Customs & Forwarding Subject Matter Expert (Short Term Consultancy Services)

Role Overview

We are looking for a seasoned cross-border logistics consultant to pressure-test a digital freight and customs platform before its final release. Your mission is to walk through the live staging environment as a real user would, compare it against the realities of Northern Corridor operations, and hand the engineering team a clear, prioritized list of fixes and missing features before code freeze.

This is a short-term, immediate-start engagement where your on-the-ground expertise will directly shape whether the platform survives contact with actual clearing agents, transporters, and customs authorities. You will be given demo accounts for every portal — Client, Clearing Agent, Transporter, and Admin — and asked to find every breakdown between the software's assumptions and how cargo actually moves across East Africa.

Key Responsibilities

• Map the real operational flow across all four portals and flag any step where the system fails to capture freight types, Incoterms, or routing variables that matter in practice.
• Audit the Digital Compliance & Document Vault and duty payment modules against the specific requirements of KRA, URA, RRA, DGDA, and OBR, listing each unmet obligation.
• Review GPS milestone checkpoints and escrow release triggers, then recommend adjustments so automated actions reflect realistic transit events and do not penalize users unfairly.
• Identify missing workflow steps and edge cases — such as extended customs holds, partial releases, or corridor rerouting — and document them in a way developers can act on.
• Build a transit cargo checklist for the Kenya/Uganda, Kenya/Uganda/Rwanda, Kenya/Uganda/Burundi, and Kenya/Uganda/Rwanda/DRC corridors, covering the documentation and regulatory conditions at every border point.
• Deliver a pre-launch gap analysis report that separates critical blockers from nice-to-haves, and a resolution roadmap that ranks fixes by operational impact and development effort.
• Provide a dispute and edge-case advisory framework so administrators can handle escrow conflicts and logistics delays using only the tools already built into the platform.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Seven or more years of hands-on experience in cross-border freight forwarding and customs clearance along the Northern Corridor.
• Deep working knowledge of EAC Single Customs Territory procedures and the national customs systems used by Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and the DRC.
• Demonstrated ability to spot where software workflows deviate from on-the-ground reality and to turn those observations into clear, actionable instructions for software engineers.
• Familiarity with transit cargo documentation, bonded movement, duty payment processes, and GPS tracking milestones across the specified corridors.
• Comfortable working remotely or hybrid from East Africa, with immediate availability for a short-term consulting engagement.
• Strong written communication and the discipline to document findings in a structured, prioritized format rather than casual feedback.

What We Offer / Why Join

This is an opportunity for a logistics veteran to influence a digital product before it goes live, instead of being called in after problems surface. You will receive direct access to live staging links and demo accounts for all user portals so your evaluation is based on the actual system, not a walkthrough. The engagement is short-term and immediate-start, with the flexibility to work remotely or hybrid in East Africa. Your recommendations will directly determine what gets fixed before the platform launches, making your expertise the final quality gate for the entire build.