Trade Compliance Manager

About the Role

The Trade Compliance Manager will lead a small team of compliance analysts while remaining actively involved in day‑to‑day trade compliance operations. This role is responsible for overseeing global import and export compliance, ensuring adherence to international trade regulations, and optimizing tariff and freight cost strategies. The manager will drive process improvements, implement internal controls, and provide strategic insights to support our multinational supply chain operations.

• Leadership & Team Management
  • Manage and mentor a small team of Trade Compliance Analysts, providing guidance, training, and performance feedback.
  • Allocate resources and prioritize tasks to ensure timely and accurate compliance activities.
  • Foster a culture of continuous improvement and compliance excellence.
• Operational Responsibilities
  • Oversee and participate in record‑keeping for import/export filings and day‑to‑day compliance activities.
  • Supervise classification processes for Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS), Schedule B, and Harmonized System Codes (HSC) to ensure compliant imports/exports and maximize duty savings.
  • Understand trade restrictions on items under regulatory control, classify ECCN, obtain import/export license as considered necessary.
  • Manage post‑entry corrections and ensure proper record maintenance.
  • Develop and monitor reporting metrics for internal audits, clearance accuracy, duty, tax, and compliance visibility.
  • Lead corrective action plans resulting from audits and compliance issues.
  • Review and audit documentation for import/export shipments, ensuring accuracy and identifying duty drawback opportunities.
  • Ensure all transactions comply with applicable international trade laws and regulations.
• Strategic & Cross‑Functional Collaboration
  • Partner with internal stakeholders (Supply Chain, Finance, Legal) to align compliance strategies with business objectives.
  • Identify and implement process improvements to enhance efficiency and reduce risk.
  • Serve as the primary point of escalation for complex compliance issues.

• Education & Certifications
  • Bachelor’s Degree in International Business, Finance, Accounting, or related field (International specialization is a plus).
  • CCS or CES certifications strongly preferred.
  • Customs Broker License highly desired (or willingness to obtain).
• Experience
  • Minimum of 6‑8+ years of experience in trade compliance, freight forwarding, ocean/air logistics, or international transportation.
  • 0‑3+ years leading and mentoring talent.
  • Proven experience managing a team and leading compliance initiatives.
  • Hands‑on experience with global import/export activities and customs compliance.
• Technical Skills
  • Proficiency in SAP and advanced Microsoft Excel (Pivot tables, VLOOKUPs);
    Power BI experience highly desirable.
  • Strong analytical and problem‑solving skills with attention to detail.
• Soft Skills
  • Excellent leadership, communication, and presentation skills.
  • Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast‑paced environment.
  • Bi/multilingual abilities (e.g., Mandarin, Korean, Japanese, Dutch, French, or Spanish) are a plus.

ZT Systems assesses market data to ensure a competitive compensation package is created for all our employees. The typical base salary for this position is expected to be between $118,125 and $173,250 per year. If hired, the final base salary will be determined on an individual basis taking into consideration experience, skills, knowledge, education and/or certifications.

Base salary is just one component of ZT Systems total rewards philosophy. We take pride in offering a wide range of benefits and perks that appeal to the variety of needs across our diverse employee base. Other rewards may include bonus, paid time off, generous 401(k) match, tuition reimbursement, wellbeing resources, and more.

We are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this opportunity but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

At ZT Systems, a Sanmina Company, you’ll…