Regional Customs & Compliance Manager

The Regional Customs Manager is responsible for overseeing import/export operations, ensuring total cross-border regulatory compliance, minimizing duty liabilities, and driving operational excellence across the region. A critical component of this role is managing the post-carriage process, optimizing the timeline from shipment arrival at the port or airport to final physical delivery. This role requires a strategic compliance leader dedicated to continuous process and digital tool improvement, blending deep operational expertise with strong SAP capabilities. Additionally, during the first year of tenure, the successful candidate will act as the Project Leader for a critical, one-time initiative: the deployment of our new Transport Management System (TMS) at the Regional Distribution Center.

What will you do?

Regional Customs, Post-Carriage &Continuous Improvement (Ongoing)

• Regulatory Compliance: Interpret and adapt to local customs laws, trade sanctions, and embargoes to guarantee zero border delays.
• Post-Carriage Optimization: Oversee the end-to-end post-carriage logistics process to ensure short, reliable, and predictable lead times from arrival at the port of entry to final physical delivery.
• Process Enhancement: Continuously review, benchmark, and streamline trade compliance and inland logistics workflows to eliminate operational bottlenecks and reduce waste.
• Digital Tools Architecture: Drive the ongoing adoption, optimization, and upgrading of digital trade and logistics tools to automate manual processes and scale operations.
• Data-Driven Performance: Establish and monitor advanced analytics dashboards to identify trends, tracking customs clearance speeds and post-carriage delivery reliability.
• Cost Optimization: Leverage Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and special customs schemes (e.g., bonded warehousing) to reduce duty costs.
• Broker& Vendor Governance: Manage, audit, and evaluate third-party customs brokers, drayage providers, and freight forwarders against strict clearance and delivery KPIs.
• Risk & Audit Management: Lead internal and external trade compliance audits, proactively addressing and mitigating vulnerabilities.

Special Year 1 Assignment: TMS Deployment Project (approx.50% workload in Year 1)

• Project Governance: Lead the end-to-end implementation, configuration, and testing of the new TMS at the Regional Distribution Center.
• SAP Systems Mapping: Collaborate closely with IT to ensure seamless data integration between the new TMS and existing SAP infrastructure.
• Change Management & Training: Author standard operating procedures (SOPs) and train warehouse teams and carrier partners to ensure rapid system adoption.
• Vendor Management: Act as the primary point of contact for the external TMS software vendor, ensuring milestones are delivered on time and within scope.

What qualifications will make you successful?

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, International Trade, Logistics, or a related business field.
• 6+ years of practical experience in international trade compliance and logistics, with a minimum of 2 years in a regional or managerial capacity.
• Strong background in continuous improvement methodologies (e.g., Lean, Six Sigma) applied to supply chain and compliance workflows. Proven experience managing port-to-door logistics, container drayage, and last-mile delivery tracking.
• Proven track record of successfully managing complex IT projects with strong functional understanding or power-user experience in SAP logistics modules. In-depth expertise in HS classification codes, valuation rules, and regional customs frameworks.
• Project management, people management, change management to influence and convince
• Good communication and interpersonal skill, strong analytical. 
• Fluent in English