Global Trade Compliance Director

Global Trade Compliance Director

Job Description:

Collaborate with Innovative 3

Mers Around the World

Choosing where to start and grow your career has a major impact on your professional and personal life, so it’s equally important you know that the company that you choose to work at, and its leaders, will support and guide you. With a wide variety of people, global locations, technologies and products, 3M is a place where you can collaborate with other curious, creative 3

Mers.

This position provides an opportunity to transition from other private, public, government or military experience to a 3M career.

The Director of Trade Compliance is the senior‑most authority for international trade across 3M’s global operations. This leader will shape and execute the company’s import, export, and sanctions strategy; drive operational excellence; and serve as a trusted advisor to the executive team, focused on compliance with applicable regulations and best practices. The role oversees global trade compliance programs, leads a distributed team of regional trade leaders, and partners cross‑functionally to enable compliant, efficient commerce worldwide.

The Global Trade Compliance Director has responsibility for providing strategic leadership, management, coordination, and execution of the trade compliance and transportation regulatory compliance functional areas and teams. The job objective is to act as a strategic advisor, providing leadership for global functional responsibilities to work with and support all business units within 3M, leveraging an enhanced compliance culture. The Global Trade Compliance Manager will serve as the global business process owner to ensure development of global policies, standards, business processes, and systems.

This objective is aligned with the mission of supporting business growth while maintaining strict compliance.

• Strategy & Leadership

  • Define and lead the global trade compliance strategy and operating model across import, export, and sanctions.

  • Deliver strategic insights, best practices, and thought leadership to influence Executive/C‑suite decisions.

  • Build, lead, and develop a global team of International Trade Regional Leaders and supporting personnel.

  • Champion compliance culture through supply chain operations.

• Program Governance & Operations

  • Design and oversee policies, procedures, and controls.

  • Leverage monitoring frameworks, KPIs, dashboards, and continuous improvement plans to elevate compliance performance.

  • Lead risk assessments, internal investigations, audits, and remediation actions; manage disclosures and government communications.

• Cross‑Functional Partnership

  • Collaborate closely with leaders in Supply Chain, Legal, Risk, Engineering, Tax, Finance, IT to provide guidance and embed compliance in processes and systems.

  • Advise business units on product design, sourcing, distribution, and market‑entry decisions to optimize compliance and cost.

• Systems, Data & Transformation

  • Drive automation and data enablement in trade processes; lead major ERP and trade system programs (e.g., SAP S/4
    
    HANA, SAP GTS).

  • Oversee system design, implementation, and governance of screening, licensing, classification, and trade analytics tools.

  • Manage large‑scale initiatives and budgets (e.g., >$1M), ensuring timely delivery, change adoption, and sustained outcomes.

• Import (critical): Authority on customs planning, classification, country of origin, valuation, special programs (FTZ, drawback), and partner government agency requirements. Optimize use of Free/Preferential Trade Agreements and manage the impact of trade remedies (IEEPA, Sections 232 & 301, anti-dumping, countervailing duties).

• Export (plus): Maintain robust controls under EAR, ITAR, and FTR; authority on jurisdiction/classification determinations (CCL/USML), licensing/authorizations, deemed exports, technology control plans, and end‑use/end‑user/destination restrictions.

• Sanctions (plus): Govern OFAC compliance, business partner due diligence, beneficial ownership screening, and restricted party screening programs.

To set you up for…