Customs Declaration Operations Team Lead

Position Summary

We are seeking a Customs Declaration Operations Team Lead to oversee a team handling Singapore import and export customs permit requests in a 24/7 environment. The Team Lead will manage daily workflow, case allocation, escalations, quality, and SLA performance while providing hands-on guidance on complex declarations. The role will also support new-hire training, customer-specific SOP adoption, and a phased operational transition in coordination with Operations, Training, and Quality.

Job Details

Work setup: Work from Home

Work schedule: Rotating shifts supporting 24/7 operations, including weekends

Holidays: Work on public holidays may be required based on the assigned roster

Responsibilities

Team supervision and workflow management

• Supervise the day-to-day performance of customs declaration specialists across assigned shifts, including attendance, task ownership, productivity, and service delivery.
• Ensure effective queue ownership across assigned shifts, with all requests assigned based on complexity, due times, and available capacity, actively monitored, and progressed toward completion. Review aging cases, SLAs, urgent requests, and shipping cutoffs; intervene or reallocate workload to mitigate service risks and escalate potential breaches promptly.
• Coordinate with Workforce Management and Operations on staffing coverage, intraday workload changes, scheduling risks, and service readiness.

Declaration oversight and escalations

• Oversee accurate preparation, validation, submission, tracking, and closure of Singapore import and export customs permit declarations.
• Provide subject matter support for complex declarations, incomplete documents, permit exceptions, rejected submissions, and customer-specific processing requirements.
• Handle first-level operational escalations involving customers, declaration errors, and delays; coordinate further escalation to the appropriate specialists or stakeholders.

Coaching, quality, and training

• Conduct regular coaching, case reviews, and performance feedback to strengthen processing quality and adherence to approved procedures.
• Work with Training and Quality to identify common errors, analyze root causes, implement corrective actions, and strengthen quality controls.
• Support the development and maintenance of customer-specific SOPs, job aids, checklists, and process updates; ensure team members understand and acknowledge changes.
• Support knowledge transfer, shadowing, nesting, and competency assessments for new hires in coordination with the Training and Quality teams.

Reporting and continuous improvement

• Prepare and validate daily operational updates, KPI reports, backlog and other required operational reporting.
• Maintain accurate escalation logs, exception and error trackers, and clear shift handovers to ensure continuity of service.
• Recommend process improvements, workflow efficiencies, and more effective use of automation-assisted systems.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 5 years of experience in customs clearance, permit declaration, freight forwarding, shipping documentation, or related trade operations.
• At least 2 years of experience in a team lead, senior declarant, subject matter expert, or comparable operational oversight role.
• Strong hands-on knowledge of customs permit declaration workflows.
• Ability to coach employees and provide expert guidance on customs processing, document validation, exception handling, and customer-specific SOPs.
• Experience managing operational SLAs, quality performance, escalations, productivity, and customer communication in a transaction-based environment.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills, with confidence interpreting workflow and performance data.
• Excellent written and verbal English communication skills, with the ability to coordinate effectively with customers and internal stakeholders.
• Comfortable using dashboards, ticketing systems, Microsoft Excel, and automation-assisted operational tools.
• Willingness to work onsite on rotating shifts, including weekends and public holidays as scheduled.

Nice to Have's

• Direct Singapore Customs and TradeNet processing experience.
• Experience supporting process training, nesting, SOP development, or quality improvement initiatives.