Position: Compliance Specialist - Driver Onboarding
Pay Rate: $45k-$55k per year
Schedule: 8am - 5pm M-F
Job Description:
The Compliance Specialist - Driver Onboarding plays a critical role in ensuring that all company and contracted drivers are fully vetted, compliant, and ready to operate safely and efficiently. This role owns the fleet onboarding lifecycle from preboarding through activation, ensuring all documentation, credentials, and system data are accurate and complete. They collaborate closely with Fleet Recruiting, Human Resources, Safety, Operations, and other stakeholders to monitor progress, address compliance risks, and report on status. In addition to maintaining the integrity of driver and vehicle records, this role coordinates essential support items such as fuel cards, insurance documentation, and more.
Core Duties and Responsibilities:
• Facilitate and manage the end-to-end fleet onboarding and compliance process for new company drivers and contracted drivers (including owner-operators), ensuring all compliance requirements are met before activation.
• Monitor fleet preboarding and onboarding progress, proactively identifying bottlenecks and reporting completion and/or non-compliance to stakeholders in Fleet Recruiting, Human Resources, Safety, Operations, and others.
• Ensure all driver and vehicle information (e.g., IDs, VINs, license plate numbers, insurance details, etc.) is accurately entered into and maintained within company fleet management systems and platforms.
• Coordinate issuance, activation, reassignment, and cancellation of fuel cards across the fleet, maintaining appropriate controls and documentation.
• Verify, track, and continuously monitor appropriate insurance coverage across the fleet, ensuring required documentation is current, accurate, and compliant with company and regulatory standards.
• Maintain and update standardized checklists, workflows, and documentation to drive consistency, accuracy, and continuous improvement in support of a positive experience for newcomers to the fleet.
• Partner with Safety and Compliance teams to ensure adherence to Department of Transportation (DOT)/Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and other applicable regulatory requirements related to driver qualification files, Motor Vehicle Records (MVRs), background checks, drug/alcohol testing, and applicable certifications.
• Conduct audits of driver and vehicle records in fleet management systems to identify and resolve gaps, expired documents, and potential compliance risks.
• Support training and education efforts for drivers and internal partners on onboarding processes, documentation standards, and compliance expectations.
• Maintain organized, accurate digital and/or physical files in accordance with company records retention policies and regulatory requirements.
• All other duties as assigned to meet evolving business needs.
Qualifications:
• Education: High School Diploma or General Education Development (GED) required; Undergraduate degree preferred.
• Certification/Licensure: Transportation safety, DOT compliance, or related certifications (e.g., CDS, safety/compliance programs) preferred.
• Experience: 2+ years of experience in a transportation, fleet, safety, or operations support role, with exposure to driver onboarding and/or regulatory compliance.
• Working knowledge of DOT/FMCSA regulations and common fleet/driver compliance requirements (e.g., MVRs, background checks, medical cards, insurance documentation).
• Strong attention to detail with the ability to accurately manage and reconcile large volumes of data and documents across multiple systems and platforms.
• Excellent communication and customer service skills, with the ability to provide professional support to individuals from all backgrounds.
• Proven ability to manage multiple priorities, meet deadlines, and follow structured processes while also identifying opportunities for improvement.
• Demonstrated discretion and confidentiality in handling and protecting sensitive information.
• Systems Knowledge: Tenstreet, HireRight, McLeod Transportation Management System (TMS), ServiceNow
• Technical: Proficient with common office technologies, including Windows PCs, Microsoft O365 (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) and web conferencing (Teams, Zoom, Webex, etc.)
• Environment: Comfort commuting to/from and working in a 100% on-site setting (listed in this posting), with travel for related meetings/events.
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Since 1990, Forward Air has been a leading provider of ground transportation and related logistics services to the North American air freight and expedited LTL market. We offer surface shipping on an accelerated “time-definite” basis, delivering cargo at a specific time, but under less time-sensitive situations – supplying you with a cost effective, reliable alternative to air transportation. We work with companies of all sizes to develop tangible advantages and build the best products to meet your specific needs. Forward Air presents to the wholesale transportation community (logistics companies, freight forwarders, integrated air cargo carriers, passenger/ cargo airlines, and non-traditional shippers), a single-source provider that can deliver more supply chain services and a superior menu of choices. Throughout the years we have added supplementary lines to our linehaul service, such as full truckload operations (Truckload Services), final-mile coverage (Complete® Cartage), and an Airline Logistics program, and we will continue to expand our services to meet the changing needs and growth of our customer base.
Forward Air is structured to optimize both savings and service to our customers. Direct partnerships with owner-operators and other surface transportation providers, enable us to remain cost-competitive. The Forward Air network is designed with over 90 facilities located at or near major U.S. and Canadian airports, 12 regional sort centers and over 300 beyond points (secondary airports provided through our Complete Cartage service), creating one of the most comprehensive linehaul networks in the industry.
The foundation product for Forward Air is our expedited linehaul service, offering consistent and reliable transit and on-time, damage-free deliveries. By locating terminals on or near airports and maintaining a scheduled transportation network, we are able to arrange for convenient and consistent service with broad geographic coverage. Shipments of varying sizes (TL/LTL) are received at our terminals and transported by contracted service providers either (1) on a direct truck to the destination terminal, (2) through our Columbus, Ohio central sorting hub, or (3) through one of our 12 regional hubs, where they are unloaded, sorted, and reloaded in rapid fashion. After reloading the shipments, our contracted service providers deliver them to the destination city for early morning recovery. Through our Forward Air Complete® cartage service, customers also can have shipments picked up from the shipper, delivered to the final consignee, or transferred at the airport, simplifying the freight management processes. These options allow us to maximize handling efficiency of each shipment while minimizing freight loss and damage, improving transit times over traditional ground transportation.