Customs Lead

We are seeking a Mandarin speaking Customs Team Lead to oversee import and export customs clearance activity across a UK operation. This is an excellent opportunity for a customs professional with strong compliance knowledge, operational expertise, and leadership experience. The Customs Team Lead will play a key role in ensuring efficient clearance processes, maintaining regulatory compliance, and supporting business growth.

Day-to-day of the role

• Oversee daily import and export customs clearance operations, ensuring shipments are processed accurately, compliantly, and on time.
• Manage customs declarations, supporting documentation, commodity classifications, customs valuation, and origin requirements.
• Monitor clearance performance, identify operational bottlenecks, and implement improvements to reduce delays and costs.
• Handle complex customs cases, shipment holds, inspections, and clearance exceptions.
• Ensure compliance with UK customs regulations, HMRC requirements, and relevant international trade rules.
• Maintain and improve customs procedures, documentation standards, and internal risk control processes.
• Support HMRC enquiries, customs audits, and internal compliance reviews where required.
• Lead, coach, and develop the customs team, setting KPIs and monitoring individual and team performance.
• Work closely with internal teams, brokers, freight forwarders, carriers, and other stakeholders to ensure smooth end-to-end operations.
• Support new business projects, customer onboarding, and process improvement initiatives by providing expert customs guidance.

Required Skills & Qualifications

• Mandarin speaking
• Previous experience in customs operations, ideally within import and export clearance, 5 years minimum.
• Strong knowledge of UK customs regulations, HMRC procedures, and international trade compliance.
• Experience managing customs declarations, tariff classifications, valuation, and origin-related matters.
• Understanding of CDS, duty deferment, customs warehousing, and other customs simplifications.
• Proven ability to lead a team, improve performance, and support training and development.
• Confidence handling complex customs queries, inspections, audits, and compliance issues.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to work effectively with internal teams and external partners.
• Analytical approach with the ability to identify risks, improve processes, and support operational efficiency.
• Experience supporting business growth, new projects, or systems and automation improvements would be advantageous.

Benefits

• Competitive salary package.
• Annual bonus
• Opportunity to lead and shape a growing customs function and team.
• Exposure to cross-functional and international operations.
• Ongoing professional development and training opportunities.
• Involvement in business improvement and expansion projects.

If you are an experienced Customs Lead looking for your next opportunity, we would be pleased to hear from you