Head / General Manager – Customs Clearance
Company: GloboTrans ProLogistix Private Limited
Base Location: Mumbai
1. POSITION DETAILS
Particulars Details
DepartmentCustoms Clearance & Trade Compliance
Reports To Director
Role Mix 50% Sales & Business Development / 50% Operations & Service Excellence
LocationMumbai, with extensive travel to ports, sites and client locations across India
Direct ReportsVertical Operations, Sales and Support Team (to be finalised as per organisation structure)
2. ROLE PURPOSE
Lead and grow the Customs Clearance vertical as a profit centre by winning new EXIM clients and delivering best-in-class clearance turnaround, regulatory compliance, operational excellence and advisory value across air, sea and land ports.
The role will have a primary focus on JNPT/Nhava Sheva, Mumbai Air Cargo Complex and pan-India customs locations, while driving the overall growth and profitability of the Customs Clearance & Trade Compliance business.
3. KEY RESPONSIBILITIESA. Business Development & Sales – 50%P&L Ownership
- Own the vertical's revenue, gross margin and EBITDA targets.
- Prepare and deliver the annual business plan and quarterly forecasts.
- Monitor business performance against budget and implement corrective actions as required.
- Drive profitable growth while maintaining strong commercial and credit discipline.
New Business Development
- Build, manage and convert a qualified pipeline of new EXIM clients.
- Lead RFQ/RFP/tender responses, solution design, pricing and commercial negotiations through to contract closure.
- Develop new business across PSU, MNC, EPC, manufacturing and EXIM customer segments.
- Build relationships with importers, exporters and key supply-chain decision-makers.
Key Account Retention & Growth
- Act as the senior escalation point and relationship owner for key existing clients.
- Drive contract renewals, Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs) and year-on-year wallet-share growth.
- Strengthen strategic relationships with key customers and decision-makers.
- Identify opportunities to improve customer value through customs advisory and compliance solutions.
Cross-Selling
- Identify and convert cross-selling opportunities across GloboTrans verticals, including:
- Customs Clearance
- Freight Forwarding
- Warehousing
- CFS
- SEZ/FTWZ
- Transportation
- Project Cargo
- Crane Services
- Develop integrated logistics solutions that combine customs clearance with other GloboTrans services.
Market Intelligence
- Track competitor activity, market pricing trends, EXIM trade flows and regulatory developments.
- Monitor changes in Customs, DGFT, GST and other relevant trade regulations.
- Provide market intelligence and insights to support pricing strategy and service development.
Commercial Governance
- Ensure contracts, credit terms and rate agreements are properly documented, risk-reviewed and approved as per the delegation of authority.
- Monitor receivables, credit exposure and Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) for the vertical.
- Ensure commercial commitments are aligned with operational capabilities and compliance requirements.
4. OPERATIONS & SERVICE EXCELLENCE – 50%Service Excellence
- Define, publish and achieve SLA/KPI standards for the Customs Clearance vertical.
- Institutionalise daily performance reviews and exception management.
- Monitor clearance turnaround time and shipment status across locations.
- Conduct Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and implement Corrective and Preventive Actions (CAPA) for service failures.
SOPs & Process Discipline
- Develop, implement and periodically review Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), work instructions and client-specific playbooks.
- Standardise customs clearance processes across locations and operational teams.
- Ensure consistent execution of import and export clearance procedures.
- Establish robust controls for documentation, filing, examination, assessment and post-clearance activities.
Compliance & Statutory
- Ensure 100% adherence to applicable:
- Customs regulations
- Customs Broker Licensing Regulations
- GST requirements
- DGFT regulations
- Labour laws
- Environmental regulations
- Health & Safety requirements
- Maintain complete audit-readiness at all times.
- Ensure timely closure of regulatory observations and audit findings.
People Leadership
- Build, coach and retain a high-performing customs clearance team.
- Define KRAs and performance objectives for the team.
- Conduct periodic performance reviews and identify training and development requirements.
- Develop succession plans for critical roles.
- Monitor productivity and performance of subcontracted manpower.
Cost & Productivity
- Drive improvement in cost per shipment / transaction.
- Improve operational productivity through automation, process optimisation and resource planning.
- Negotiate with vendors and service providers to improve cost efficiency.
- Minimise unnecessary costs arising from delays, demurrage, detention, penalties and documentation errors.
Digitalisation & MIS
- Drive adoption and effective utilisation of ICEGATE, ERP, TMS/WMS and other relevant digital platforms.
- Ensure accurate and timely operational MIS and dashboards.
- Provide management and clients with regular reports covering clearance status, TAT, exceptions, revenue and compliance.
5. VERTICAL-SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES & EXPERTISE
Licensing & Regulatory Compliance
- Operate under and safeguard the company's Customs Broker licence under CBLR 2018.
- Ensure compliance with all applicable Customs Broker licensing requirements.
- Maintain appropriate discipline and compliance for F/G/H card holders.
- Ensure timely maintenance of KYC records, bonds, bank guarantees and other statutory documentation.
- Maintain strong working relationships with Customs authorities and other regulatory bodies.
Customs Clearance Operations
- Oversee end-to-end import and export customs clearance operations.
- Ensure accurate and timely filing of:
- Bill of Entry (BE)
- Shipping Bill (SB)
- Other applicable customs declarations
- Manage operations through ICEGATE and coordinate with relevant customs systems and stakeholders.
- Handle and monitor:
- Faceless assessment
- First-check examination
- Second-check examination
- DPD coordination
- DPE coordination
- Examination and assessment queries
- Out-of-charge / Let Export Order processes
- Provide support for post-clearance audits and related customs requirements.
Classification & Valuation
- Provide authoritative guidance on HS classification and customs valuation.
- Manage valuation matters, including SVB-related cases where applicable.
- Advise clients on:
- Exemption notifications
- FTA benefits
- Certificate of Origin (CoO)
- Applicable duty structures
- Minimise classification and valuation disputes.
- Identify opportunities for legitimate duty optimisation and compliance improvement.
- Reduce financial exposure arising from delays, demurrage and detention.
Trade Schemes & Regulatory Advisory
- Advise and execute transactions under applicable DGFT and Government trade schemes, including:
- Advance Authorisation
- EPCG
- Duty Drawback
- RoDTEP
- MOOWR
- Support clients and the company in AEO certification and related compliance requirements.
- Provide advisory support on changes in trade policies, notifications and regulatory requirements.
Dispute & Litigation Management
- Manage and coordinate responses to:
- Show Cause Notices (SCNs)
- Customs queries and disputes
- Appeals
- Refund claims
- Assessment disputes
- Coordinate with Customs, DRI, DGFT, consultants and legal counsel as required.
- Ensure timely submission of documents, representations and responses.
- Track disputes and claims through closure while protecting the company's and clients' commercial interests.
Stakeholder & Authority Management
- Maintain professional relationships with:
- Customs authorities
- Port authorities
- Airport authorities
- DGFT officials
- DRI
- Shipping lines
- Airlines
- Terminal operators
- CFS/ICD operators
- Clients
- Consultants and legal advisors
- Ensure effective coordination for smooth and timely cargo clearance.
6. KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPIs)
- Average Customs Clearance TAT for import and export shipments against defined benchmarks.
- Percentage of shipments cleared without queries or avoidable exceptions.
- Documentation accuracy and first-time-right filing percentage.
- Duty savings / advisory value delivered to clients and appropriately documented.
- Zero penalties, major compliance breaches or licence-risk incidents.
- Revenue and gross margin against budget.
- New business revenue generated (₹ Cr per annum).
- Client retention rate and revenue churn.
- NPS / customer satisfaction scores.
- SLA adherence, including:
- On-time performance
- Documentation accuracy
- Clearance turnaround time
- DSO and receivables ageing within agreed norms.
- Zero reportable safety incidents.
- Statutory and regulatory compliance score of 100%.
- Team attrition and productivity metrics.
- Reduction in demurrage, detention and avoidable operational costs.
- Successful management and closure of customs disputes, refunds and claims.
7. QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE
- Graduate in any discipline.
- Minimum 10 years of relevant experience in Customs Clearance / Customs Broking / Trade Compliance.
- Minimum 5 years in a senior leadership role with independent P&L and sales responsibility.
- Strong track record of winning, managing and retaining institutional clients across:
- PSU
- MNC
- EPC
- Manufacturing
- EXIM Trade
- Strong knowledge of Indian Customs procedures, regulations and trade compliance.
- Strong understanding of ICEGATE, CBLR, DGFT schemes, HS classification, valuation and customs processes.
- Experience in handling customs authorities, regulatory matters and client escalations.
- Strong commercial negotiation, contract management and analytical skills.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder-management skills.
- Fluent in English and Hindi.
- Willingness to travel extensively across ports, plants and client locations across India.
8. LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES
Entrepreneurial Ownership
Runs the Customs Clearance vertical as a business, with ownership of revenue, profitability, customer relationships, compliance and operational performance.
Consultative Selling & Solution Design
Ability to understand customer EXIM and trade-compliance requirements and develop commercially viable customs and logistics solutions at CXO level.
Regulatory & Compliance Orientation
Strong understanding of Customs, DGFT and trade-compliance requirements, with a demonstrated compliance-first approach.
Operational Rigour
Detail-oriented, data-driven and process-disciplined approach with strong focus on clearance TAT, accuracy and service reliability.
Stakeholder Management
Strong ability to manage relationships with clients, Customs authorities, port/airport authorities, DGFT, DRI, vendors, consultants and internal stakeholders.
Integrity & Compliance
Demonstrates high integrity, ethical conduct and a zero-tolerance approach towards regulatory non-compliance.
Team Building & Collaboration
Ability to build high-performing teams, develop talent, drive accountability and foster strong cross-functional collaboration.
9. CORE SUCCESS MEASURES
The successful incumbent will be expected to deliver:
- Profitable growth of the Customs Clearance & Trade Compliance vertical.
- Strong new-client acquisition and key-account retention.
- Improved customs clearance turnaround time across key locations.
- High documentation accuracy and first-time-right filing.
- Zero major compliance or licence-risk incidents.
- Strong customs advisory value and legitimate duty optimisation for clients.
- Effective management of customs disputes, refunds and regulatory matters.
- Improved productivity and cost efficiency across operations.
- Strong receivables and working-capital management.
- A high-performing and accountable Customs Clearance team.
- 100% statutory and regulatory compliance.
- Sustainable expansion of the Customs Clearance business across Mumbai and pan-India locations.
Benefits:
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Provident Fund
Application Question(s):
- Do you have a minimum 10 years of relevant experience in Customs Clearance / Customs Broking / Trade Compliance?
- Do you have a minimum 5 years in a senior leadership role with independent P&L and sales responsibility ?
Work Location: In person
