Import Transportation Manager

Location: St. Louis, MO (Onsite)
Reports To: Senior Director, Global Supply Chain
Scope: Global – Ocean, Drayage, NVOCC, Port-to-Delivery

The Import Transportation Manager is responsible for the management and execution of international transportation across global import supply chains, with primary accountability for ocean carrier and NVOCC management, contract negotiations, transportation partner development, and service execution.

This role serves as the operational and commercial owner of the international transportation network from origin port through final delivery, ensuring cost discipline, service reliability, regulatory compliance, and proactive risk mitigation. The position partners closely with internal stakeholders, carriers, NVOCCs, drayage providers, and global operations teams to continuously strengthen transportation capability and resilience.

The Import Transportation Manager is a strategic transportation leader, not a transactional coordinator—responsible for carrier strategy, contract governance, partner development, and reliable global execution across the international transportation network.

• This role is onsite in St. Louis, MO with regular interaction across global time zones.
• Periodic travel may be required to support carrier meetings, negotiations, or operational reviews.
• If the candidate does not reside in St. Louis must be willing to travel frequently to St. Louis for training, meetings and collaboration.
• No relocation being offered. 

Key Responsibilities

Ocean Carrier & NVOCC Strategy

• Support ocean carrier and NVOCC contract negotiations, including pricing, surcharges, service commitments, allocation models, and performance standards.
• Own annual and multi-year RFQ processes for ocean, NVO, and drayage services.
• Work with Sr. Director to establish and manage preferred carrier strategies aligned with service, cost, and risk objectives.
• Maintain executive-ready understanding of carrier market conditions, capacity trends, and rate drivers.

Transportation Partner Development & Governance

• Develop and maintain strategic partnerships with ocean carriers, NVOCCs, and drayage providers.
• Drive structured carrier performance management, including scorecards, QBRs, corrective action plans, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Act as primary escalation point for carrier service failures, congestion, and disruption events.
• Ensure contractual compliance and adherence to agreed-upon service levels.

Global Transportation Execution

• Own end-to-end execution of international transportation from origin port through final delivery.
• Oversee ocean, drayage, demurrage, per diem, and accessorial management.
• Ensure routing discipline, schedule adherence, and proactive exception management across global flows.
• Support onboarding of new customers, origins, and routing models.

Cost Management & Financial Accountability

• Maintain accountability for international transportation spend and budget adherence.
• Oversee review and approval of ocean, drayage, demurrage, and per diem invoices.
• Identify cost reduction opportunities through network optimization, carrier negotiations, and process improvement.
• Partner with Finance to ensure accurate accruals, audits, and charge-backs to OpCos.

Risk Management & Service Continuity

• Proactively assess and mitigate transportation risks related to capacity constraints, port congestion, labor actions, geopolitical issues, and regulatory changes.
• Develop contingency routing, carrier diversification, and emergency response plans.
• Provide leadership and communication during global disruption events.

Team Leadership & Process Excellence

• Lead and develop transportation team members with clear accountability and performance expectations.
• Establish and maintain SOPs, training materials, and governance models for international transportation.
• Drive data discipline, accuracy, and process standardization across transportation workflows.
• Partner cross-functionally with Trade Compliance, Operations, Customer Service, and IT teams.

Qualifications & Experience

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Supply Chain, Logistics, or related field (Associate’s with significant experience considered).
• 7+ years of progressive international transportation experience, with demonstrated ownership of ocean and NVOCC relationships.
• Proven experience leading carrier and NVO contract negotiations.
• Strong knowledge of ocean freight, drayage, demurrage, per diem, and international transportation regulations.
• Demonstrated ability to manage cost, service, and risk in complex global networks.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to travel as required.

Preferred

• Experience operating within import-driven, high-volume global supply chains.
• Prior leadership responsibility over transportation teams or functional processes.
• Strong analytical skills and comfort operating in data-driven environments.

Key Competencies

• Ocean carrier and NVOCC negotiations
• Transportation network strategy
• Vendor and partner development
• Financial discipline and cost governance
• Risk management and disruption leadership
• Cross-functional collaboration
• Executive-level communication

The perks of being a Bunzl team member don’t stop at being part of a great team or being valued as our #1 asset. We offer a full range of benefits to help our employees take care of themselves and their families today, tomorrow and for the future.

• Medical, Dental & Vision Benefits effective the 1st day of the month after 30 days 
• Paid Time Off - Vacation, Sick, Holidays and Personal Time
• 401K with generous company match
• Additional benefit information can be found on the Bunzl Careers home page under Benefits and Perks. 

Bunzl is a global leader in the Cleaning & Hygiene, Food Processing, Grocery, Health Care, Non-Food Retail, and Safety industries. We have grown both organically and through acquisitions to sales in excess of $10 billion.  Bunzl North America is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.  Bunzl North America owns and operates more than 100 warehouses and serves all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Canada and parts of the Caribbean and Mexico. With more than 5,000 employees and 400,000 plus supplies, Bunzl is regarded as a leading supplier in North America.

Bunzl Distribution offers competitive salaries, a comfortable work environment, and a full range of benefits including a 401k with a company match.

Bunzl Distribution has a tradition of commitment to equal employment opportunity. It is the established policy to attract and retain the best qualified people without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex/gender (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, age, disability or veteran status as provided by law.

Equal Opportunity Employer
This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws. For further information, please review the Know Your Rights notice from the Department of Labor.