Coates Career Opportunities Regional Transport Manager

Here's how you will be a part of the team ..

Transport is the artery of Coates business and this role puts you in charge of it across three states.

As Regional Transport Manager for the South Business Unit, you'll have genuine end-to-end ownership: internal fleet, external contractors, safety, commercial performance, and a geographically dispersed team. You'll sit on the South BU Leadership Team, translating national transport strategy into practical, on-the-ground delivery across VIC, TAS, and SA.

This is a role for someone who can operate at altitude and at ground level. You are strategic enough to shape direction, hands-on enough to make it happen.

What you’ll be accountable for

• Safety leadership: Champion a safety-first culture across all transport operations including internal teams and contractors alike. Safety isn't a KPI here; it's the foundation everything else is built on.

• Commercial performance: Own cost management, transport charge recovery, and contractor performance against KPIs and SLAs. You'll know your numbers, manage your budget, and hold partners to account.

• Fleet & asset management: Oversee the internal fleet including maintenance schedules, asset lifecycle, and utilisation. You'll make sure the right assets are in the right place at the right cost.

• People leadership: Lead, develop and manage a dispersed transport workforce across three states including IR matters. You build trust with drivers and operational leaders alike, and you're not afraid of the difficult conversations.

• Strategy into execution: Take national transport strategies and make them real across your region. You'll identify what needs adapting for local conditions and drive implementation with pace and clarity.

• Data-driven improvement: Use transport systems and performance data to cut waste, lift service levels, and build a case for change. You're comfortable in the numbers and confident turning insights into action.

• Stakeholder relationships: Build strong working relationships with Branch teams, Regional Managers, national functions, and external partners. You're the connective tissue between strategy and delivery.

What you’ll bring to the role  

You're a seasoned transport or logistics leader or someone with the foundation and drive to make a significant step up. Either way, you bring credibility, composure and the ability to hold people to account while keeping relationships intact.

• Senior experience in transport or logistics leadership, including contractor networks and internal fleet across a multi-site geographic area


• Strong commercial acumen: budgeting, cost control, contract management, and financial reporting


• Confident with transport systems and data; you translate numbers into decisions, not just reports


• Sound IR knowledge and experience navigating complex workforce situations


• Able to operate strategically: you know when to zoom out and when to dive in


• Resilient and composed under pressure: you hold high standards & maintain relationships


• High emotional intelligence; you can influence diverse stakeholders and handle difficult conversations with professionalism

Qualifications

• Proven experience in a comparable senior transport or logistics role — or clearly ready for a significant next step


• Certificate IV in Business Management (desirable, not essential)

What you will get in return

We invest in the people who drive this business forward. Here's what comes with the role:

• Genuine career development and progression pathways


• Employee discounts, wellbeing program and benefits platform


• Purchased additional leave


• Novated leasing and salary sacrifice options


• 12 weeks paid parental leave


• Volunteering leave through the Coates Foundation

Why Coates?

Coates is one of Australia's leading equipment hire businesses and we're growing. We're a place where people stay, progress and take pride in what they do.

We're implementing our second Reconciliation Action Plan, actively improving gender representation, and investing in leadership development that creates real opportunity. Through the Coates Foundation we support local and national communities, and through our sustainability program we're building a business that lasts.

We believe the best teams are diverse ones. Coates welcomes candidates from all backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives.

Coates. Equipped for you.