Senior Transportation Refrigerated Buyer

The Senior Transportation Refrigerated Buyer is responsible for leading the sourcing, procurement, and performance management of refrigerated transportation capacity across all modes within the cold chain network. This role ensures reliable, cost-effective, and service-driven movement of temperature-sensitive freight while also serving as a strategic leader for cost-to-serve, network optimization, and growth enablement strategies.

In addition to executing transportation buying strategies, this role partners cross-functionally with logistics, supply chain, sales, operations, finance, and customer logistics teams to identify opportunities that support profitable growth and strengthen service performance. The ideal candidate combines deep refrigerated transportation market knowledge with strong commercial acumen, data-driven decision-making, and the ability to influence enterprise strategy.

This role is located at our corporate headquarters in Arden Hills, MN (In office Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday each week).

Responsibilities:

• Source, negotiate and secure refrigerated transportation capacity across all modes

• Develop and maintain strong carrier and broker relationships to ensure consistent service, product integrity and market competitiveness

• Lead carrier bid events, mini-bids and spot market procurement strategies for refrigerated freight

• Monitor market conditions, seasonality and lane volatility and capacity constraints to proactively manage risk and reduce service disruptions

• Manage carrier scorecards focused on cost, service and quality. Conduct QBRs to drive accountability and strong relationship management

• Partner with operations and planning teams to align transportation buying decisions with execution

• Support implementation and optimization of transportation systems, dashboards and procurement technology

• Effectively communicate market intelligence, cost trends and capacity risks to key leadership stakeholders

• Ensure all partners meet food safety, quality and regulatory compliance

• Lead Growth & Cost to Serve strategy across the dairy food’s logistics network.

• Collaborate with key stakeholders to influence and deploy these strategies

• Support commercial and operational growth by designing scalable transportation solutions for new customers, new regions, new product lines, and changing service models.

• Assess transportation implications to business growth initiatives

• Serve as a key transportation subject matter expert for refrigerated and temp controlled logistics  

• Mentor buyers, analysts or transportation planners as needed and contribute to a high performing transportation team culture.

Required Experience/Education:

• Bachelors degree

• 4+ years transportation procurement  or warehousing/supplier negotiations or relevant experience

Salary: $107,680 - $161,520

In most cases, candidates offered employment can expect to be hired at a pay rate near the middle of our salary ranges

About Land O'Lakes, Inc.

Join us and be part of a Fortune 250, farmer- and member-owned cooperative that is reimagining the business of food. We have been named a Top Workplace by Indeed and LinkedIn, and to the TIME 100 Most Influential Companies list.

We provide a broad portfolio of benefits to keep you and your family at your best. Land O'Lakes is Where Your Future Takes Root.

Land O’Lakes and our global entities support diversity in employment practices.

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