Customs Business Development Manager

Role Overview

This role leads growth for the customs house brokerage (CHB) offering, combining customer acquisition and account development with commercial planning and close coordination across operational teams. You will turn customers’ customs and cross-border challenges into practical, compliant solutions, while helping the business grow clearance volumes and revenue sustainably.

Key Responsibilities

• Set and deliver a CHB growth plan, owning agreed targets for sales, clearance volumes, revenue and gross profit.
• Build and manage a qualified sales pipeline, guiding opportunities from prospecting and discovery through solution design, pricing, negotiation, contract award and operational handover.
• Win new customers and grow CHB usage within existing accounts by addressing needs such as regulatory compliance, clearance speed, border delays and customs complexity.
• Review customer relationships regularly to identify expansion opportunities, assess satisfaction and retention risks, and coordinate service improvements.
• Assess market conditions, competitor activity and regulatory developments to identify opportunities across import and export clearance, bonded operations, transit cargo and customs advisory services.
• Work with Sales, Operations, Customer Experience, Finance and Compliance to shape proposals, tenders, pricing and business cases that are commercially sound and deliverable.
• Maintain reliable pipeline and performance reporting; forecast results, identify shortfalls or risks, and coordinate actions to improve growth, margins and customer outcomes.
• Contribute to CHB product development and transformation, including service standardisation, digital adoption, process improvement and engagement with relevant industry or regulatory bodies.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in supply chain management, logistics, international trade, business administration, economics or a related field.
• Typically 5–10 years of relevant experience in customs brokerage, freight forwarding, logistics, international trade or a closely related sector.
• Demonstrated success in CHB sales, business development, customer acquisition or solution selling, with evidence of contributing to revenue, volume or gross-profit growth.
• Practical knowledge of customs regulations, clearance procedures, bonded operations, transit cargo and international trade practices.
• Experience developing customer value propositions and contributing to solution design, pricing, proposals, tenders, commercial negotiations or business cases.
• Ability to collaborate across commercial, product, operations, customer experience, finance and compliance teams, including influencing stakeholders without direct authority.
• Professional certification in customs, trade compliance, sales, commercial management or supply chain is an advantage.