Inbound Transport Manager

Operating within a dynamic environment, our team oversees a multi-tiered, bidirectional, global first-mile transport network. We function as the critical bridge between Zalando’s global supplier base and our internal fulfillment operations, ensuring our supply chain remains both economically efficient and operationally robust. We continuously balance fluctuating demand against finite transport capacity, shifting transit times, service standards, and operational costs.

At Zalando, our vision is to be inclusive by design. And this vision starts with our hiring - we do not discriminate on the basis of gender identity, sexual orientation, personal expression, ethnicity, religious belief, or disability status. You are welcome to leave out your picture, age, or marital status from your application. We only assess candidates on their qualifications and merit.

• Manage physical inbound flows from diverse global handover locations, including FOB points in Asia, the US, and South America, as well as FCA setups across Europe, Turkey, and Morocco. Oversee the logistics of Private Label, 3rd party brands and return flows.
• Proactively partner with our internal customers to synchronize volume expectations for 12 months in advance and translate commercial demand into scalable capacity plans across Road, Ocean, and Air freight networks.
• Actively monitor global supply chain volatility and design structural routing alternatives to protect inventory availability. Anticipate issues, obstacles, and risks, proactively working towards avoiding or resolving them with minimal support.
• Drive strategic inbound initiatives, such as the onboarding of new partners, switch to rail service to reduce CO2 emissions, and optimise container deliveries. Leverage BI-Tools for performance tracking to turn raw supply chain data into actionable cost-per-unit improvements.
• Utilize our TMS to automate routing execution and carrier allocation. Manage partners and processes against defined SLAs, and proactively challenge established processes to raise required standards across the network.
• Analytical Autonomy: You define problem spaces and break down the required steps towards a solution with minimal support. You develop a risk-aware approach to decision-making, challenge your own solutions, and request peer reviews to ensure robustness.
• Relationship & Partner Management: You are a highly dependable partner whose internal and external communication is clear and well-structured. You are comfortable having challenging conversations and can help develop proposals and solutions when presented with budget or quality deviations.
• Industry Expertise & Business Insight: You possess a strong understanding of supply chains and Transport. You actively generate insights from market data, discover trends, and use your market understanding to bring in ideas for new business opportunities.
• Collaborative Leadership & Mentorship: You work effectively as a member of a cross-functional team. You actively coach and guide junior members of the team to help them orientate and support their career paths.
• Value-Driven Execution: You demonstrate an understanding of the main activities across the value chain, reflect on how your activities add value for customers, and prioritize your daily tasks based on that value.