Transportation
Logistics Analyst II
Last updated
A Logistics Analyst II is a senior individual contributor who leads complex transportation analyses, manages major logistics projects like carrier RFPs and network evaluations, and serves as a technical resource for junior analysts and operations teams. They are expected to produce insights with less direction, handle more ambiguous analytical questions, and drive quantifiable improvements in freight cost and service performance.
Role at a glance
- Typical education
- Bachelor's degree in supply chain, industrial engineering, data analytics, or business
- Typical experience
- 4-7 years
- Key certifications
- APICS CLTD, APICS CSCP
- Top employer types
- Large shippers, 3PLs, logistics consultancies
- Growth outlook
- Stable demand driven by increasing supply chain complexity and rising data-driven management expectations
- AI impact (through 2030)
- Augmentation — AI will automate routine data cleaning and dashboarding, but the role's core value in complex RFP modeling, network design, and strategic stakeholder recommendation remains critical.
Duties and responsibilities
- Lead carrier RFP processes end-to-end: build bid templates, model award scenarios, develop recommendations, and present to supply chain leadership
- Conduct transportation network analyses to evaluate distribution footprint options, modal shifts, and carrier portfolio changes
- Build and own multi-source logistics performance dashboards that integrate TMS, carrier EDI, and ERP data
- Develop freight cost models that forecast spend based on volume, rate, and fuel surcharge assumptions for budget planning
- Mentor Logistics Analyst I staff on analytical methodology, data tools, and interpretation best practices
- Identify and quantify cost reduction and service improvement opportunities using shipment-level data at lane and carrier level
- Manage relationships with external benchmarking services and market data providers to maintain rate intelligence
- Support supply chain engineering projects with analytical infrastructure: data pulls, model validation, and sensitivity analysis
- Produce executive-ready summaries of complex analytical findings with clear recommendations and financial impact quantification
- Work with TMS administrators to improve data capture quality, correct system configuration issues, and develop new reporting capabilities
Overview
A Logistics Analyst II is the senior analytical resource in a transportation or supply chain analytics team. They handle the most complex questions, lead the most consequential projects, and serve as the analytical backbone for decision-making that affects how millions of dollars in freight spend is allocated.
The carrier RFP is often the signature project at this level. When a company goes to market on its transportation contracts — which happens every 1–3 years for most large shippers — the Analyst II owns the data and modeling infrastructure that makes it work: compiling clean lane volume data, building the bid workbook, processing hundreds of carrier bids, and constructing the award scenario model that shows management what the trade-offs look like. Done well, this project can deliver millions in freight savings and multi-year service improvements.
Network analysis is the other signature engagement. When business conditions change — a new distribution center is being considered, a major customer shifts order patterns, a market expansion is planned — someone has to model what that means for transportation costs and service capabilities. The Analyst II typically owns that work, combining TMS data, carrier rate information, and geographic analysis to produce recommendations that operations and supply chain leadership can act on.
Day-to-day, the role involves maintaining the analytical infrastructure that keeps operations running: performance dashboards, budget variance reports, carrier scorecards, and fuel surcharge tracking. But the most visible work is the project-based analysis that drives strategic decisions, and that is where strong Analyst IIs build their reputation.
Qualifications
Education:
- Bachelor's degree in supply chain management, industrial engineering, data analytics, or business required
- APICS CLTD or CSCP certification frequently held or in progress at the II level
- MBA or master's in supply chain management for roles with strategic scope or management track
Experience:
- 4–7 years of logistics analytics experience with demonstrated project leadership
- Full ownership of at least one carrier RFP cycle
- Experience building transportation cost models or network analyses
Technical skills:
- SQL: complex queries including multi-table joins, window functions, and aggregations across shipment databases
- Advanced Excel: dynamic modeling, complex array formulas, Power Query automation
- Power BI or Tableau: published dashboards with multi-source data integration
- Python (preferred at analytically mature employers): pandas for data manipulation, scripts for report automation
- TMS power user: Oracle OTM, Manhattan TMS, MercuryGate — report customization, configuration review
- Supply chain network design software (LLamasoft/Coupa, IBM ILOG) is a strong differentiator
Analytical competencies:
- Carrier RFP modeling: bid normalization, award scenario construction, sensitivity analysis
- Freight cost forecasting: rate and volume projection for annual budget cycles
- Cost-to-serve analysis: attributing logistics costs to customers, channels, or product lines
- Statistical analysis: identifying meaningful trends versus noise in freight performance data
Leadership skills:
- Stakeholder presentation: delivering analytical findings to VP-level audiences with clear recommendations
- Mentoring junior analysts without formal authority
- Project management for complex multi-week analysis engagements
Career outlook
The Logistics Analyst II level represents the most stable and in-demand part of the logistics analytics talent market. Companies need senior analysts who can operate independently on high-stakes projects, and the supply of candidates with the right combination of technical skill and transportation domain expertise is consistently short of demand.
The growth drivers are structural: supply chain complexity continues to increase, shipper expectations for data-driven logistics management are rising, and the technology infrastructure to support sophisticated analysis is improving faster than the talent pool that can use it. Large shippers, 3PLs, and logistics consultancies are all expanding their analytics capabilities, and the II-level analyst is the workhorse of that expansion.
For Analysts II who want to advance, three paths are common. The management track leads toward transportation manager or supply chain analytics manager — broader scope with people management responsibility. The technical specialist track leads toward supply chain network design analyst or supply chain data scientist — deeper quantitative expertise with higher individual compensation ceilings. The consulting track leads to logistics advisory or supply chain management consulting, where the combination of analytical skills and operational credibility commands premium rates.
The compensation trajectory is favorable. Senior logistics analysts with 5–7 years of experience and strong technical skills regularly earn $85K–$100K at large shippers and 3PLs. Transition to network design or consulting can push individual contributor compensation to $110K–$130K. Management tracks at large companies reach similar levels. APICS credentials and continuing education in data tools (SQL, Python, BI platforms) are the most direct levers for compensation growth within the analyst track.
Sample cover letter
Dear Hiring Manager,
I'm applying for the Logistics Analyst II position at [Company]. I've been a senior logistics analyst at [Company] for three years, following two years as an analyst at [Prior Company]. My current role involves owning our annual carrier RFP process, maintaining our transportation performance dashboard infrastructure, and leading ad hoc network and cost analyses for supply chain leadership.
The most recent carrier RFP I managed covered 340 lanes and $48 million in annual spend. I built the bid workbook, distributed it to 22 carriers, loaded and normalized the 340+ bids when they came back, and constructed a scenario model that let our VP of Supply Chain evaluate eight different award combinations by cost, carrier count, and service coverage. The final award decision saved 8.4% on an annualized basis compared to our expiring contracts and reduced our carrier base by two carriers while maintaining lane coverage.
On the technical side, I work in SQL daily to pull from our Oracle OTM data warehouse — our TMS standard reports don't have the granularity I need for custom lane analyses. I've also built most of our Power BI dashboards from scratch, integrating TMS data, carrier EDI feeds, and ERP shipment records into a single view that our operations team uses every day.
I'm pursuing APICS CLTD certification and I've been teaching myself Python for the past year — I've automated three of our recurring monthly reports using pandas and am looking to expand that work. I'm interested in [Company]'s role because of the network complexity and the opportunity to work with supply chain design tools that I haven't had access to in my current environment.
I'd welcome the opportunity to discuss my background in more detail.
[Your Name]
Frequently asked questions
- What distinguishes a Logistics Analyst II from a Logistics Analyst I?
- A Logistics Analyst II operates with more independence on larger, more complex projects. They are expected to define the analytical approach, not just execute a prescribed one. They handle stakeholder presentation directly rather than routing findings through a manager. They take ownership of ongoing processes — scorecards, budget models, RFP cycles — rather than supporting them. The II level also typically involves mentoring or informal leadership of junior analysts.
- What technical skills are expected at the Analyst II level?
- SQL proficiency is usually expected — direct database queries for custom shipment analyses rather than relying on TMS standard reports. Advanced Excel and Power BI or Tableau are standard. Python is increasingly expected at companies with data engineering infrastructure, particularly for automation of recurring reports. TMS power-user familiarity, including configuration and custom report building, differentiates strong candidates.
- How does the carrier RFP process work at the Analyst II level?
- At the II level, the analyst typically owns the RFP analytically: cleaning and formatting the lane volume data, building the bid workbook that carriers complete, loading and normalizing the bids when they come back, building award scenario models that show the cost and service trade-offs of different carrier selections, and presenting the recommendation to supply chain leadership. This is one of the most visible and high-impact projects in logistics, and leading it well creates significant career visibility.
- What does a transportation network analysis involve?
- A transportation network analysis evaluates whether the current distribution infrastructure — the location and number of warehouses, the carrier contracts on each lane, the mode mix — is cost-optimized for the current demand pattern. It typically involves mapping origin and destination patterns, modeling the cost of serving demand from different warehouse locations, and comparing the current state to alternatives. Software tools like LLamasoft (now Coupa Supply Chain Design), IBM ILOG, or custom Python models are used for larger analyses.
- How is AI changing the Logistics Analyst II role?
- AI tools are automating the data preparation and routine reporting that used to take significant analyst time. Analyst IIs at the leading edge are now using generative AI to accelerate analysis summarization and presentation, and machine learning models to improve forecast accuracy in freight spend planning. The expectation has shifted: what would take a Analyst I 3 days manually should take a Analyst II 1 day with AI-assisted tools, freeing time for higher-value strategic work.
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