Customs Specialist
What You Can Expect:
- Administer the daily operations of the company's Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ), ensuring full compliance with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulations.
- Review customs documentation, commercial invoices, shipping documents, and entry information to ensure accuracy, completeness, and regulatory compliance.
- Coordinate FTZ admissions, inventory transfers, exports, consumption entries, inventory adjustments, destructions, and zone-to-zone transfers.
- Maintain accurate FTZ inventory records and ensure compliance with CBP inventory control and audit requirements.
- Monitor inventory discrepancies, investigate exceptions, and implement corrective actions to maintain inventory integrity.
- Review import documentation to verify country of origin, importer of record, valuation, terms of sale, tariff classification, and other customs requirements.
- Identify documentation discrepancies, communicate directly with customers, overseas partners, customs brokers, and internal teams, and drive timely resolution.
- Prepare customer reports and provide regular updates regarding FTZ inventory, customs activities, and operational performance.
- Collaborate closely with warehouse operations, brokerage teams, and other departments to ensure efficient customs processing and customer service.
- Identify compliance risks, escalate unresolved issues, and recommend corrective actions to minimize operational and regulatory exposure.
- Support internal and external customs audits by maintaining complete, accurate, and audit-ready documentation.
- Monitor regulatory changes affecting FTZ operations and support continuous improvement initiatives to strengthen compliance processes.
- Perform additional duties and special projects as assigned.
What You Bring:
- Minimum 2 years of experience in customs brokerage, import/export compliance, Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) operations, or international logistics.
- Strong knowledge of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulations, Foreign Trade Zone requirements, and import/export compliance.
- Experience administering FTZ inventory control systems, customs documentation, and regulatory recordkeeping.
- Experience working directly with customs brokers, government agencies, and regulatory authorities.
- Strong understanding of customs entry documentation, commercial invoices, country of origin, importer of record (IOR), valuation, tariff classification, and international trade documentation.
- Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and organizational skills with exceptional attention to detail.
- Demonstrated ability to identify compliance risks, interpret regulatory requirements, and implement practical solutions.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to communicate professionally across all levels of the organization.
- Ability to prioritize multiple deadlines and perform effectively in a fast-paced environment.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and Outlook; experience with FTZ inventory management systems is considered an asset.
- Experience within freight forwarding, customs brokerage, contract logistics, or international supply chain operations is preferred.
- Bilingual English and Spanish or another language is considered an asset.