Head of Customs
Posted 3 days 7 hours ago by Pro Carrier LTD
09:00 - 17:30 Monday - Friday
Job type: Permanent About Pro CarrierWe are entering an exciting phase of growth and are looking for an experienced Head of Customs to protect and scale our cross-border customs and trade compliance across the UK and international markets.
The guiding principle of Pro Carrier is to allow our customers to find sending their goods to and from anywhere in the world as easy and streamlined as possible across a range of offerings and all modes of transport.
Formerly known as DG International, the company was established in 2009 to provide high levels of customer service to a range of clients importing into the UK from Asia via sea and air. The company has grown rapidly since then and now offers a range of logistics services across diverse industry sectors.
Pro Carrier's growth has been underpinned by a commitment to a set of shared values that creates a high-performance culture. We have employed self-motivated people who are empowered to make decisions to accelerate our growth.
Pro Carrier is poised for significant growth, with a strategy to grow to double in size over next three years, with Pro Carrier being at the front of that plan. The leadership team is experienced, dynamic and client centric, and the focus for growth is around new technology offerings that compliment current services and additional market share from emerging markets.
Your new role:To own customs and trade compliance across Pro Carrier's UK, EU and US flows - protecting the business and its clients from duty, penalty and clearance delay risk while enabling fast, scalable cross border ecommerce movements. The role combines hands on technical authority with team leadership, client advisory and regulatory change management.
Key responsibilities:- Act as the organisation's technical authority on customs regulations, processes and clearance across all three jurisdictions.
- Own the accuracy and integrity of import/export/transport declarations and clearance processes.
- Lead, coach and quality assure the customs team; set standards, grow the team's knowledge, and resolve escalations.
- Manage relationships with HMRC and other authorities, and external customs brokers.
- Advise clients and the internal organisation on the operational impact of regulatory change.
- Maintain and improve customs procedures, SOPs, authorisations and audit readiness (including AEO).
- Monitor the shifting regulatory landscape and translate it into practical guidance and process change.
- Own duty optimisation and refund workflows, ensuring reliefs and preferences are correctly claimed.
The role requires deep, current technical knowledge across all three jurisdictions and the cross cutting disciplines below.
Skills and experience:The role requires deep, current technical knowledge across all three jurisdictions and the cross cutting disciplines below.
UK customs- Simplified procedures - BIRDS/MoU.
- Customs warehouse and inventory linked processes, especially related to road and air movements.
- Returned Goods Relief (RGR) and NIRU standing arrangements.
- NCTS transit management, including discharge of movements and resolving undischarged transits.
- Import VAT, postponed VAT accounting, and EORI requirements.
- Union Customs Code (UCC) framework; import and export formalities.
- The 2026 removal of the low value de minimis exemption and per item duty treatment.
- IOSS / import VAT handling and low value consignment rules.
- Practical use of tariff tools and cross border lane specifics.
- CBP entry processes and ACE (Automated Commercial Environment): entry filing, validation errors, and CSMS bulletin interpretation.
- The evolving US additional duty landscape - IEEPA based duties, Section 232 / 301 / 122 measures, and Chapter 99 overlay/stacking logic.
- Post Summary Corrections (PSC) - eligibility, mechanics and timing.
- Duty refund workflows (e.g. CAPE/IEEPA refund processes) and relationship/mismatch error resolution.
- Regulatory changes such as CPSC changes, De Minimis removal and changes to the postal clearance regime.
- Understanding of US sales tax.
- HS/HTS classification and the WCO General Rules for Interpretation (GRI), applied in an ecommerce context.
- Customs valuation methods and transfer pricing awareness.
- Rules of origin, preferential vs non preferential origin, and FTA application.
- Duty reliefs, suspensions and refund mechanisms.
- Adjacent product compliance regimes where they affect clearance (e.g. GPSR, REACH, fibre labelling, product safety standards for apparel).
- Substantial experience in customs/trade compliance within a freight forwarding, customs brokerage, parcel/ecommerce logistics, or comparable environment. minimum years 10 years' experience
- Demonstrable hands on declaration experience in at least the UK, with strong exposure to the EU and US markets highly desirable.
- Experience managing or mentoring a customs/compliance team, or clear readiness to step up.
- Track record of managing regulatory change and translating it into operational practice.
- Experience with high volume, low value ecommerce parcel flows and their distinct clearance challenges.
- Client or stakeholder facing experience, able to talk them through changes.
- Rigorous attention to detail with the judgement to interpret ambiguous or fast changing rules.
- Ability to explain complex customs matters clearly to non specialists (clients, ops, commercial teams).
- Calm escalation handling and problem solving under time pressure (e.g. held entries, undischarged transits).
- Leadership, delegation and quality assurance discipline.
- Familiarity with automated legislative/regulatory monitoring across EU/UK/US.
- Exposure to last mile and PUDO/OOH delivery models and their compliance implications.
- Second language relevant to EU lanes.
- Exposure to C2C customs flows.
- Experience with duty drawback processes.
In return, you can expect to be given considerable responsibility for implementation and work closely with a small leadership team where your efforts and success will be noticed.
We offer a competitive remuneration package, including free gym membership, private medical care and an employer pension contribution of 5% (based on the employee contributing 5%). We also offer free snacks (Chocolate, Fruit, Crisps, Protein Bars, Protein Shakes, Soft drinks etc) Pay day treats (free lunch or breakfast on us!), Company social events via our social committee, Employee of the month awards (a £500 bonus if you win!) plus many more!
We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their race, sex, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation or age.