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Transportation manager vs transportation director

The differences between transportation managers and transportation directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a transportation manager and a transportation director. Additionally, a transportation manager has an average salary of $77,378, which is higher than the $51,314 average annual salary of a transportation director.

The top three skills for a transportation manager include customer service, DOT and supply chain. The most important skills for a transportation director are DOT, logistics, and CDL.

Transportation manager vs transportation director overview

Transportation ManagerTransportation Director
Yearly salary$77,378$51,314
Hourly rate$37.20$24.67
Growth rate28%-
Number of jobs25,24823,622
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 57%Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Average age4545
Years of experience44

What does a transportation manager do?

A transportation manager is an individual who is responsible for directing and managing tasks that involves all the transportation activities within the organization. Transportation managers must ensure that goods and passengers have reached their destination safely by inspecting and providing maintenance to the organization's vehicles. During the hiring process, transportation managers must make sure that drivers and operators have the correct and up to date qualifications. They must also avoid passenger overload and should keep accurate records of passengers and goods that are being transported.

What does a transportation director do?

Transportation Directors are responsible for managing an organization's transportation operations. They are involved in supervising transportation projects, monitoring performance, research workflow processes, conduct strategic meetings with stakeholders, administer the budgeting process, and ensures programs comply with state and federal regulations. Besides that, transportation directors also work with the human resources department in employee recruitment as well as implementing training and orientations. Other duties include performing financial reports analysis and software tools testing.

Transportation manager vs transportation director salary

Transportation managers and transportation directors have different pay scales, as shown below.

Transportation ManagerTransportation Director
Average salary$77,378$51,314
Salary rangeBetween $53,000 And $111,000Between $30,000 And $86,000
Highest paying CityNewark, NJNew York, NY
Highest paying stateVirginiaNew York
Best paying companyAccentureZulily
Best paying industryManufacturingHealth Care

Differences between transportation manager and transportation director education

There are a few differences between a transportation manager and a transportation director in terms of educational background:

Transportation ManagerTransportation Director
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 57%Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeStanford UniversityStanford University

Transportation manager vs transportation director demographics

Here are the differences between transportation managers' and transportation directors' demographics:

Transportation ManagerTransportation Director
Average age4545
Gender ratioMale, 80.3% Female, 19.7%Male, 76.0% Female, 24.0%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 11.1% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 18.5% Asian, 6.1% White, 59.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%Black or African American, 11.3% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 18.8% Asian, 6.1% White, 59.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage5%5%

Differences between transportation manager and transportation director duties and responsibilities

Transportation manager example responsibilities.

  • Manage OTR driver core to ensure internal and external customer demands achieve.
  • Manage eSECURE program acting as TSA on military installation.
  • Manage RFQ project for the selection of a third party warehouse.
  • Manage employees to complete daily inventory of products so proper FIFO procedures are apply.
  • Manage employee's attendance and timekeeping by use of kronos systems on a daily basis.
  • Manage all aspects of a staff of over 100 CDL drivers , 5 supervisors and 2 administrative assistant.
  • Show more

Transportation director example responsibilities.

  • Manage RFP process to outsource truck maintenance resulting in headcount reduction of 32, and total savings of $880K annually.
  • Manage inventory of inbound ocean containers, coordinate and schedule TL operations, supervise yard hostlers and manage outbound trailer traffic.
  • Perform OSHA forklift and domestic HAZMAT shipping training per regulatory guidelines.
  • Convert fleet on-board computer system from Cadec to GPS base Xata.
  • Install time-management Synovia GPS tracking and cameras on all school buses provide constant security to passengers.
  • Develop routing procedures for LTL, truck load, air freight, partial package, and inter modal shipments.
  • Show more

Transportation manager vs transportation director skills

Common transportation manager skills
  • Customer Service, 15%
  • DOT, 12%
  • Supply Chain, 9%
  • OSHA, 4%
  • Customer Satisfaction, 4%
  • On-Time Delivery, 4%
Common transportation director skills
  • DOT, 18%
  • Logistics, 11%
  • CDL, 7%
  • Customer Satisfaction, 6%
  • Transportation Services, 5%
  • Transportation Operations, 4%

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