The Datum Report

Occupation 1140 · Managers, directors and senior officials

Directors in logistics, warehousing and transport

Half of full-time directors in logistics, warehousing and transport in the UK earn more than £83,447 a year, and half earn less.

Directors in logistics, warehousing and transport plan, organise, direct and co-ordinate the activities and resources necessary for the safe, efficient and economic movement of passengers and freight by road, rail, sea and air transport, and the receipt, storage and warehousing of goods and the maintenance of stocks at an optimal level.

How people enter it

Candidates are recruited with a variety of academic qualifications and/or with relevant experience. Entrants to management trainee schemes in logistics offered by larger companies will require GCSEs/S grades, A levels/H grades, a degree or other equivalent qualifications. Off and on-the-job training is provided. Professional qualifications are available and may be required for some roles. NVQs/SVQs in a number of relevant areas including supply chain and operations management are available at levels 2, 3, 4 and 5.

What the work involves

• plans the optimum utilisation of staff and operating equipment, and co-ordinates maintenance activities to ensure least possible disruption to services examines traffic reports, load patterns, traffic receipts and other data and revises transport services or freight rates accordingly
• oversees and directs the movement, handling and storage of freight in transit and the operations of transport hubs such as airports, railways stations and harbours
• arranges for maintenance of airport runways and buildings, liaises with fuel and catering crews to ensure adequate supplies and resolves any complaints and problems raised by airport users.
• ensures that regulations regarding hours of work, the licensing of crews and transport equipment, the operational safety and efficiency of equipment, the insurance of vehicles and other statutory regulations are complied with
• liaises with production, maintenance, sales and other departments to determine the materials and other items required for current and future production schedules and sales commitments
• reviews, develops and implements stock control, handling and distribution policies to maximise use of space, money, labour and other resources
• advises purchasing department on type, quality and quantity of goods required and dates by which they must be available
• prepares reports on expenditure and advises on materials and parts standardisation, future stores and stock control policies
• decides on storage conditions for particular items, allocates warehouse space and arranges for regular stock inspections to detect deterioration or damage

Also called

Airport director · Head of logistics · Owner (delivery service) · Supply chain director · Traffic director (transport)

What it pays

How pay has changed

Median gross annual pay for directors in logistics, warehousing and transport, full-time employees, 2023 to 2025. Each point is that year's ASHE April snapshot as published — revisions are not backfilled into earlier years, and a year ONS withheld is a gap rather than a joined line.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Year-on-year change

The change from each year to the next, in per cent, computed from the figures in the chart above — so the two cannot disagree.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Pay by region

Median gross annual pay for full-time employees, ranked, against the UK figure. 2 of 11 regions are published: ONS withholds a cell where the survey sample cannot support it, and those are shown as gaps rather than dropped — an absent region is not a region without the work in it.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Period 2025. Table

Every regional figure

ONS does not publish occupational pay below region. Cells the survey could not support are shown as withheld, with its reason — adding a region split to a specific occupation leaves roughly a tenth of cells publishable.

Common questions