Customs Business Development Manager

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Sales & Business Development:

• Develop and execute a CHB growth strategy to increase customs clearance revenue and market share.
  
• In collaboration with Sales, build and maintain a robust CHB sales pipeline, ensuring consistent conversion of qualified prospects into customers.
  
• Own and lead customer engagement from prospecting through needs discovery, solution development, pricing, negotiation, contracting and implementation.
  
• Own and achieve agreed CHB sales, customs clearance volume, revenue and gross profit targets.
  
• Develop business cases for growth initiatives, new services and priority investments.
  

Customer Acquisition & Retention:

• Drive customer traction by acquiring new CHB customers and expanding CHB service adoption within existing accounts.
  
• Develop compelling CHB value propositions that address customer pain points related to customs compliance, cargo clearance, border delays and regulatory requirements.
  
• Conduct regular customer reviews to identify CHB upselling and cross-selling opportunities.
  
• Monitor customer satisfaction, retention risks and service improvement opportunities, coordinating corrective actions with the relevant teams.
  

Market Development & Customer Insights:

• Monitor CHB market trends, competitor activity, customs regulations and relevant industry developments.
  
• Identify new growth opportunities across imports, exports, bonded operations, transit cargo and customs consulting services.
  
• Represent the company at relevant industry forums, customer events and trade associations.
  
• Gather customer and market insights and provide structured feedback to Product and Operations teams to enhance service offerings and competitiveness.
  

Solution Selling & Commercial Enablement:

• Work closely with Sales, Customer Experience, Finance, Compliance and Operations teams to design competitive customs solutions.
  
• Support pricing, proposal development, tender responses, business cases and commercial negotiations.
  
• Ensure proposed solutions are compliant, operationally feasible, scalable and aligned with target margins.
  
• Ensure smooth onboarding and transition of won business into operations, with clear ownership, implementation milestones and customer communication.
  

Product Performance & Pipeline Management:

• Maintain accurate CHB pipeline, opportunity and customer activity reporting.
  
• Track pipeline value, conversion rates, revenue growth, customs clearance volumes, gross profit, customer acquisition and customer retention.
  
• Deliver regular sales forecasts and business development updates, highlighting risks, opportunities and actions required.
  
• Identify performance gaps and coordinate corrective actions to improve growth, profitability, product penetration and customer outcomes.
  

Cross-functional Leadership:

• Collaborate with Customs Operations teams to improve service delivery, capacity, consistency and customer experience.
  
• Coordinate with Commercial teams to prioritize pursuits, develop account plans and expand CHB penetration.
  
• Partner with Digital and Transformation teams to advance automation, standardization and process improvement.
  
• Influence stakeholders without direct authority and maintain clear accountability across the opportunity-to-implementation cycle.
  

Regulatory, Compliance & Governance:

• Maintain current knowledge of customs regulations, trade compliance requirements and government initiatives relevant to target markets.
  
• Assess regulatory changes and translate them into customer opportunities, service enhancements and implementation requirements.
  
• Ensure all customer solutions and commercial commitments comply with internal governance, customs regulations and trade compliance standards.
  
• Engage regulatory authorities, industry bodies and strategic partners where required.
  

Strategic Projects & Transformation:

• Lead strategic initiatives that enhance CHB capabilities, competitiveness and growth.
  
• Drive service standardization, digital adoption and continuous improvement across the CHB product.
  
• Support implementation of new technologies, services and operating models that improve customer experience and profitability.
  

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

Someone with:

• A bachelor’s degree in supply chain management, Logistics, International Trade, Business Administration, Economics or a related discipline.
  
• Professional certification in Customs, Trade Compliance, Sales, Commercial Management or Supply Chain Management is an advantage.
  
• 5-10 years of relevant experience in customs brokerage, freight forwarding, logistics, international trade or a related field.
  
• Demonstrated experience in CHB sales, business development, customer acquisition or solution selling, with evidence of delivering revenue, volume or gross profit growth.
  
• Strong understanding of customs regulations, customs clearance processes, bonded operations, transit cargo and international trade practices.
  
• Experience developing value propositions, customer solutions, pricing inputs, proposals, tenders and business cases.
  
• Experience working effectively across Sales, Product, Operations, Customer Experience, Finance and Compliance functions.