Transportation Planner

Lactalis American Group; Buffalo (NY); Hybrid; USD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Lactalis in Buffalo, NY is hiring a Transportation Planner responsible for securing carrier commitments and negotiating freight costs to ensure strong domestic network coverage. This role requires urgency to convert planned shipments into live carrier tenders and to work with Transportation Planning Managers to align execution with company goals.

You will collaborate daily with Transportation Planners and Carrier Management to navigate capacity constraints and maintain a steady freight flow,

Qualifications

• High School Diploma or equivalent; post-secondary education favored.
• 2+ years refrigerated logistics/ transportation experience.
• Carrier sales/logistics procurement experience preferred.
• Geography knowledge of United States.
• Knowledge of domestic transportation market.
• Inbound/outbound warehouse operations knowledge.
• MS Word and Excel proficiency.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate with Transportation Planning to balance cost and service.
• Maintain visibility with planning, customer service, sales, and leadership.
• Mitigate overall cost while maximizing on-time service.
• Identify continuous improvement opportunities with management.
• Inform stakeholders of execution status and exceptions.
• Become SME with Lactalis-approved carriers and understand capacity needs.
• Use data and market knowledge to convert ad-hoc capacity to long-term commitments.
• Maintain data integrity related to carrier negotiations.
• Support routing decisions to avoid service concessions.
• Oversee execution and manage exceptions during transit.

Skills

Fleet management

Customer administration

Service level management

Transport management

Communication skills

US geography knowledge

Education

High School Diploma or Equivalent

Tools

MS Word

Excel

Job description

Description

Ready for more than just a job? Build a career with purpose.

At Lactalis in the USA, we're committed to providing meaningful opportunities for our people to learn, grow, and thrive- whether you're just starting your journey with us or looking to take the next step in your career. From day one, we offer the tools and support to help you succeed.

As the world leader in dairy, Lactalis is a family-owned company with over 85,000 pragmatic and ambitious professionals across the globe. Each day, we're proud to produce award-winning dairy products that bring people together.

In the US, we proudly offer an unrivaled house of beloved brands, including Galbani® Italian cheeses and ricotta, Président® specialty cheeses and butters, Kraft® natural and grated cheeses, Breakstones® cottage cheese, Cracker Barrel®, Black Diamond® cheddar, and Parmalat® milk. Our yogurt portfolio includes siggis®, Stonyfield Organic®, Brown Cow™, Oui®, Yoplait®, Go-Gurt®, :ratio®, Green Mountain Creamery®, and Mountain High®, along with a growing family of ethnic favorites like Karoun®, Gopi®, and Arz®.

At Lactalis, we live by our core values-Ambition, Engagement, and Simplicity. We foster a workplace where innovation thrives, diverse perspectives are celebrated, and everyone's unique background and ideas are valued.

Even if you don't meet every qualification, we encourage you to apply. We want to hear about your PASSION, your STORY, and how your EXPERTISE can help us shape the future of dairy.

From your PASSION to ours

Lactalis is currently hiring a Transportation Planner based in Buffalo, NY. The Transportation Planner is responsible for securing carrier commitments and negotiating competitive freight costs to ensure domestic network coverage. This role operates with a high sense of urgency, transforming planned shipments into live carrier tenders within a fast-paced environment. You will work closely with Transportation Planning Managers to align daily execution with broader organizational strategies and goals. Daily collaboration with fellow Transportation Planners & Carrier Management is essential to navigate capacity constraints and maintain a consistent flow of freight. The primary objective is to deliver superior customer service while consistently achieving the lowest possible transportation cost. Success requires a firm grasp of current market conditions and the ability to leverage technology to resolve real-time operational exceptions.

From your EXPERTISE to ours

Key responsibilities for this position include:

• Coordinate directly with Transportation Planning within Lactalis USA Logistics to maintain a balance of cost and service.
• Visibility to external stakeholders in Supply Planning, Customer Service, Sales, and Leadership.
• Prioritize action to mitigate overall cost while maximizing probability for on-time service.
• Work directly with Transportation Planning Management to identify continuous improvement opportunities.
• Keep key internal and external stakeholders informed of execution status and immediately communicate exceptions that deviate from the established plan.
• Become SME (subject-matter-expert) with Lactalis-approved carriers by understanding their core capabilities, service areas, capacity needs, lead-time requirements, and other pertinent information necessary to provide successful execution to the overall distribution plan.
• Use available tech, market-data, and practical experience to identify opportunities to convert ad-hoc capacity into long-term commitments.
• Maintain clear communication and data integrity related to all active and prior carrier negotiation.
• Respect routing to avoid making service concessions to end-users.
• May be required to oversee execution and manage exceptions while freight is in-transit or at the time of delivery including but not limited to OSDR, service failures, quality issues, etc.
• The Transportation team is staffed 7 days a week and will be scheduled accordingly.

From your STORY to ours

Qualified applicants will contribute the following:

Education:

• High School Diploma or Equivalent is required. Post-secondary education is favored.

Experience:

• 2+ years of experience required with Refrigerated Logistics / Transportation (appointments, high volume customer interaction, frozen/perishable) or related distribution experience

Certifications and specific knowledge:

• Carrier Sales/Logistics Coordinator, Transportation Procurement, Transportation Rates Coordinators, and any other logistics activity where buying/negotiating trucking for freight transportation is preferred.
• Intermediate knowledge of United States geography.
• Intermediate knowledge of domestic transportation marketplace.
• Basic knowledge of inbound and outbound warehouse/dock operations.
• Intermediate knowledge of Microsoft Word & Excel.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills are required.

Competencies:

• Fleet management
• Logistic customer administration and relationship management
• Logistic service level management
• Transport management (order processing and process analysis)

Requirements

At Lactalis, we offer a comprehensive Total Rewards Program with a variety of affordable benefits and coverage options. We support insurance costs significantly, contribute generously to retirement plans, and offer Paid Time Off from day one. We are committed to your professional growth, providing training and development opportunities, including Education Reimbursement. Join us and grow your career.

Lactalis is an equal employment opportunity employer. We will not discriminate against applicants with regard to any legally-recognized basis including, but not limited to: veteran status, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, sexual orientation, and physical or mental disabilities. Further, any division of the Company that is an Aff