NA Transportation - Freight Audit & Payment Process Analyst

Job Location CINCINNATI GENERAL OFFICES

The Freight Audit & Payment Analyst helps ensure that transportation providers are paid accurately and on time while protecting the company’s internal-control and stewardship requirements. The analyst supports the end-to-end freight audit and payment process across the transportation systems used in the region. This role combines daily operational execution with data analysis, carrier engagement, issue resolution, and continuous improvement. The analyst monitors freight-payment performance, investigates exceptions, resolves process and system defects, and identifies opportunities to automate or simplify work.

Success in this role means:
Transportation providers receive accurate and timely payment. Carrier questions and escalations are addressed with clear ownership and follow-through. Operational risks and recurring defects are surfaced through data and structured problem solving. Processes are documented, controlled, and audit-ready. Manual work and recurring losses are reduced through standardization, automation, and continuous improvement. Internal partners and transportation providers receive clear, timely, and professional communication.

• Serve as a primary point of contact for assigned transportation providers, providing carrier coaching, resolving payment concerns, clarifying process expectations, and escalating recurring or systemic issues.
• Use transportation and financial systems to investigate problems, validate information, process corrections, and move issues through resolution.
• Develop a working knowledge of assigned carriers, transportation lanes, customers, tariffs, systems, and daily operational processes.
• Partner with transportation operations, carrier management, purchasing, finance, stewardship, master data, sites, and other internal teams to resolve freight-payment and transportation-process defects.
• Perform structured root-cause analysis and support corrective and preventive actions for recurring operational issues.
• Create and maintain process documentation, standard work, business-continuity materials, audit documentation, and knowledge-transfer resources.
• Communicate risks, findings, priorities, recommendations, and progress clearly to carriers, teammates, internal partners, and leadership.

• Strong analytical, critical-thinking, and problem-solving skills.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel, including the ability to organize, filter, reconcile, and analyze data.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to investigate complex issues, identify root causes, and drive actions through completion.
• Ability to work effectively with internal business partners and external transportation providers.
• Strong attention to detail and commitment to data accuracy.
• Demonstrated ownership, curiosity, collaboration, and willingness to improve established processes.

• Experience with a Transportation Management System and SAP.
• Previous experience in transportation, logistics, supply chain, freight payment, accounts payable.
• Experience with Coupa or another purchase-order or procurement platform.
• Intermediate Excel skills, including Pivot Tables, lookup functions, formulas, conditional formatting, and data reconciliation.
• Experience working with EDI transactions, transportation invoices, freight bills, rates, tariffs, accessorial charges, vouchers, or purchase orders.
• Experience communicating directly with transportation providers, suppliers, or other external business partners.
• Experience creating process maps, standard operating procedures, or other forms of process documentation.
• Experience using structured problem-solving or continuous-improvement methods.
• Expos…