Head of Rail Logistics

Head of Rail Logistics

Position Overview

The Head of Rail Logistics is responsible for leading rail freight negotiations, managing railcar fleet optimization, overseeing repair and maintenance programs, and ensuring safe, reliable, and cost-effective rail transportation. This role develops and executes rail network and commercial strategies, manages carrier and vendor relationships, controls transportation and fleet-related costs, and collaborates with internal stakeholders to support business requirements and customer commitments.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead negotiations for rail freight rates, contracts, service terms, and related commercial arrangements with Class I and connecting carriers.
• Develop rate, routing, and lane strategies using volume forecasts, market intelligence, service requirements, and total landed-cost analysis.
• Own fleet optimization for approximately 250 dry hopper cars and 150 liquid tank cars, balancing supply, demand, cycle times, storage, and contingency needs.
• Negotiate railcar leases, renewals, extensions, riders, assignments, and other fleet arrangements to achieve overall fleet savings and flexibility.
• Monitor car utilization, cycle time, dwell, loaded and empty mileage, demurrage, storage, accessorial charges, bad-order status, and out-of-service days; initiate corrective actions.
• Develop and oversee a repair and maintenance savings program, including preventive maintenance, shop selection, estimates, approvals, vendor performance, warranty recovery, and lifecycle-cost decisions.
• Coordinate railcar inspections, qualifications, documentation, and maintenance records in accordance with applicable company requirements and rail-industry standards.
• Manage escalated service disruptions, embargoes, routing constraints, capacity shortages, terminal issues, and customer-impacting events; establish recovery and contingency plans.
• Partner with Sales, Product Management, Procurement, Customer Service, Finance, terminals, and Operations to align rail capacity with purchases, sales commitments, inventory, and customer delivery requirements.
• Assist with rail-related budgeting and financial analysis, including freight, fleet lease, repair, storage, accessorial costs, forecasting, variance analysis, and savings tracking.
• Establish rail KPIs and recurring reporting for cost, service, fleet utilization, maintenance, and supplier performance; use data to identify root causes and improvement opportunities.
• Lead carrier and vendor business reviews, maintain contract and rate records, and support audit-ready documentation and invoice validation.
• Evaluate network changes, new origins and destinations, transload options, private-fleet needs, and growth scenarios; recommend commercially sound solutions.
• Support emergency response, incident escalation, claims coordination, and corrective actions involving rail transportation or railcar assets.
• Represent HELM at relevant carrier meetings and industry forums and maintain current knowledge of rail market developments.
• Perform other duties and strategic logistics projects as assigned.
• Competitive rail rates and sustainable carrier agreements.
• Safe, reliable, and cost-effective rail transportation performance.
• Optimal use and availability of the dry hopper and liquid tank car fleet.
• Control of lease, rider, repair, maintenance, storage, demurrage, and accessorial costs.
• Accurate budgets, forecasts, savings validation, KPI reporting, and contract records.
• Business continuity, timely escalation, and recovery from rail service disruptions.
• Collaborative, professional relationships with internal stakeholders and external rail partners.

Required Professional Background and Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Logistics, Transportation, Business, Engineering, or a related field; equivalent relevant experience may be considered.
Typically 10+ years of progressive experience in rail transportation, industrial logistics, fleet management, or a closely related field.
Demonstrated experience negotiating with Class I railroads and managing complex carrier or transportation agreements.
Practical experience with railcar leasing, fleet optimization, repair and maintenance programs, and transportation cost analysis.
Experience in chemicals, fertilizer, agriculture, bulk commodities, or another regulated industrial environment is preferred.
Proven ability to influence across functions, lead vendor relationships, resolve service escalations, and communicate with senior stakeholders.
Strong commercial judgment, analytical capability, financial acumen, and attention to detail.

Required Knowledge and Technical Expertise

Rail Transportation: Knowledge of the North American rail network, Class I and short-line carrier structures, routing, tariffs, rates, accessorial charges, demurrage, storage, and service performance.
Railcar Fleet Management: Knowledge of fleet planning, utilization, leasing, rider arrangements, lifecycle economics, maintenance, repairs, inspections, and recordkeeping.
Rail Safety and Regulatory Compliance: Familiarity with applicable rail safety and regulatory frameworks, including relevant FRA, DOT, AAR, and Transport Canada requirements, as applicable to the fleet and operations.
Commercial and Financial Management: Knowledge of contract negotiation, budget management, forecasting, supplier performance management, root-cause analysis, and continuous improvement.
Bulk Commodity Transportation: Understanding of dry and liquid product transportation and the operational considerations associated with hopper cars and tank cars.

Required Technical Skills and Tools

Advanced Microsoft Excel skills for rate, fleet, cost, and KPI analysis.
Proficiency in Microsoft PowerPoint, Power BI, Word, Outlook, and Teams.
Experience with ERP and transportation or fleet-management systems; SAP experience is required.
Ability to analyze dashboards and transportation data using reporting or business-intelligence tools.