Transportation Analyst II

Transportation Analysts II are the analytical engine behind freight decisions in shippers, logistics companies, carriers, and public transportation agencies. They do the work that connects raw shipment data to the decisions that determine whether goods move on time, within budget, and through the most efficient routing.

A typical week includes pulling shipment data from a transportation management system (TMS), running cost variance analysis on a lane that's been trending above benchmark, preparing a carrier scorecard for the quarterly business review, and modeling a scenario for moving freight from LTL consolidation to a dedicated fleet. Each task involves some combination of data extraction, analysis, and communication — the analyst is the translation layer between the data and the people who act on it.

During carrier RFP cycles — which many companies run annually — the role intensifies. Analysts build bid packets, manage the data submission process, model incoming rates against the historical cost baseline, and develop recommendations for the business. It is among the highest-stakes analysis the team produces, with real dollar consequences for the decisions it informs.

At public agencies, the work shifts toward transit ridership analysis, modal efficiency studies, and infrastructure project data support — but the analytical discipline is the same. The external stakeholder list is more complex and the decision timelines are longer, but Analyst II in a regional DOT role involves the same core competency: turning transportation data into clear answers.

The II designation matters. This is not a role for running predetermined reports and forwarding them to managers. Analyst II implies ownership of analytical questions, independence in methodology, and confidence in communicating recommendations that may push back on existing assumptions.

Education:

• Bachelor's degree in supply chain management, logistics, industrial engineering, operations research, business analytics, or economics
• Master's in supply chain or operations research accelerates progression to senior analyst or management at large companies

Experience:

• 2–4 years in transportation, logistics, or supply chain analysis
• Demonstrated experience with a TMS — ability to extract data, configure reports, and understand carrier assignment logic
• Direct involvement in carrier RFP, bid analysis, or rate benchmarking

Technical skills:

• SQL: writing queries to pull and join shipment, carrier, and cost data from relational databases
• Excel/Google Sheets: pivot tables, VLOOKUP/INDEX-MATCH, cost modeling, scenario analysis
• BI tools: Tableau, Power BI, or Looker — building dashboards that update automatically from live data sources
• TMS familiarity: Oracle Transportation Management, Manhattan TM, BlueYonder, or MercuryGate
• Basic statistics: understanding averages vs. medians, distribution shapes, and what makes a comparison valid

Domain knowledge:

• Freight modes: FTL, LTL, parcel, intermodal, drayage — cost structures and when each is appropriate
• Carrier markets: how broker vs. contract vs. spot rates work, capacity seasonality, accessorial charges
• Transportation regulations: hours-of-service basics, FMCSA requirements, hazmat classification

Soft skills:

• Willingness to ask clarifying questions before starting analysis — understanding what decision is actually being made
• Clear written communication for stakeholders who won't read footnotes
• Comfort presenting findings that contradict the existing assumption

Demand for transportation analysts is steady and has broadened beyond its traditional base in large shippers and logistics companies. Freight tech startups, e-commerce fulfillment operations, last-mile delivery networks, and regional public transit agencies have all added analyst capacity over the past five years.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects moderate growth in logistics operations roles through 2030, and transportation-specific analyst demand has tracked faster than that average as companies invest in data-driven freight management. The e-commerce boom of the early 2020s permanently elevated transportation cost as a board-level issue, and that visibility has increased headcount in transportation analytics teams at major shippers.

The skillset is also growing in transferability. A Transportation Analyst II with strong SQL and TMS experience can move laterally into supply chain analytics, procurement analytics, or operations strategy at companies outside the transportation sector. That optionality improves compensation leverage.

Automation is reshaping the role but not eliminating it. AI-assisted rate benchmarking, automated invoice auditing, and machine-learning route optimization reduce the time analysts spend on mechanical tasks. The shift is toward higher-judgment work: interpreting why the model chose a particular routing, evaluating whether the algorithm's constraints match the real-world situation, and managing exceptions that require human judgment and carrier relationships.

For analysts who invest in technical skills — particularly SQL, Python for data manipulation, and familiarity with optimization tools — the career path is strong. Senior analysts with 5–7 years of experience and solid TMS and modeling backgrounds can move into transportation manager or supply chain manager roles paying $95K–$130K, or into specialist consulting where project-based compensation is higher still.

Dear Hiring Manager,

I'm applying for the Transportation Analyst II position at [Company]. I've spent three years as a transportation analyst at [Company], where I support carrier management, cost reporting, and RFP execution for a network that moves approximately 1,200 truckload shipments per week across the Midwest and Southeast.

My most substantial project over the past year was a lane-level cost analysis that identified $1.4M in annual savings opportunity across our LTL freight. I pulled two years of shipment data from our TMS using SQL, segmented lanes by volume and service requirements, and benchmarked our contract rates against DAT historical data and broker spot market trends. The analysis showed that 18 lanes — representing 31% of our LTL spend — were priced above market by more than 12%, largely because they hadn't been included in our last RFP cycle. We used that finding to run a targeted mini-bid on those lanes and implemented new contracts that recovered most of the identified savings.

I'm also the primary owner of our weekly carrier scorecard. I built the Power BI dashboard that pulls from our TMS and updates automatically each Monday morning, and I manage the quarterly business reviews with our top 10 carriers. That process has improved our data relationship with carriers and given us leverage in conversations about service failures.

I'm drawn to [Company]'s scale and the complexity of your carrier network — particularly the intermodal and cross-border components that I haven't had significant exposure to in my current role. I'd welcome the chance to discuss how my background fits your team's needs.

[Your Name]