Truckload Procurement Manager

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

Description

THE POSITION

This role will be the leader responsible for the people, performance, and culture of the carrier procurement team in the Evans Chattanooga office - hiring the right talent, developing them into producers, holding the team accountable to Evans standards, keeping the office engaged, and growing the truckload side of the business out of Chattanooga. This leader also serves as the senior on-site leadership presence for the office as a whole, including account management - setting the tone, holding the standard on the floor, and flagging issues to the appropriate leader - but does not own headcount, performance management, or termination decisions for reps who report to leadership outside Chattanooga.

Requirements

ROLES AND 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. For reps outside carrier procurement, document what is observed and hand it to that rep's manager.
• 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.

An individual in this position must be able to successfully perform the essential duties and responsibilities listed above. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this position.

The above list reflects the general details necessary to describe the principle and essential functions of the position and shall not be construed as the only duties that may be assigned for the position.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS

Experience / Training: 5+ years in truckload brokerage, 3PL, or transportation operations, with at least 2 years leading people. Demonstrated experience hiring, onboarding, developing, and when necessary, exiting team members. Track record of growing a truckload book of business, an office, or a team’s production - not just personal numbers.

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.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS

Experience / Training: Comfortable holding people accountable directly and early, and equally comfortable recognizing and retaining strong performers. Willing to own the basics of work ethic - attendance, punctuality, effort through the full day, and finishing what was started. Able to keep an office engaged and working hard without relying on constant supervision. Comfortable leading in a matrixed environment. Strong understanding of both sides of the business (customer sales and carrier capacity) and how the handoff between them works. Solid grasp of the full truckload lifecycle: sourcing, pricing, dispatch, in transit, delivery, exceptions, and POD. Demonstrated ability to buy better - lowering cost per load through lane knowledge, negotiation, and committed capacity. Ability to teach the business - pricing logic, negotiation, carrier vetting, carrier conversations - not just assign tasks. Comfortable managing daily and weekly KPIs, production targets, coverage metrics, and individual scorecards. Strong written and verbal communication skills. Credible with customers and carriers; able to step into an escalation without undermining the rep. Strong understanding of the national truckload market - lane cycles, seasonality, capacity swings, and where rates are moving. Able to build structure and culture without overcomplicating the operation.

GROWS INTO (NOT REQUIRED DAY ONE)

• Full office leadership, including account management, as the office matures and reporting lines consolidate on site.
• Standing up this same office-leader model in other Evans offices as the network grows.

PHYSICAL AND MENTAL DEMANDS

While performing the duties of this job, the employee must be able to continuously sit, use a keyboard, calculator, and telephone. The employee is occasionally required to stand, walk, stoop, and/or kneel. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 10 pounds while moving files or small packages. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision and the ability to adjust focus. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

The mental and physical requirements described here are representative of those that must be met by an individual to successfully perform the essential functions of this position.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

Work is performed in an office environment. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate. The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an individual encounters while performing the essential functions of this position.

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an individual encounters while performing the essential functions of this position.