Shipper in Syston

Heidelberg Materials UK (formerly Hanson UK) is one of the UK’s largest suppliers of construction materials, employing over 4,000 people and operating around 300 manufacturing sites in the UK. We are committed to building a more sustainable future and recognise that a diverse workforce is vital to our growth and advancement. We aim to promote a culture that values openness, transparency and individual achievement. At the centre of our actions lies the responsibility for the environment. As the front runner on the path to carbon neutrality and circular economy in the building materials industry, we are working on sustainable building materials and solutions for the future. We enable new opportunities for our customers through digitalisation.

Are you organised, commercially aware and great at keeping things moving when priorities change? We’re looking for a proactive and customer-focused Shipper to join our Logistics team. This is a fast-paced role at the heart of our operation, where you’ll coordinate customer orders, vehicle movements, plant capacity and haulage to make sure we deliver the right product, to the right place, at the right time. You’ll work closely with customers, hauliers, plant teams and commercial colleagues, balancing excellent customer service with efficient logistics and cost-effective decision-making.

What you’ll be doing

• You’ll take responsibility for a specific cluster of plants, proactively managing the order book and daily work profile to support our key logistics measures around Volume, On-Time Delivery (OTD) and Vehicle Utilisation.
• Your responsibilities will include:
• Managing customer orders and delivery requirements across your allocated plants
• Planning workloads to maximise plant capacity and vehicle utilisation
• Coordinating company, franchisee and external hauliers to ensure we have the right vehicles in the right places
• Proactively moving vehicles between plants to respond to changing workloads
• Reducing unnecessary loaded and empty mileage wherever possible
• Building strong relationships with key customers and anticipating their future requirements
• Working closely with commercial and operational teams to resolve issues quickly
• Communicating delays, late loads and operational challenges clearly with customers
• Offering practical alternatives when the original customer request cannot be achieved
• Monitoring daily delivery performance and responding quickly to changing priorities
• Ensuring administration and system updates are completed accurately and on time
• Keeping our deliveries moving

Things don’t always go to plan, so you’ll need to be confident making decisions in a busy operational environment. If a plant breakdown or shutdown occurs, you’ll help minimise disruption by:

• Reviewing workloads and identifying alternative plants or delivery times
• Keeping customers informed of delays
• Liaising with commercial and operational colleagues
• Redirecting vehicles where required
• Managing key customer requirements and priorities
• Recording and reporting breakdowns and loading delays

Your ability to stay calm, think ahead and find solutions will be key to delivering a great service.

Working with our drivers and hauliers

You’ll play an important role in coordinating our transport network, including:

• Monitoring driver and haulier activity
• Ensuring vehicles are correctly reflected within planning and optimisation systems
• Managing vehicle movements throughout the day
• Supporting effective planning around annual leave, servicing and breakdowns
• Monitoring vehicle utilisation
• Escalating haulier or transport issues when required
• Helping ensure sufficient haulage is available to meet customer demand

What we’re looking for

We’re looking for someone who enjoys working in a fast-paced environment where communication, organisation and problem-solving are essential. You’ll ideally have:

• GCSE Grade 4/C or above in Maths and English, or equivalent
• Strong communication and customer service skills
• Good analytical and problem-solving abilities
• The confidence to communicate and negotiate with customers, hauliers and colleagues at different levels
• Excellent organisation and the ability to manage changing priorities
• A proactive approach to resolving customer and operational issues
• Good knowledge of standard Microsoft Office applications
• Experience of working with systems such as SAP and Syncrotess would be beneficial
• Previous experience within logistics, transport, shipping, distribution, customer service or a similar fast-paced environment would be an advantage

Why this role?

This is much more than simply processing orders. You’ll be at the centre of the operation, making decisions that directly influence customer service, delivery performance, vehicle utilisation and cost. If you’re a strong communicator who enjoys solving problems, coordinating multiple priorities and making sure customers receive a great service, this could be the opportunity for you. Ready to keep our operation moving? Apply today and take the next step in your career with Heidelberg Materials.