Head of Last Mile
The Head of Last Mile is responsible for delivering orders from the warehouse to the customer, covering carrier selection, delivery timelines, costs, and last-mile quality in e-commerce.
What a Head of Last Mile does
The Head of Last Mile leads the final stage of online store delivery, from the moment an order leaves the warehouse until it is handed to the customer or a pickup point. This segment generates the most complaints, returns, and avoidable costs, so companies assign a dedicated owner for the role rather than splitting responsibility between logistics and support.
In high-risk e-commerce verticals, where products may require extra controls (for example, age verification at delivery, cash on delivery, or restrictions on transport and storage), delivery adds regulatory and reputational risk. The Head of Last Mile designs processes to meet the requirements of payment partners, marketplaces, and carrier rules.
The role usually reports to the Director of Operations or COO, and in large companies to the head of logistics. The team includes carrier managers, delivery analysts, and managers of courier services and pickup points, and sometimes an in-house courier team or contractors.
Responsibilities
- Build and review the carrier network: courier services, postal operators, pickup points, and parcel lockers
- Negotiate carrier rates, SLAs, penalties, and return terms, and monitor their fulfillment
- Approve delivery timelines by region and product category, and align them with marketing and support
- Monitor the share of first-attempt deliveries, failed handovers, and the reasons for delivery failures
- Configure carrier and delivery method selection at checkout together with the product team
- Manage the returns and delivery refusal process, including coordination with the warehouse
- Organize cash-on-delivery processes and cash reconciliation with couriers together with finance
- Agree with legal and compliance teams on rules for handing over restricted orders and verifying recipients
- Analyze delivery cost per order and propose ways to reduce expenses without losing quality
- Prepare regular reporting for management and handle escalations from customers and partners
Skills
- Understanding of delivery unit economics and how last-mile cost affects order margin
- Contract negotiation with vendors and the ability to read SLA terms, penalties, and rate cards
- Analytical thinking: working with data on delivery timelines, cancellations, and failure reasons
- Managing cross-functional projects with warehouse, IT, finance, and support teams
- Knowledge of checkout logic and how delivery choices affect conversion
- Understanding of requirements for handing over restricted orders and working with cash on delivery
- Leading a multi-area team and setting KPIs for direct reports
- Ability to set priorities during peak periods and carrier disruptions
- Communicating with leadership: explaining trade-offs between speed, cost, and quality
Tools
- TMS (transport management system) for planning and monitoring shipments
- OMS (order management system) and integrations with the online store
- WMS for linking warehouse statuses with shipments
- Tracking systems and carrier APIs
- SQL for delivery data extracts
- Looker, Power BI, or Tableau for dashboards
- Google Sheets and Excel for quick calculations and reconciliations
- Jira or Trello for projects and tasks
How performance is measured
- Share of on-time deliveries against SLA, by region and carrier
- First-attempt delivery success rate
- Delivery cost per order
- Share of refusals and returns caused by delivery
- Average resolution time for delivery escalations
- Customer delivery rating (CSAT or NPS after receipt)
- Share of cash-on-delivery orders with discrepancies
By vertical
E-Commerce
In e-commerce, the role focuses on delivery cost and speed as drivers of conversion and repeat purchases. Key areas include checkout integration, delivery method selection, and working with marketplaces and cash on delivery.
Levels
Head of / Director
The Head owns the overall delivery strategy: budget, carriers, SLAs, and final last-mile results. Decisions are made at the company level, and the leader reports to operations or finance leadership and defends the delivery budget.
How to get there
Most people move into the role from logistics, such as a transport manager or warehouse manager with experience negotiating with carriers and managing rates. Other common paths include courier services, operations analytics, or supply chain management in e-commerce.
To grow, study order unit economics, contract work with vendors, the basics of TMS and OMS, and data analysis for deliveries. It also helps to understand how checkout and returns work and to explain these processes to marketing and finance.
The first step toward leadership usually comes with ownership of a segment, such as choosing a new carrier, launching delivery in a new region, or managing problem routes. Responsibility then gradually expands to the entire delivery network and its budget.
Next steps: Director of Logistics, Head of Supply Chain, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Head of Fulfillment, Head of Customer Operations
FAQ
How is a Head of Last Mile different from a logistics coordinator?
A logistics coordinator usually manages the day-to-day movement of goods and current shipments. The Head of Last Mile is responsible for the strategy and results of the final delivery stage, including carrier selection, SLAs, budget, and KPIs, as well as decisions that affect the entire order.
What background is needed for this role?
Typically you need experience in logistics, delivery, or e-commerce operations and an understanding of how carriers work. Negotiation, analytics, and multi-team management skills are important. Formal education matters much less than hands-on delivery experience.
What determines income in this role?
Income depends on company size and delivery volume, the complexity of the carrier network and regions, and how much the role influences margin and budget. Whether the scope includes managing in-house couriers or only contractors also matters.
Why is this role especially important in high-risk verticals?
Delivery here comes with extra constraints: recipient verification, cash on delivery, payment partner requirements, and carrier rules. Process errors can lead to returns, disputes, and problems with partners, so processes must be formalized and auditable.
Which tools should I know?
Most roles require TMS, OMS, and WMS, carrier tracking systems, SQL, and BI tools for analysis. The exact set depends on the company and on how the warehouse and online store are connected.
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