's carrier procurement growth number and report progress against it, including coverage, volume, and margin performance.
• Stay close to the carriers Evans depends on most, and step into escalations without undermining the rep who owns the relationship.
• Make sure carrier coverage, load setup, and cost decisions in the office meet Evans standards before freight is dispatched.
• Own how the office buys: set expectations on buy rates, benchmark against market and historical lane data, approve exceptions, and coach reps on when to hold, when to walk away, and when to elevate rather than overpay.
• Help build the sourcing strategy for Evans' core lanes - committed and repeat capacity where it makes sense, spot coverage where it does not - so the team is not re-solving the same lanes every week.
• Own the quality of the handoff to Visibility so shipments arrive with the information required to track and manage them.
• Reinforce TMS discipline so carrier activity, rates, notes, and communication history live in the system of record.
• Partner with account management on site and with Sales leadership, Yield, and Visibility off site so the office does not solve problems in isolation.
• Identify recurring failures by person, process, customer, or carrier and address the root cause.
• Help evaluate and implement automation, AI, and technology that lets the office handle more freight without adding headcount for routine work.
• Perform all other duties as assigned.

Job description

Socket.dev in Chattanooga is seeking a leader to head the carrier procurement team, shaping people, performance, and culture in Evans' Chattanooga office. You will hire, onboard, coach, and set KPIs, while ensuring the office meets standards and collaborates with account management and other leaders.

You will drive growth of truckload business, expand carrier networks, and optimize load coverage with repeat capacity, while maintaining TMS discipline and escalation handling.