Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Logistics and Planning Manager

🎯 Role Definition

The Logistics and Planning Manager leads demand-driven logistics and distribution planning activities, manages relationships with carriers and 3PL providers, and drives process improvements in inventory planning, order fulfillment and transportation execution. This role is accountable for setting logistics KPIs, developing actionable capacity and freight strategies, and partnering cross-functionally to balance customer service targets with cost-to-serve objectives.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Logistics Coordinator / Logistics Analyst
Supply Chain Planner / Inventory Planner
Operations Supervisor / Warehouse Supervisor

Advancement To:

Senior Logistics Manager
Head of Supply Chain / Director of Logistics
Director of Operations or Global Distribution Manager

Lateral Moves:

Procurement / Sourcing Manager
Network Planning Manager
Inventory Control / Demand Planning Lead

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Develop and implement the company's logistics and distribution strategy to meet service level agreements (SLAs), reduce total landed cost, and support growth objectives across e-commerce, retail and wholesale channels.
Plan, execute and continuously optimize inbound and outbound transportation operations, including carrier selection, route planning, modal mix, load optimization and freight consolidation.
Lead monthly and quarterly network and capacity planning exercises to align warehouse labor, transportation assets and distribution center utilization with projected demand and seasonal peaks.
Own end-to-end inventory planning and replenishment policies—define safety stock, reorder points, lead-time buffers and cycle counts to minimize stockouts and excess inventory while meeting fill-rate targets.
Manage relationships with third-party logistics providers (3PLs), carriers and freight forwarders; negotiate contracts, service levels, KPIs and cost structures to ensure on-time delivery and cost efficiency.
Design and implement transportation management (TMS) and warehouse management (WMS) processes and standard operating procedures (SOPs) that improve throughput, reduce touchpoints and minimize errors.
Monitor and report on logistics KPIs (OTIF, DPO, ATP, lead time variance, freight per unit, fill rate, inventory days on hand) and translate metrics into weekly/quarterly action plans for operations teams.
Develop and maintain accurate demand and supply planning collaboration with Sales, Procurement and Manufacturing to reduce forecast error and improve order fulfillment.
Lead freight cost modeling and budgeting, perform variance analysis and implement measures to drive freight cost per unit down while maintaining service levels.
Coordinate customs, export, import and cross-border logistics compliance, ensuring accurate documentation, duties/taxes optimization and adherence to Incoterms and local trade regulations.
Oversee returns logistics (reverse logistics) processes, warranty dispositions, refurbishment and disposition strategies to reclaim value and minimize process costs.
Drive continuous improvement initiatives using Lean, Six Sigma and root cause analysis to eliminate waste, shorten lead times and increase operational reliability.
Implement contingency and risk mitigation plans for supply chain disruptions, including carrier failures, port congestion, natural disasters and capacity shortages.
Manage and mentor a distributed team of planners, schedulers and logistics coordinators; define role accountabilities, performance goals and development plans.
Lead cross-functional projects for new product introductions, SKU rationalization, promotions and network changes to ensure logistics readiness and minimize disruptions.
Coordinate warehouse layout, slotting and labor planning activities to improve picking productivity, reduce travel time and support peak season throughput.
Ensure accurate bill of lading (BOL), ASN and EDI/portal integrations with customers and carriers for automated shipment visibility and exception management.
Drive sustainability initiatives in logistics—route optimization, mode shift to lower-emission carriers, packaging optimization and consolidation to reduce carbon footprint.
Partner with IT to lead implementations and improvements of ERP, TMS, WMS and BI reporting systems; define requirements, test configurations and lead user training for seamless adoption.
Own inventory reconciliation and periodic physical counts, working with finance to reconcile variances and improve inventory accuracy to target thresholds.
Create playbooks and training programs for emergency operational responses, peak season surge planning and new warehouse onboarding to preserve continuity of service.
Conduct regular supplier and carrier performance reviews, implement corrective action plans (CAPAs) and maintain vendor scorecards to elevate service quality and reliability.
Develop scenario-driven transportation and distribution models for capacity planning, long-term network strategies and cost-to-serve analyses to support executive decision making.
Lead cross-border logistics optimization, including bonded warehousing strategies, duty deferral and tariff mitigation where legally applicable to lower landed cost.

Secondary Functions

Provide ad-hoc data analysis and scenario modeling to support senior leadership decisions, strategy presentations and annual operating plans.
Collaborate with Procurement, Sales, Customer Service and Finance to align inventory investments, order lead times and promotional planning with logistics capabilities.
Support continuous improvement projects by participating in Kaizen events, documenting process changes and quantifying savings for leadership review.
Manage relationships with internal legal and compliance teams to ensure logistics contracts, SLAs and NDAs reflect operational requirements and risk tolerances.
Assist in the design and rollout of training, onboarding and competency assessments for warehouse and transportation personnel.
Participate in RFPs and vendor selection processes, including defining requirements, evaluating proposals, and scoring candidates based on cost, capacity and reliability.
Maintain accurate operational documentation, including SOPs, KPI dashboards, escalation matrices and supplier performance logs.
Coordinate cross-functional readiness checks for new sales channels, geographic expansion or major promotional events that impact logistics flows.
Contribute to sustainability reporting by tracking logistics-related emissions, packaging waste and other supply chain ESG metrics.
Support audit activities (internal and external) related to customs, safety, quality and financial controls in logistics operations.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Transportation Management Systems (TMS): selection, configuration and daily operational use (e.g., Oracle TMS, SAP TM, BluJay, MercuryGate).
Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) knowledge and workflows (e.g., Manhattan, JDA/Blue Yonder, HighJump).
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) experience—order-to-cash and procure-to-pay flows (SAP S/4HANA, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics).
Advanced Excel skills (pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, macros), plus experience with SQL queries for data extraction.
Business Intelligence and visualization tools: Power BI, Tableau, Looker or similar for logistics KPI dashboards and reporting.
Demand and inventory planning tools familiarity (Kinaxis, Blue Yonder, Relex or similar) and S&OP collaboration experience.
Freight costing, rate negotiation, lane analysis, carrier scorecards and mode optimization methodologies.
Regulatory and customs compliance knowledge (Incoterms, HTS classification, import/export documentation, trade compliance).
Project management skills, including planning and execution of system implementations, integrations and cross-functional rollouts (PMP or equivalent methodologies advantageous).
Lean / Six Sigma or continuous improvement methodologies applied to warehouse and transport operations.
Capacity and network modeling for long-term distribution planning and cost-to-serve analysis.
Knowledge of reverse logistics, returns processing and warranty logistics workflows.

Soft Skills

Strategic thinker with the ability to translate supply chain strategy into operational plans and measurable outcomes.
Strong analytical mindset and problem-solving skills with attention to detail.
Excellent stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration abilities.
Effective negotiation and influencing skills with carriers, 3PLs and internal partners.
Clear communicator adept at presenting complex logistics metrics to executive audiences.
Team leadership and people development experience; builds high-performing operational teams.
Resilient, adaptable and resourceful under pressure with the ability to react quickly to supply chain disruptions.
Customer-service orientation with focus on meeting client SLAs and improving customer satisfaction.
Change management capability to lead adoption of new tools, processes and organizational shifts.
Time management and prioritization skills in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Business Administration, Industrial Engineering, or related field.

Preferred Education:

Master's degree (MBA, MSc in Supply Chain/Operations) or relevant professional certifications (CSCP, CPIM, CPCM, PMP, Lean Six Sigma).

Relevant Fields of Study:

Supply Chain Management
Logistics & Transportation
Industrial / Systems Engineering
Business Administration
Operations Management

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

5 to 10+ years in logistics, distribution, planning or supply chain roles with progressive responsibility.

Preferred:

7+ years of direct management experience in logistics, planning or distribution operations, including experience managing 3PL relationships, TMS/WMS/ERP integrations, and leading cross-functional projects. Experience in multi-regional or global supply chains and knowledge of international trade compliance is highly desirable.