Logistics Manager: Career and Salary Outlook

Last Updated December 31, 2020

An essential component of supply chain management, logistics management is crucial to shepherding goods, services, and information from the point of origin to the point of consumption. With the rapid growth of the global marketplace, efficient and effective management of supply chain processes and other logistical details has become even more important for companies striving to maintain a competitive edge.

For current professionals looking for management opportunities in business environments across the supply chain industry, a career as a logistics manager may be the next career step.

What is a Logistics Manager?

Logistics aligns the complex pattern of traffic and transportation, shipping and receiving, import and export operations, warehousing, inventory management, purchasing, production planning, and customer service to ensuring the customer receives the desired product at the right time and place with the right quality and price.

The logistics manager is responsible for the planning, management and monitoring of the logistics operations that make all this possible. From the private sector to government agencies, small business to large multi-national companies, all business organizations need proficient logistics management. Military and government agencies employ logisticians and logistics managers to help plan for and move huge amounts of goods, such as military supplies and personnel. These tasks demand a complex amount of logistical acumen be done correctly, efficiently and within budget.

What Does a Logistics Manager Do?

The logistics manager typically oversees and leads a team of logistics specialists and coordinators, often in a specific area (i.e. warehouse staff). The duties and day-to-day responsibilities in a logistics manager job description may include:

• Managing and maintaining an accurate inventory of product storage warehouses
• Facilitating business relationships with clients and product suppliers
• Discussing and negotiating shipping rates with product carriers
• Setting up and maintaining schedules for inbound and outbound shipments
• Directing the flow of an organization’s materials and products
• Working with other departments in the organization to implement logistical improvements
• Supervising the work of the rest of the logistics team
• Overseeing the importing and exporting process of a product

In carrying out these duties, logistics managers can be found working in a number of settings to identify areas that need improvement and to solve challenges aimed at increasing organizational efficiency and profitability. This could mean working in the warehouse to working off-site with clients and suppliers.

Logistics Manager Salary and Career Growth 

Because the performance of a company’s logistical and supply chain process directly impacts a company’s profitability, the need for skilled logistics managers will continue to increase as companies of all sizes compete for top positions in the global marketplace.

Employment of all transportation, storage and distribution managers, including logistics managers, is projected to grow up to 4% from 2019 to 2029, with a median annual salary of $94,560, according to wage and employment data from the Occupational Information Network of the U.S. Department of Labor.¹ In their Annual Salary Survey for 2020, Logistics Management found “that logistics salaries for early 2020 increased precipitously over 2019 figures” with a median salary of $112,000 reported for logistics directors/managers.

Higher levels of experience and education can result in higher salaries as a logistics manager and across the supply chain industry as a whole. The 2020 Supply Chain Salary and Career Survey Report by the Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM) found that 84% of supply chain professionals hold a bachelor’s degree or higher and earn a median salary that is 24% higher than the national median salary. Those supply chain professionals with a graduate degree or higher earn $17,243 more in their median annual salary compared to their industry peers who have only an undergraduate degree.  

Logistics Manager Education and Training

While there are many entry points to this career path, education and training can help to guide professional growth and opportunity. In the Logistics Management Annual Salary Survey for 2020, 45% of respondents indicated that continuing their education, either through taking courses or earning the next/additional degree, was the most important step in advancing their career, with 22% specifying “getting a degree in transportation, logistics or supply chain” to have been the most important step for their advancement.  

A bachelor’s degree with a focus on supply chain management, logistics, finance or IT can help provide the background needed to advance in a logistics manager role. Many logistics managers interested in moving into leadership roles hold a master’s degree in supply chain management, finance or business.

An online certificate program with targeted courses can help supply chain professionals to deepen their focus in a functional specialty like logistics. Led by industry leaders, these online courses and programs can be completed in a flexible timeframe and provide immediate application of trending supply chain concepts in the workplace.  

Logistics Manager Skills and Knowledge

Beyond being well-educated in industry applications, there are other skills that can be essential for professional success in the logistics field, particularly as a manger. Because the work requires coordinating business solutions across divisions, communication skills need to be well-developed and flexible. In addition, an affinity for IT products and software development is also important.

Responses in the Logistics Management Annual Salary Survey for 2020 indicate that “analytical skills are in demand regardless of salary” and that “the higher-echelon positions seem to acutely need skills and experience in technology, artificial intelligence, machine learning, automation and robotics.”

As technology and the world markets are constantly changing and the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on the global supply chain continues to effect product supplies and consumer demand, today’s logistics managers face an increasingly complex network of logistics activities in need of precision management. Possessing mature organizational skills and creative problem-solving ability can be essential for success in the role and for continued professional growth.  

Deepen Your Knowledge of Supply Chain Management and Logistics 

¹ONET Online, Summary Report for Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers. Wage & Employment Trends. https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/11-3071.03#WagesEmployment (visited December 31, 2020). 

National long-term projections may not reflect local and/or short-term economic or job conditions and do not guarantee actual job growth. Information provided is not intended to represent a complete list of hiring companies or job titles, and degree program options do not guarantee career or salary outcomes. Students should conduct independent research on specific employment information.