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Director of Freight Procurement

Jackson, Tennessee

Enterprise freight procurement leadership across FTL, LTL and parcel — combining hands-on commercial ownership with the opportunity to build a more scalable sourcing and governance capability.

Company Overview

American Bath Group is a multi-business manufacturing and distribution organization serving a broad portfolio of bath and wellness products across multiple channels and operating environments.

As the company continues to strengthen shared capabilities across the enterprise, freight procurement is becoming a more focused leadership discipline rather than a responsibility distributed across multiple operating leaders.

The Opportunity

American Bath Group is creating a dedicated Director of Freight Procurement role to bring greater focus, consistency and commercial ownership to freight sourcing across the enterprise.

Freight procurement is already occurring today, but responsibility has historically been distributed across transportation modes and operating leaders. The opportunity is to bring those activities together into a more deliberate procurement capability that improves cost, carrier capacity, contract performance and support for the operating businesses.

This is not a role where the leader will simply inherit a finished procurement organization and manage an established calendar. The Director will help build the operating model while continuing to execute the work: negotiating with carriers, developing sourcing strategies, establishing governance, strengthening the team and creating measurable value for the business.

Success in Year One

Success will mean that freight procurement operates as a defined enterprise capability rather than a set of responsibilities spread across the logistics organization.

The Director will have established clear ownership, a repeatable sourcing and business-review cadence, stronger carrier strategies, improved LTL and parcel economics, reliable rate governance and a prioritized roadmap for additional freight opportunities.

Just as important, the leader will have earned credibility with business-unit and logistics leaders by demonstrating that centralized freight expertise can improve economics without compromising service, capacity or operational flexibility.

The Mandate

Build and lead an enterprise freight-procurement capability that creates lower and more predictable freight cost, stronger carrier capacity and better support for the business through sophisticated LTL and parcel contracting, asset-based FTL partnerships, accurate rate governance and increasing coordination across the organization.

The Director will personally lead sourcing strategy, negotiations, carrier awards and implementation while also building the processes and team required to scale the function.

The role will work across FTL, LTL and parcel, with particular importance placed on understanding the commercial mechanics of LTL and parcel agreements. It will also partner with Supply Chain and Procurement on inbound freight economics and with business leaders on packaging, freight classifications, carrier strategy and other opportunities that affect total transportation cost.

Year One Critical Outcomes

• Build the freight-procurement operating model. Establish clear responsibilities, strengthen the team, implement a disciplined sourcing calendar, prioritize opportunities and create a consistent business-review cadence.

• Strengthen the FTL carrier network. Expand durable asset-based carrier partnerships, reduce unnecessary dependence on transactional capacity and improve cost and capacity predictability without sacrificing service.

• Improve LTL and parcel economics. Lead sourcing and contract negotiations that account for freight classification, accessorials, residential and liftgate requirements, large-package exposure and the different shipping characteristics of the businesses.

• Establish stronger rate governance. Improve the accuracy and reliability of carrier rates, shipment data, invoice controls, carrier onboarding and the handoff between procurement and downstream logistics support.

• Identify additional enterprise opportunities. Partner with Procurement, Supply Chain and business leaders to evaluate inbound freight terms, packaging decisions and other areas where transportation expertise can create measurable value.

Why This Role Is Hard

The challenge is not simply finding lower freight rates. The Director must balance cost with carrier capacity, service, relationship strength, contract structure and the different transportation characteristics of multiple businesses. A commercially attractive rate that creates service or capacity problems is not a successful outcome.

The role also requires simultaneous building and execution. The incoming leader will be expected to establish processes and governance while personally working through negotiations, carrier strategies, data, contract economics and implementation.

This is also a cross-business role. Some opportunities can be addressed directly, while others will require the Director to influence decisions through analysis, commercial judgment and demonstrated results. Success therefore depends on the ability to create adoption rather than relying solely on formal authority.

Leadership Profile

• Builder with operating depth. Creates structure where responsibilities have been distributed while remaining personally involved in the commercial work.

• Commercially rigorous. Understands how contract terms, freight classifications, accessorials, service requirements and carrier economics interact to determine true transportation cost.

• Execution-oriented. Moves from analysis and negotiation through carrier award, implementation, governance and sustained results.

• Carrier-minded. Builds durable carrier partnerships and evaluates total economics rather than pursuing nominal rate reductions at the expense of capacity or service.

• People leader. Can organize a small team, clarify responsibilities, develop capability and create accountability.

• Cross-functional influencer. Works effectively with business-unit leaders, logistics leaders, Procurement, Supply Chain, Finance and analytical resources without needing direct control over every decision.

• Data-literate. Uses transportation, rate, invoice and performance data to identify opportunities and support commercial decisions without outsourcing judgment to the analytics function.

Experience Requirements

• Direct ownership of LTL pricing and contract negotiations, with a working understanding of freight classification and the commercial levers that materially affect LTL economics.

• Meaningful experience with parcel contract economics and carrier negotiations, including the ability to evaluate more than base rates alone.

• Evidence of personally carrying negotiations through award, implementation and measurable operating or financial results.

• Demonstrated people leadership, including coaching, accountability and the ability to shape or build a team.

• Experience influencing decisions across functions, locations or business units where success depended on commercial credibility rather than hierarchical authority.

• FTL sourcing and asset-based carrier-network experience is valuable, but the role does not require an FTL-only background.

• Experience with inbound freight analysis, landed-cost thinking, decentralized organizations, e-commerce or large-package transportation, and transportation-management data can accelerate ramp but is not required in every case.

Why the Right Candidate Will Be Excited

This role offers an unusual combination of enterprise influence and hands-on commercial ownership.

The person joining will not simply maintain an established procurement function. They will have the opportunity to shape how freight procurement operates across a complex organization, build the team and governance around it, and personally influence carrier strategy and contract economics.

For someone who enjoys taking a fragmented capability, creating structure around it and then proving its value through measurable operating results, the role provides meaningful room to build.

It also offers organizational support to make the build achievable. Existing logistics, systems and analytical resources are available, while the Director retains meaningful ownership of the commercial work and operating model.

Why This Role Matters

Freight procurement affects far more than transportation rates. Carrier capacity, contract structure, shipment characteristics, packaging decisions, rate accuracy and freight terms all influence cost, service and the ability of individual businesses to operate effectively.

This Director will create a more deliberate connection between those decisions. The long-term value of the role is a freight-procurement capability that consistently gives the business better commercial decisions, stronger carrier partnerships, more predictable transportation economics and a trusted enterprise resource for freight strategy.