AME Customs Manager

Position Overview

The Customs Manager will oversee and coordinate customs and trade compliance activities throughout the Africa and Middle East (AME) region. The primary objective is to ensure that import and export operations adhere to regulations, operate efficiently, and minimize risks such as delays, penalties, and extra costs.

Key Responsibilities

• Ensure full compliance with customs, import, export, and trade regulations applicable in the AME region.
• Lead and manage the customs team by assigning priorities, delegating tasks, and ensuring smooth daily operations.
• Provide ongoing coaching, advice, and performance evaluations to foster team members’ growth.
• Maintain proper workload distribution and ensure operational continuity in the customs function.
• Supervise customs clearance processes and serve as the primary escalation point for any delays, inspections, disputes, and complex customs issues.
• Verify correctness of customs declarations, tariff classifications, valuation, origin status, and supporting documents.
• Stay updated on regulatory changes and implement necessary procedures and controls accordingly.
• Develop and enforce regional customs policies, standard operating procedures, and compliance mechanisms.
• Build and maintain relationships with customs brokers, freight forwarders, consultants, and governmental customs authorities.
• Track performance metrics of service providers including clearance times, accuracy, costs, and compliance incidents.
• Identify opportunities to reduce customs duties and expenses through free trade agreements, bonded warehousing, duty exemptions, and other customs regimes.
• Support and manage customs audits, inspections, ensuring timely resolution of corrective actions.
• Advise on customs aspects for new products, suppliers, customers, routes, contracts, and business models.
• Conduct customs-related training and guidance for Logistics, Supply Chain and other departments.
• Prepare regular reports highlighting customs risks, costs, penalties, audit outcomes, and process improvements.
• Champion standardization, digitalization, and continuous improvements within customs operations across the AME region.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in International Trade, Logistics, Supply Chain, Business Administration, Finance, or related field.
• Extensive experience in customs, international trade, import/export operations, or trade compliance.
• Experience in senior customs roles or regional coordination positions.
• Strong understanding of tariff classification, customs valuation, rules of origin, free trade agreements, customs documentation, and special customs procedures.
• Demonstrated experience working with customs authorities, brokers, freight forwarders, and logistics partners.
• Background supporting customs audits, dispute resolution, compliance reviews, and corrective action implementation.
• Excellent analytical, negotiation, problem-solving, and stakeholder relationship skills.
• Ability to operate effectively within multicultural, matrixed organizational environments.
• High standards of integrity, accuracy, accountability, and professional judgment.
• Fluency in English both written and spoken; Arabic knowledge is advantageous.

Preferred Additional Experience

• Knowledge of SAP, ERP systems, or specialized customs compliance software tools.
• Managing customs operations across multiple countries, ideally within Africa and the Middle East.
• Willingness and availability to travel within the AME region as required.

About the Company

Guardian Glass, a Koch company, ranks among the world's largest producers of float and value-added glass products used in architecture, residential, interior, transportation, and technical applications. Their products feature prominently in homes, offices, vehicles, and major global projects.

Koch companies empower employees to innovate and contribute value while supporting individual work and life balance needs to foster a productive environment.