Rail Transportation Analyst

Rail Transportation Analyst  

As the Rail Transportation Analyst, you will work cross-functionally with Operations, Sales, Customer Service, Transportation, Logistics, and Trading Teams to ensure Ardent Mills is meeting our customer’s expectations.  You will be a key contact between Ardent Mills’ external and internal stakeholders building trust and serving those both inside and outside of the organization.  

The Rail Transportation Analyst is responsible for the day-to-day facilitation and coordination of our rail transportation programs.  This includes monitoring shipments, understanding customer and company operations to ensure our production customer facilities receive consistent, reliable, and effective railroad service.  Assessing and developing alternative courses of action when necessary to provide optimum customer service.  Accumulating, and analyzing data; providing fact-based analysis to support decision making.  Creating and maintaining internal and external scorecards.  Identifying and making process improvement recommendations transportation cost saving.  

A successful candidate will have the following attributes: 

• The ability to deliver results in first-time situations by inspiring others and working to earn trust every day. 

• The willingness to serve others with understanding, respect, and care. 

• The ability to operate with simplicity, clarity, and transparency. 

• A desire to strive for excellence and a passion to serve.  

• The willingness to effectively deal with and drive change. 

• The ability to organize, prioritize, and own multiple tasks while meeting and/or exceeding deadlines. 

• The ability to learn and apply new technology, with the willingness to share knowledge with others. 

Above all you will be expected to carry out all your activities with reliability, integrity, compliance and in a safe, environmentally responsible, and efficient manner. 

Your responsibilities: 

• Monitor daily railroad activity and provide problem identification and solutions.  This includes reviewing carrier and internal reports and communications, investigating slow or non-moving rail cars, resolving no-bill and rebills, monitoring and or recommending changes that resolve problems and increase service. 

• Coordinate with Trading and Logistics Teams to ensure adequate transportation capacity has been secured/positioned to meet order fulfillment and delivery requirements, including car ordering and guaranteed freight programs, billing loaded cars, tracking in transit shipments, and troubleshooting billing and freight issues. 

• Provide transportation analytical support and problem resolution for Logistics, Customer Service, Sales, Trading and Operations Teams and for special projects or issues 

• Create, modify, and produce reports using railroad and TMS systems to monitor inbound and outbound shipments by carrier, customer, and mill. 

• Work with trading and logistics team to advise and adjust routes and transit time to minimize impact on customers of rail delays. 

• Anticipate, provide, and facilitate problem resolution on all shipment issues to meet or exceed satisfaction of customers, carriers and internal key stakeholders including but not limited to interruptions that result from labor disruptions, embargos, weather and other natural disasters. 

• Provide rate, route, and freight optimization guidance on inquiries from the trading and logistics teams, including maintaining freight rate and freight spread spreadsheets. 

• Provide guidance and ongoing maintenance within the TMS and ERP Systems; including but not limited to carriers, routes, rates, shipments. 

• Assist with the audit and processing of freight and accessorial bills for payment. 

• Analyze accessorial freight charges; recommend and implement solutions for reduction. 

• Investigate product loss and damage claims; Submit claims to transportation partners and track claim payments. 

• Coordinate across multiple functions and collaborators to collect, validate and prepare data on monthly basis to help analyze Supply Chain P&L activities. 

• Contribute to continuous improvement / optimization of the transportation network. 

• Perform additional duties and special projects as assigned by leadership. 

Essential skills and experience: 

• Bachelor’s Degree 

• Minimum of 3 years’ experience in a transportation, logistics, or shipping 

• The ability to delve into details and problem solve 

• The ability to balance competing priorities with the skills to successfully multi-task in fast paced environment 

• The ability to deliver accurate results in an efficient manner 

• Willingness to lead by example, help drive team engagement and influence others positively 

• Proficient in Microsoft Office skills to include Outlook, Excel, & Word 

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills 

Good to have: 

• Rail Transportation experience. 

• Experience working in a manufacturing environment. 

• Microsoft D365 or other ERP software working knowledge. 

• First-hand knowledge and experience in the flour milling industry or food manufacturing. 

• ERP software working knowledge 

• Logistics and/or transportation industry experience 

Other Considerations: 

• Ardent Mills is headquartered in Denver, CO. The strong preference is for this role to be based in Denver and to operate under a hybrid structure of part-time in-office and part-time remote. A full remote work arrangement for a non-local applicant may be considered for the right candidate. 

EEO Commitment 

At Ardent Mills, everyone matters, and everyone has a voice.  We are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal opportunities are available to all applicants and team members and the decisions will be based on merit, competence, performance, and business needs.  We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer.  We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, national origin, aboriginality, ancestry, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, physical or mental disability, pregnancy, genetic information, veteran status, age, political affiliation, or any other non-merit characteristic protected by law or not.  Together, celebrating our differences, we make Ardent Mills. 

At Ardent Mills, the security of our employees and candidates is a priority. We will never request sensitive information such as your bank account information, social security number, or other non-publicly available information during the application and interview process. If someone asks you for sensitive information, we strongly advise that you assume that individual is not affiliated with Ardent Mills. Some things to watch out for: 

• Slightly altered or unprofessional email addresses. Ardent Mills’ Recruitment team only corresponds from email addresses with the domain first.last.talent@ardentmills.com or first.last@ardentmills.com. 

• Vague job requirements or job descriptions. Our open job opportunities and descriptions can be found at ardentmillscareers.com