Transport Officer

Location: Midlands - Birmingham, Nottingham or Leicester

Contract: Permanent

Hours: 37.5hours/week

Salary: £23,000 per year

Reporting to: Supply Chain Manager

About FareShare Midlands

FareShare Midlands is the region’s largest food redistribution charity, fighting food poverty and hunger by tackling waste. We source good quality food that is surplus to requirements from retailers and manufacturers. We rely on an army of volunteers to help redistribute this food to 550 frontline charities such as school breakfast clubs, community centres and organisations supporting those who are homeless, unemployed, socially isolated and recovering from addiction. These organisations provide meals and food parcels to more than 35,000 vulnerable people every week.

The Role

To co-ordinate, manage and oversee the efficient and economic operation of our transport network of vans and lorries to ensure we are optimising the cost of the fleet and reducing our environmental impact. The role holder will be part of the Supply Chain team and will work closely with the regional ops team, food suppliers and FSUK to ensure we have timely access to all available food and schedule internal transfers to ensure we deliver a high service level whilst keeping food wastage to its lowest possible level. They will also manage the maintenance and upkeep or our fleet of vehicles

Key Responsibilities:

1. Operations

• Coordinate the Supply Chain vehicle schedule across the region on a daily basis, focused on collection and transfer of food available from suppliers and regional depots
• Maintain a close control over cost and efficiency of Supply Chain vehicle movements, taking direct responsibility for variances and improvement programmes
• Define & work to performance indicators that measure the financial and environmental impact of our transport operation
• Ensure that all relevant transport operations under the control of the SC team are carried out safely and within appropriate regulations
• Share best practice and improvement opportunities with the regional teams regarding route planning and van optimisation
• To liaise with the suppliers including FSUK regarding the removal of trays and pallets etc.

2. Communication & Leadership

• Develop accurate, timely and clear communication with operations colleagues within our region, ensuring they have the transport resource to achieve their objective of delivering a first class service to their Community Food Members
• Work closely with the food suppliers via the FSUK and FS midlands Supply Chain teams, building good working relationships with all relevant external partners
• Provide daily updates on transport schedules between depots and from suppliers, so all stakeholders have visibility of the plan
• Lead effectively a team of drivers, mostly volunteers, who will require clear direction to fulfil their daily tasks. Experience of working with Volunteers on a regular basis would be a distinct advantage in this role
• Develop a close working relationship and communication process with the vehicle suppliers to ensure maintenance and performance levels are met, and with FSUK and other suppliers to agree and execute their requirements for food collection and delivery. Target cost and efficiency savings.
• Undertake end of day reviews and planning for the next day’s activities, and provide reports against weekly & monthly performance indicators

3. Standards

• Ensure compliance with relevant Health & Safety, Food Hygiene and other standards applicable to the transportation of chilled, ambient and frozen food, carrying out risk assessments as required
• Work to the standards and processes agreed with the Food suppliers, vehicle suppliers and depot teams
• Uphold and develop high quality customer care towards & communication with our Food suppliers
• Design standard operating procedures to make continuous improvements to the way that we manage our vehicle fleet
• Show flexibility in leading or being involved in additional projects out of the relevant depot, undertaking any other reasonable duties to support the operations of the charity

4. Administration

• Ensure that relevant administrative & legislative matters are dealt with in a timely way, for instance license checks, vehicle maintenance and driver legislation

Person Specification

• To succeed in this role, you will need to be dedicated to the values & objectives of the Fareshare organisation You will need a motivation to collaborate with and develop others, with a demonstrable commitment to Equal Opportunities
• A flexible work approach, including a willingness to cover alternative tasks & shift rotas as required

Essential Experience

• Experience of working in a transport coordination role, preferably within the food industry
• Experience of working in a cross-functional environment which involves close communication and facilitation of working practises across internal departments & external stakeholders

Skills, knowledge & abilities

• Full working knowledge of vehicle and transport regulations
• Clear and proactive communication skills, both internal and with external stakeholders
• Excellent at problem solving and proactive planning
• Team working & good organisational skills including attention to detail, an ability to prioritise and meet deadlines working as one team
• All round good health and ability to do physically demanding work at times

Qualifications

• Fork Lift truck license and experience of van driving would be an advantage
• IT literacy, in particular of using Microsoft applications (Outlook, Word), and relevant technology that will benefit and enhance the scheduling of transport
• Sound numeracy skills
• Qualifications in Food Hygiene, Health & Safety as it applies to food distribution (or if not it is essential that you have the commitment to training in these areas)

How to Apply:

If you would like to apply for this role, please provide a supporting statement to demonstrate your suitability and to explain your interest in both the job and FareShare Midlands.

We particularly welcome applications from those of a black and minority ethnic (BAME) background, as BAME people are currently under-represented within FareShare Midlands.

Closing date for receipt of applications is Friday 24th September 2021 at 12 noon

Interviews will take place week commencing Monday 27th September 2021 or week commencing 4 October 2021