Description:
Scope of Position:
To lead and manage a Customs brokerage department within a branch so that the department has strong technical expertise, flawless operational execution, strong infrastructure, strong and knowledgeable personnel, strong customs compliance, efficiency, profitability, and continual growth.
Major Duties and Responsibilities:
Administration and Personnel Management
Manage and monitor service execution within the Customs brokerage department
Manage capacity and resource needs for the department
Ensure that department is properly staffed, structured and organized
Manage timely and effective staff evaluations and reviews
Provide feedback, coaching, mentoring to staff on an ongoing basis
Manage staff for continual growth in skills and expertise
Prepare and execute personal goals
Assist staff in preparing personal goals
Make certain that all staff members complete annual training in required timeframes
Make certain that new employees receive all mandatory training in required timeframes
Maintain highest compliance levels for all necessary and applicable Customs and other government agency controls and requirements
Ensure that company controls, policies, procedures, processes, applications, tools, and systems are understood and implemented
Ensure that the company’s third party broker program is properly managed within the branch
Ensure oversight, including self-assessments and daily monitoring so that issues are resolved at the root cause level
Prepare and execute department business plan and goals
Operations, Compliance and Customs Expertise
Provide deskside training to department as needed in these specific areas:
National customs regulations
Expeditors’ customs policies, controls, procedures and processes
Operational and customer service execution
Customer communication, interaction, development and maintenance,
Expeditors’ applications, tools, systems and their usage
Client specific requirements
If using third party brokers, provide clear instructions, procedures and expectations regarding both Expeditors’ and customer requirements
If required, review and sign entries prior to submission to Customs
Work with staff on capacity and efficiency issues
Make certain that all new clients are set up properly with any of the following that apply: power of attorney, letter of authorization, importers’ worksheet, DLSOP, and/or standard operating procedures
Make certain that client specific instructions are clear and detailed to ensure that desk level staff can properly process entries and invoice for services
Control department’s interface with Customs authorities
Make certain that files are logged correctly and timely with proper codes, trace types and events as needed
Review all entry rejections, EDI rejections, or other discrepancies in business unit to make certain that they are resubmitted timely and correctly
Monitor and review post entry activity with branch compliance manager
Make certain that discrepancies are monitored and resolved timely and correctly
Work with branch compliance manager to understand and trend discrepancy root causes and implement necessary training
Ensure there is a workflow or management reports to oversee and manage the operation
Control workflow within business unit
Control document receipt and distribution within business unit both for hard copy and electronic documents
Ensure that all correspondence within business unit is handled timely and professionally
Escalate necessary issues to District or Branch Manager
Develop optimum efficient processes without sacrificing compliance, oversight or controls
Stay current with developments and changes in regulations or company offerings; educate staff as these happen
Understand requirements of participating government agencies or OGAs
Ensure all employees have proper training in other government agency requirements
Finance
Ensure that all files are timely billed and correctly
Ensure that all billing and billing packages are timely mailed or electronically transmitted including the correct and complete documents and backup
Manage execution of credit policy
Review department P and L on a monthly basis and understand composition of clients, revenue, and file type and complexity for customs entries
Review all billed not paid and paid not billed items for proper handling and closing
Review entries for proper use of bill codes, GL codes and file types
Review customer A/R for area of responsibility and depending upon structure, be prepared to communicate with customers regarding either late payments or invoice discrepancies
Review invoices from third party brokers against their tariffs
Sales and Marketing (and Growth)
Maintain and develop relationship with current brokerage customers
Work with sales, customer retention and development, and account management to maintain and develop relationships with current customers, and to develop and bring new customers into the department
Work with T&I and account management to make certain that customer requirements are both understood and properly implemented
Prepare effective customer presentations and updates
Communicate clearly and often with sales, customer retention, account management and T&I to provide information on status of service levels, execution, and future opportunities
Requirements:
- Degree or equivalent (this is dependent upon countries and discretion of District Manager)
- Minimum 5 years’ experience in Customs brokerage
- Has completed country specific certification in Customs brokerage if available
- Hands-on knowledge of Customs clearance function
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills
- Ability to articulate clearly through written and oral communication and presentations
- Ability to relate to clients, service providers and employees at all levels
- Understanding of data and reports or outputs used from data
- PC skills including word processing and spreadsheet applications
- Hands-on user skills with Expeditors’ applications as needed
- English fluency
- Degree or equivalent (this is dependent upon countries and discretion of District Manager)
- Minimum 5 years’ experience in Customs brokerage
- Has completed country specific certification in Customs brokerage if available
- Hands-on knowledge of Customs clearance function
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills
- Ability to articulate clearly through written and oral communication and presentations
- Ability to relate to clients, service providers and employees at all levels
- Understanding of data and reports or outputs used from data
- PC skills including word processing and spreadsheet applications
- Hands-on user skills with Expeditors’ applications as needed
- English fluency