Manager, Customs Brokerage, Amazon Customs & Trade

Amazon Global Logistics (AGL) manages the international movement of goods into and across Europe, supporting Amazon's mission to be Earth's most customer-centric company. As part of a strategic programme to bring customs clearance capability in-house, we are building a dedicated Customs Brokerage function within Amazon Customs & Trade. We are looking for a Manager, Customs Brokerage to own risk management and compliance operations across our Netherlands (NL) customs clearance network. This individual contributor role carries end-to-end accountability for the performance of customs brokerage operations in the Netherlands, covering ocean, air, rail and road shipments for both third-party and first-party entry filing. You will be the primary point of contact with Dutch customs authorities, responding to regulatory queries, managing document inspections, and resolving compliance holds. You will develop risk management frameworks, establish operational controls, and drive compliance excellence across all customs activities. You will also lead the strategic direction for the Netherlands: identifying automation opportunities, onboarding new business lines, and acting as the subject matter expert who helps replicate what gets built here across other European markets. This role blends operational execution with strategic leadership. Expect roughly 40% of your time on frontline customs operations (shipment clearance, compliance holds, documentation) and 60% on strategic work (regulatory change management, project prioritisation, automation design, and cross-functional advisory to senior leadership). You will influence and mentor customs operators based in other locations through a dotted-line relationship, owning overall country performance without direct line management to start. Key job responsibilities **Risk Management & Compliance Leadership** - Develop and implement risk management frameworks for customs brokerage activities across NL operations - Serve as the licensed point of contact with Dutch customs authorities, managing regulatory queries, document inspections, and compliance escalations - Monitor regulatory developments, assess business impact, and translate changes into actionable procedures and scalable solutions - Lead holistic operational excellence programmes linking policies, SOPs, internal controls, monitoring, and reporting **Strategic & Technology Leadership** - Own the strategic roadmap for NL customs brokerage, identifying projects that deliver competitive advantage - Drive automation of manual customs and logistics processes by influencing product and technology teams; design scalable, compliant solutions rather than relying on manual workarounds - Onboard new business lines (e.g. AWS) into the NL customs operation - Act as the subject matter expert supporting expansion of the in-house customs model to other European markets **Operational Execution** - Oversee daily customs clearance performance, proactively identifying systemic risks and exception trends - Ensure documentation accuracy, tariff classification integrity, and clearance SLA adherence across all transport modes - Lead cross-functional collaboration with sellers, vendors, third-party brokers, and internal operations teams - Provide regular reporting and insights to senior leadership on risk posture and mitigation strategies **Stakeholder Management** - Work directly with Dutch customs authorities, building trusted relationships and influencing outcomes - Partner with Finance, Legal, Accounting, Tax, and technology teams for comprehensive risk assessments - Mentor and guide customs operators (based in Prague and China) through dotted-line influence, driving performance standards and knowledge sharing A day in the life Your day begins by reviewing overnight customs clearance activity and scanning dashboards for SLA performance and exception trends. You sync with the operations team to understand overnight issues: perhaps a shipment held for additional