Closing Date: 18th August 2026
Vidu is working on a super exciting assignment in the search for an experienced Head of Customs on behalf of a rapidly growing, technology focused eCommerce distribution business in Tilbury.
£75,000 -£80,000 basic salary (dependent on experience) plus £575 per month car allowance, industry leading benefits package and excellent opportunities for career development and progression.
Our client has engaged with Vidu VIP to commence the initial search.
Our team of dedicated consultants will be your first point of contact when applying for this role.
Your Mission:
To protect and scale our clients cross-border customs and trade compliance across the UK and international markets.
Own customs and trade compliance across our clients UK, EU and US flows — protecting the business and its clients from duty, penalty and clearance-delay risk while enabling fast, scalable cross-border ecommerce movements.
The role combines hands-on technical authority with team leadership, client advisory and regulatory-change management.
Key responsibilities:
Act as our clients technical authority on customs regulations, processes and clearance across all three jurisdictions.
Own the accuracy and integrity of import/export/transport declarations and clearance processes.
Lead, coach and quality-assure the customs team; set standards, grow the team’s knowledge, and resolve escalations.
Manage relationships with HMRC and other authorities, and external customs brokers.
Advise clients and the internal organisation on the operational impact of regulatory change.
Maintain and improve customs procedures, SOPs, authorisations and audit readiness (including AEO).
Monitor the shifting regulatory landscape and translate it into practical guidance and process change.
Own duty-optimisation and refund workflows, ensuring reliefs and preferences are correctly claimed.
This role requires deep, current technical knowledge across all three jurisdictions and the cross-cutting disciplines below.
UK customs:
CDS (Customs Declaration Service) declaration completion and data elements.
Simplified procedures — BIRDS/MoU.
Customs warehouse and inventory-linked processes, especially related to road and air movements.
Returned Goods Relief (RGR) and NIRU standing arrangements.
NCTS transit management, including discharge of movements and resolving undischarged transits.
Import VAT, postponed VAT accounting, and EORI requirements.
EU customs:
Union Customs Code (UCC) framework; import and export formalities.
The 2026 removal of the low-value de minimis exemption and per-item duty treatment.
IOSS / import VAT handling and low-value consignment rules.
Practical use of tariff tools and cross-border lane specifics.
US customs:
CBP entry processes and ACE (Automated Commercial Environment): entry filing, validation errors, and CSMS bulletin interpretation.
HTS classification, including complex apparel scenarios (ensemble codes, fibre composition, misclassification risk).
The evolving US additional-duty landscape — IEEPA-based duties, Section 232 / 301 / 122 measures, and Chapter 99 overlay/stacking logic.
Post Summary Corrections (PSC) — eligibility, mechanics and timing.
Duty-refund workflows (e.g. CAPE/IEEPA refund processes) and relationship/mismatch error resolution.
Regulatory changes such as CPSC changes, De Minimis removal and changes to the postal clearance regime.
Understanding of US sales tax.
Cross-cutting:
HS/HTS classification and the WCO General Rules for Interpretation (GRI), applied in an ecommerce context.
Customs valuation methods and transfer-pricing awareness.
Rules of origin, preferential vs non-preferential origin, and FTA application.
Duty reliefs, suspensions and refund mechanisms.
Adjacent product-compliance regimes where they affect clearance (e.g. GPSR, REACH, fibre labelling, product-safety standards for apparel).
Significant experience in customs/trade compliance within a freight-forwarding, customs-brokerage, parcel/ecommerce logistics, or comparable environment.
Demonstrable hands-on declaration experience in the UK ( strong exposure to the EU and US markets would be highly desirable)
Experience managing or mentoring a customs/compliance team, or clear readiness to step up.
Track record of managing regulatory change and translating it into operational practice.
Experience with high-volume, low-value ecommerce parcel flows and their distinct clearance challenges.
Client-or stakeholder-facing experience, able to talk them through changes.
Rigorous attention to detail with the judgement to interpret ambiguous or fast-changing rules.
Ability to explain complex customs matters clearly to non-specialists (clients, ops, commercial teams).
Strong systems literacy — customs software, tariff browsers, and data tools; comfort building or improving monitoring and reporting workflows. Applying AI within processes is strongly encouraged (human-in-the-loop principle).
Calm escalation-handling and problem-solving under time pressure (e.g. held entries, undischarged transits).
Leadership, delegation and quality-assurance discipline.
Desirable:
AEO experience (application, audit, maintenance).
Familiarity with automated legislative/regulatory monitoring across EU/UK/US.
Exposure to last-mile and PUDO/OOH delivery models and their compliance implications.
Second language relevant to EU lanes.
Exposure to C2C customs flows.
Experience with duty drawback processes.
