Route Planner job description
A Route Planner decides which vehicle carries which orders, in what sequence, for a logistics or distribution business. Good plans save fuel, time and missed deliveries.
Why the role exists
A transport or distribution company holds orders, vehicles and drivers, and someone must match them each day. The Route Planner builds delivery routes from the order list, vehicle capacity and customer time slots. They report to the transport or operations manager and work with the warehouse, dispatch and drivers.
What the person does
- Collect confirmed orders from the order system or warehouse each evening and group them by area and delivery slot.
- Assign orders to vehicles by load size, weight, volume and vehicle type such as three-wheeler, pickup or truck.
- Sequence stops using a routing tool or map to cut distance, left turns and waiting at difficult customer sites.
- Share the route sheet with dispatch and drivers before loading so the warehouse can load in drop order.
- Track live delivery progress, re-plan when a vehicle breaks down, a road closes or a customer changes the slot.
- Compare planned and actual distance, time and fuel for each route and note reasons for differences.
- Maintain customer address notes, landmarks, gate timings and unloading rules for repeat stops.
- Report late, failed or repeated deliveries to the transport manager with causes and suggested fixes.
Skills and tools
- Route planning using maps, GPS tools or transport management software
- Vehicle capacity, load and weight planning
- Spreadsheet skills for route plans, fuel and trip data
- Knowledge of local roads, traffic patterns and no-entry hours for goods vehicles
- Clear communication with drivers and warehouse teams
- Quick re-planning when plans change during the day
- Basic costing of trips by distance, fuel and time
- Attention to detail in addresses and delivery slots
Education and experience
Preferred, never a bar: equivalent experience counts.
- Preferred graduate degree in any stream, or equivalent experience in dispatch or transport planning.
- Preferred prior work in distribution, courier hub, third-party logistics or fleet operations.
- Preferred comfort with Excel and with a routing or fleet tracking tool, or equivalent experience.
- Preferred working knowledge of the city or region the routes cover.
How the work is judged
- Share of orders delivered in the planned slot on the planned route.
- Vehicle load use and distance per delivery compared with earlier plans.
- Speed and quality of re-planning after disruptions.
- Accuracy of route sheets and address details given to drivers.
- Quality of reasons and learnings recorded for late or failed deliveries.
Where the role can lead
- Move up to Senior Route Planner or Dispatch Supervisor.
- Take on transport manager or fleet operations roles.
- Grow into logistics planning, network design or supply chain analyst work.
Interview questions to ask
Ask every candidate the same questions in the same order and score them against written anchors, so the decision rests on the work and not the impression.
- You have sixty orders, six vehicles and two customers with strict slots. How do you build the routes?
- A truck breaks down at ten with fifteen deliveries left. What do you do in the next ten minutes?
- How do you decide between one large vehicle and two small ones for a day's orders?
- Describe how you would use past delivery data to improve tomorrow's plan.
- A driver says your route is impossible because of local traffic. How do you handle it?
- What details do you store about a customer site so the next driver does not waste time?
Hiring tips for this role
- Give a real planning exercise with a sample order list and vehicle sizes. Compare the sequence, load fit and reasons for choices.
- Check knowledge of your city or region. A planner who does not know local traffic and access rules will make plans drivers ignore.
- Ask how the person works with drivers. A plan that drivers do not trust is rarely followed, so test communication and respect for field input.
- Look for spreadsheet and tool skills, but do not hire on software alone. Judgement on loads, time and exceptions matters more.
Questions about hiring a route planner
They overlap. The planner builds the routes in advance and the dispatcher releases vehicles and manages the day live. In small firms one person often does both, so define which duties apply.
Not always. Small fleets can plan with maps and spreadsheets. As orders and vehicles grow, a routing or fleet tracking tool saves time. A good planner can work with either.
Orders with address, weight or volume and time slot, vehicle details and capacity, driver availability and any local access rules. Clean data helps the planner far more than any tool.
GullyHR supports permanent hiring. We agree the job description with you, find and screen candidates with dispatch or distribution experience, and support you through the offer stage.
Hiring a route planner?
GullyHR runs talent acquisition for permanent roles. We agree the job description with you, find and screen candidates against it, and support the offer through to joining. We recruit permanent employees. We do not supply contract or temporary staff.