Director, Global Trade

A global manufacturing organisation is seeking an experienced Director of Global Trade to lead its international trade compliance and customs strategy.

Reporting to the Vice President of Tax & Treasury, this is a senior leadership role responsible for developing and executing a global trade strategy that ensures regulatory compliance while optimising duty, tariff and customs outcomes across international operations.

The successful candidate will partner closely with Finance, Legal, Supply Chain and business leaders to embed trade compliance into commercial decision-making, drive process improvements, and lead a high-performing global trade function.

Key Responsibilities

Global Trade Strategy & Optimisation

• Develop and execute the organisation's global customs and trade strategy.
• Identify opportunities to optimise duty and tariff costs through initiatives such as Free Trade Zones (FTZs), duty drawback, tariff engineering and other customs programmes.
• Assess the impact of changing trade policies and tariffs on sourcing strategies, acquisitions and commercial operations.
• Drive digital transformation, automation and continuous improvement across trade compliance processes.

Trade Compliance & Risk Management

• Lead the global trade compliance framework, ensuring compliance with applicable import and export regulations across multiple jurisdictions.
• Oversee internal controls, compliance monitoring, audits and training programmes to minimise regulatory and financial risk.
• Provide technical guidance on customs classification, valuation, country of origin, export controls and sanctions.
• Manage regulatory enquiries, investigations and voluntary disclosures where required.

Business Partnership & Leadership

• Act as the organisation's senior subject matter expert on international trade and customs matters.
• Partner with senior stakeholders across Supply Chain, Finance, Legal and Operations to support strategic business initiatives.
• Lead, mentor and develop a global trade team while fostering a culture of compliance, collaboration and continuous improvement.
• Support acquisitions and integration activities from a trade compliance perspective.

External Relationship Management

• Manage relationships with customs brokers, freight forwarders, external advisers and legal counsel.
• Monitor global regulatory developments and industry trends, providing strategic recommendations to the business.
• Represent the organisation in relevant industry forums and external trade-related engagements where appropriate.

Candidate Profile

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Accounting, Economics, International Business, Logistics or a related discipline.
• Advanced degree (MBA or Master's) and/or relevant professional certifications are advantageous.
• Approximately 10–15 years' experience in global trade compliance, customs, international trade or a related field within a multinational organisation.
• Strong knowledge of import/export regulations, customs valuation, tariff classification, free trade agreements and export control frameworks.
• Experience implementing global compliance programmes and governance frameworks.
• Strong commercial and financial acumen, including duty and tariff modelling and cost optimisation.
• Experience working with ERP platforms (ideally SAP) and trade automation technologies.
• Proven ability to lead global teams and influence senior stakeholders across a complex, matrixed organisation.
• Experience supporting acquisitions, integration projects or global transformation initiatives would be beneficial.

Key Competencies

• Strategic and commercially minded leader
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capability
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills
• High levels of integrity and sound judgement
• Ability to balance regulatory compliance with business objectives
• Change leadership and continuous improvement mindset
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

Travel

• International travel as required (approximately 5–10%)

The Leonid Group is an international, specialist search and consultancy firm focused on corporate governance and professional services, that specialises in the placement of Legal, Compliance, Trade Compliance & Ethics professionals on an international scale across the Americas, EMEA and APAC. Legal and compliance are both global, with teams worldwide, and our network reflects this. We work with multinational corporations to help structure their departments with the best people, from the Global Chief Compliance Officer and General Counsel to the Compliance Analyst and Trade Compliance Specialist.