Transportation Dispatch Coordinator

Job Description

Job Description

Transportation Dispatch Coordinator

Direct Hire | $31/hr | 1st Shift | Richmond, VA

Kelly Services is hiring an experienced Transportation Dispatch Coordinator to support a large, fast-paced industrial complex in Richmond, VA.

This is a high-volume transportation coordination role , not a warehouse-management position.

The primary responsibility is keeping approximately 50–60 trucks per day organized and moving efficiently throughout a 90-acre complex while coordinating with multiple outside trucking companies, drivers, carriers, and internal operations teams.

If you come from a busy trucking, freight, transportation, dispatch, distribution, manufacturing, or 3PL environment and are comfortable managing dozens of moving pieces at once, this could be an excellent fit.

Job Details

Location: Richmond, VA
Employment Type: Direct Hire
Pay: $31/hour
Shift: 1st Shift
Hours: 7:00 AM–3:30 PM

What You’ll Be Doing

The Transportation Dispatch Coordinator will serve as a central point of communication between outside trucking companies, drivers, carriers, and internal operations.

You’ll be responsible for keeping transportation activity organized across a large facility and making constant adjustments as schedules, arrivals, loading needs, and priorities change.

Responsibilities include:

• Coordinate approximately 50–60 inbound and outbound trucks each day
• Communicate throughout the day with multiple trucking companies, carriers, dispatchers, and drivers
• Organize truck arrivals, departures, pickups, deliveries, and appointment times
• Maintain visibility of where trucks are located throughout the 90-acre complex
• Direct drivers to the appropriate areas for staging, loading, unloading, pickup, or delivery
• Coordinate transportation activity alongside internal operations, warehouse, shipping, receiving, and production teams
• Monitor scheduled versus actual truck arrivals and quickly adjust when drivers are early, late, delayed, or rescheduled
• Manage changing transportation priorities throughout the day without losing visibility of previously scheduled loads
• Coordinate trailer movement, staging locations, dock availability, and loading/unloading priorities
• Communicate schedule changes and transportation issues to the appropriate departments
• Maintain accurate truck, carrier, trailer, appointment, and transportation records
• Track inbound and outbound transportation activity from arrival through departure
• Resolve driver, carrier, scheduling, staging, and transportation issues before they disrupt operations
• Communicate directly with outside carriers regarding pickup requirements, delivery expectations, delays, and schedule changes
• Maintain organized dispatch schedules and transportation documentation
• Prioritize urgent loads while continuing to manage the overall transportation schedule
• Identify bottlenecks, delays, congestion, or scheduling conflicts and coordinate solutions with operations
• Support efficient traffic flow throughout the facility
• Use transportation, scheduling, ERP, and spreadsheet systems to maintain accurate information
• Provide clear handoffs and updates regarding outstanding trucks, trailers, loads, or transportation issues

What We’re Really Looking For

This position requires someone who has actually worked in a busy dispatch environment .

Strong candidates will have:

• 3+ years of transportation dispatch, trucking coordination, freight dispatch, or similar high-volume transportation experience
• Experience coordinating a significant volume of trucks, drivers, loads, or transportation appointments each day
• Experience communicating directly with trucking companies, outside carriers, dispatchers, brokers, and commercial drivers
• Strong understanding of truck scheduling, pickup and delivery appointments, trailer movement, and transportation flow
• Experience working in an environment where schedules change constantly throughout the day
• Exceptional organization and time-management skills
• Ability to keep track of numerous drivers, trucks, trailers, appointments, and priorities simultaneously
• Ability to quickly reprioritize when a truck arrives late, a load changes, equipment is unavailable, or operations need to shift
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Experience working closely with warehouse, shipping, receiving, production, or operations teams
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to make decisions in a fast-moving environment
• Accurate recordkeeping and documentation skills
• Microsoft Excel experience
• Experience with transportation, dispatch, TMS, WMS, ERP, or scheduling systems

Experience That Would Be Especially Valuable

We’d especially like to hear from candidates coming from:

• Trucking companies
• Freight terminals
• 3PL operations
• Transportation dispatch centers
• Large manufacturing facilities
• Distribution centers with heavy truck traffic
• Intermodal transportation
• LTL or FTL transportation
• Large shipping and receiving operations
• High-volume carrier or driver coordination

This May Not Be the Right Fit If...

This role is not primarily focused on warehouse supervision, inventory management, production management, or leading large operations teams .

Those skills can certainly be helpful, but the core of this job is:

Dispatch. Trucks. Drivers. Carriers. Scheduling. Organization. Constant communication.

You should be comfortable managing 50–60 trucks in a single day without becoming overwhelmed when the schedule inevitably changes.

What Success Looks Like

A successful Transportation Dispatch Coordinator knows:

• Which trucks are scheduled
• Which trucks have arrived
• Where they need to go
• Which carriers or drivers need updates
• What is ready to load or unload
• Which priorities have changed
• Where potential delays are developing
• What operations needs from transportation
• What transportation needs from operations

And most importantly, they can keep all of it organized while the board keeps moving.

Ready to Take Control of a High-Volume Transportation Operation?

If you have strong truck dispatch, transportation coordination, carrier communication, and scheduling experience and enjoy being the person who keeps a complicated transportation operation organized, we’d like to hear from you.

Apply today for this direct-hire Transportation Dispatch Coordinator opportunity in Richmond, VA.

For sourcing, I’d also completely change our search profile now. I’d target people with titles like Transportation Dispatcher, Truck Dispatcher, Freight Dispatcher, Dispatch Coordinator, Logistics Dispatcher, Transportation Coordinator, Carrier Coordinator, Fleet Dispatcher, Traffic Coordinator, and Load Planner , and I would make daily truck/load volume one of the first screening questions . Someone telling us “I dispatched 10–15 drivers” is no longer enough by itself. We need to know whether they’ve lived in the 40, 50, 60+ truck-a-day circus and kept all the plates spinning.

As part of our promise to talent, Kelly supports those who work with us through a variety of benefits, perks, and work-related resources. Please note: The following benefits reflect Kelly's general offerings. Eligibility may vary by assignment, location, and job type. Kelly offers eligible employees voluntary benefit plans including medical, dental, vision, telemedicine, term life, whole life, accident insurance, critical illness, a legal plan, and short-term disability. As a Kelly employee, you will have access to a retirement savings plan, service bonus and holiday pay plans (earn up to eight paid holidays per benefit year), and a transit spending account. In addition, employees are entitled to earn paid sick leave under the applicable state or local plan. Click here for more information on benefits and perks that may be available to you as a member of the Kelly Talent Community.

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