Freight Analyst Jobs in Chicago, IL (NOW HIRING)

This position follows a hybrid work model, with 3 days per week onsite at our Lake Forest, IL office. The specific onsite schedule may vary based on team needs and individual responsibilities.

Position Summary:

This job is necessary to support the automated freight payment process for the Corrugated Division.  Staff is required to control the quality and flow of carrier contract rate documents, bills of lading, invoices, funding, business rules, financial controls, other 3rd-party factors needed to rate and pay carrier invoices; address carrier invoicing problems.  Staff focus is to keep invoice payments through the system accurate and timely.  Support plant accounting staff with system training and use. 

Dimensions:

The automated freight payment process involves controlling the quality and movement of a few thousand carrier contract specifications between the plants/corporate and the freight payment company for approximately 300 carriers for 80 box plants, plus warehouses, for the invoices of about 376,000 shipments per year.  The annual freight spend through this process is $164mm.   This process alleviates the review, preparation, approval and payment of invoices manually by the individual plants.    The environment is constantly changing with new/changed rates, new/changed carriers, 3rd-party software updates, security requests, business rules, audits, and financial/process controls of the system.  Controlling the resulting obligations and funding on a regular basis is critical.  Having a small central corporate staff provides consistency and control on the environment that affects a significant cash expense for the Company. 

Principle Accountabilities:

• Reconcile the freight payment funding requests (obligations) to actual carrier invoice processing results prior to authorizing funding to be released from PCA’s bank account.  The obligation from the freight payment vendor needs to be compared to the G/L feed sent to PCA, to the control reports sent to the vendor’s database, to the history of regular fundings from Corporate twice per week.  This reconciliation assures that funds can be moved timely to allow subsequent ACH and check transactions to carriers to be released on time, and that PCA G/L entries for expenses and accruals are current.  Update control reports and logs with each funding.
• Control contract rates from the plants/corp to the freight payment company.  The rates are essential to the calculation process, but in lieu of GM approval of locally paid invoices, the rate approvals and rate specifications need to be clear.  Rate updates are cataloged at corporate, either accepted or rejected, with escalations and tracking done as necessary.  This procedure helps prevent unilateral rate increases from being instituted in the system directly by carriers.  Knowing exactly what rates are in the system is essential for accurate invoice payments. 
• Address payment disputes and issues.  Using rates, policies, business rules, the freight payment website, and any other tools or contacts as required for defining and resolving not just single invoice concerns but problems that have carrier-wide or Company-wide impact.
• Monitor the payments and pending/holding status for the “top 20” carriers at least twice per week, looking for payment backlogs or gaps in payment flow that could result in a carrier declining to do business with PCA.  Address or escalate with plant, corporate, or carrier staff as needed.
• Audit a percentage (quantity subject to auditor guidelines) of invoices each week to assure the system is working consistently and accurately.  Deconstruct payments through rates, zones, miles, fuel, accessorial or any other charges on the invoices against the rate contracts.  Document the calculations and file for reference; escalate as needed in case of questions or errors.
• Develop and implement business rules and/or tolerances for the freight payment company to use when calculating payments on behalf of PCA.  Document the rules for approving/holding/denying invoices for the plants and corporate management to refer to.  Rules define the conditions or limitations under which payments may be made.  Complete documentation of the requests, the reasoning for, submittal and implementation of, are required in order to address carrier disputes.
• Learn and use the full complement of the freight payment vendor’s invoice management and reporting/history tools for efficient navigation of problem definition, resolution, reporting to plants, carriers, and management.  Be able to train plant accounting staff/others as needed in the use of the system.
• The Freight Pay Analyst is responsible for knowing and following policies and procedures of the Company; for sharing information that would benefit other members of the team; finding ways to improve the delivery of service to our internal and external customers.
• As a member of the Freight Payment and Administration Department, and the PCA Team as a whole, the Freight Analyst is expected to continually strive to strengthen our business philosophy of meeting needs and exceeding expectations for our customers.  This includes supporting our Commitment to Service which involves doing what’s right for our customers, focusing on strategies that add value and support growth, and keeping the promises that we make.

Decision Making:

This position has the authority to communicate with carriers, Corporate Transportation, plant management, the freight payment vendor, other corporate management/departments as needed to identify issues, request resources, address and resolve disputes to support the relationship between our plants and their carriers on behalf of PCA’s customers.  Issues that impact significant cash or contract standing are to be raised to management as soon as possible.  The priority scheme is that issues affecting the whole Company are higher than issues affecting one carrier at one plant, which are higher than issues involving one invoice from one carrier for one plant.

Interactions with Customers and Contacts:

This position requires asking, listening, discerning skills for identifying root causes of problems so that carriers, plants, corporate and vendor staff are partnered with solving problems.  Making best use of information affecting other people’s time is essential.  This position values patience and follow-up, showing concern, understanding and respect for all parties.  Communicating expectations, understanding, status and results is very important.  Jumping to conclusions, before gathering the necessary facts to solve a problem, is to be avoided.

Position Requirements:

Education:  equivalent to 4-years of college preferred.

Experience:  Business experience with freight payables is preferred.

Computer and software knowledge:  Excel, Word, email are essential.

Experience working with remote locations and with various levels of staff/management is preferred.

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