Director, Global Trade and Duty Optimization

Wine Industry Expo; Louisville (KY); On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid Vacation

11 Paid Holidays

Health, Dental & Vision eligibility

FSA/HSA

401K match

EAP

Maternity/Paternity Leave

Job summary

Heaven Hill is seeking a Director, Global Trade and Duty Optimization to lead the enterprise duty drawback program from strategy to execution. The role partners with Tax, Accounting, Legal, Compliance, and business stakeholders to maximize lawful recoveries while maintaining strong controls and audit readiness.

The ideal candidate will drive governance, reporting alignment, and data integrity, ensuring accurate financial reflection of drawback recoveries and compliance across the organization.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Tax, International Business, Supply Chain, Logistics, or a related field.
• Minimum 5 years leading duty drawback programs or equivalent cross-functional trade programs.
• Experience with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), drawback claims and rulings, customs brokers, government agencies, external trade advisors, and legal counsel.
• Ability to influence decision-making and drive execution across functions without direct reporting authority.
• Strong financial, analytical, and problem-solving skills; able to reconcile large datasets.
• Strong governance, documentation, and audit-readiness mindset.
• Knowledge of duty drawback, customs compliance, import/export processes, and recovery program management.
• Ability to translate complex operational scenarios into compliance recovery opportunities.
• Strong executive communication and stakeholder management.

Responsibilities

• Lead Enterprise Drawback Strategy and Recovery Optimization.
• Own the enterprise duty drawback strategy, roadmap, and operating model; prioritize recovery opportunities and governance.
• Evaluate import/export activities to optimize duty and excise tax recovery within applicable law and company risk standards.
• Establish policies, procedures, controls, and audit protocols to support compliant claims and defendable positions with CBP.
• Build an audit-ready documentation and data environment across systems and functions.
• Partner with supply chain to integrate drawback considerations into business decisions early.
• Coordinate cross-functional execution and drive accountability for program success.
• Manage external brokers, drawback specialists, and advisors; ensure internal ownership of decisions and controls.
• Establish dashboards and routines to monitor opportunity, claims, recoveries, and compliance risk.

Skills

Influence without authority

Business acumen

Analytical skills

Financial acumen

Executive communication

Problem-solving

Education

Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Tax, International Business, Supply Chain, Logistics, or related field

Job description

This role is an office position based in Louisville, KY.

What The Role Is

The Director, Global Trade and Duty Optimization is accountable for Heaven Hill's enterprise duty drawback program and related global trade tax opportunities. This role leads the strategy, governance, compliance, financial reporting alignment, and execution of the program with the objective of maximizing lawful recovery while establishing a strong control environment and audit readiness.

This role will partner closely with Tax, Accounting, Legal, Compliance, and other business stakeholders to ensure drawback recoveries are properly identified, documented, claimed, reconciled, and appropriately reflected in the Company’s financial records and reporting.

Success in this role requires balancing value creation with financial stewardship. The Director serves as the enterprise leader responsible for converting trade and customs complexity into measurable business value while maintaining a strong compliance and control environment. The role requires an individual who can both shape strategy and drive execution, ensuring recovery opportunities are identified, pursued, documented, reconciled, and appropriately reflected in the Company's financial reporting.

How You Will Spend Your Time?

Lead Enterprise Drawback Strategy and Recovery Optimization

• Own the enterprise duty drawback strategy, roadmap, and operating model. Identify and prioritize recovery opportunities and establish the governance required to move opportunities from identification through documentation, claim submission, recovery, and ongoing compliance.

Maximize Lawful Tax and Duty Recovery

• Evaluate import, export, manufacturing, inventory, and supply chain activity to identify opportunities to optimize duty and excise tax recovery within applicable law and company risk standards. Translate opportunities into quantified business cases, forecasts, and executable plans while preventing overclaims, underclaims, and avoidable leakage.

Lead Customs, Drawback, and Compliance Governance, and Financial Reporting Alignment

• Serve as Heaven Hill's internal subject matter leader for duty drawback and associated customs requirements. Establish policies, procedures, controls, approval processes, and audit protocols that support compliant claims and a defensible position with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and other relevant authorities. Partner with Accounting to support appropriate accounting treatment of drawback recoveries, documentation of accounting conclusions, and alignment among customs documentation, drawback claims, accounting records, and financial reporting.

Build an Audit-Ready Documentation and Data Environment

• Establish and maintain documentation, data, and record-retention standards necessary to support drawback eligibility, claim substantiation, audit readiness, and financial reporting requirements. Drive reconciliation, data quality, and traceability across systems and functions.

Integrate Global Trade into Supply Chain Decisions

• Partner with operational and commercial teams to evaluate how sourcing, manufacturing, inventory, import, and export decisions affect drawback eligibility and recovery opportunities. Ensure drawback considerations are incorporated into business decisions early enough to influence outcomes.

Coordinate Cross-Functional Execution

• Create clarity around responsibilities, requirements, timelines, and decisions across the enterprise. Motivate and influence process owners without relying on formal authority, remove barriers to execution, elevate issues appropriately, and build shared accountability for program success.

Manage External Expertise and Regulatory Interfaces

• Direct the work of customs brokers, drawback specialists, freight forwarders, external advisors, and counsel as appropriate. Ensure external expertise is integrated into Heaven Hill's operating model while maintaining clear internal ownership of decisions, controls, documentation, and program performance.

Measure and Communicate Program Performance

• Establish dashboards and management routines covering eligible opportunity, claims submitted, recovery realized, forecasted recovery, claim cycle time, documentation completeness, exceptions, compliance risk, and potential leakage. Monitor and reconcile submitted claims, approved recoveries, cash receipts, and recorded balances to ensure completeness, accuracy, and audit readiness. Translate technical issues into clear business implications and recommendations for senior leadership.

Who You Are…

Required Skills and Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Tax, International Business, Supply Chain, Logistics, or a related field, or equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
• Minimum 5 years of experience leading duty drawback programs, customs compliance, global trade, tax recovery initiatives, import/export operations, customs brokerage, or other complex cross-functional trade programs.
• Experience working with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), drawback claims and rulings, customs brokers, government agencies, external trade advisors, and legal counsel.
• Demonstrated ability to influence decision-making and drive execution across functions without direct reporting authority.
• Strong business, financial, and operational acumen, with the ability to balance value creation, compliance requirements, and organizational risk.
• Proven experience managing complex cross-functional initiatives and delivering measurable financial results.
• Strong understanding of duty drawback, customs compliance, important/export processes, and recovery program management.
• Ability to evaluate complex operational, supply chain, and commercial scenarios and translate them into compliance recovery opportunities.
• Strong financial, analytical, and problem-solving skills, including the ability to reconcile large and complex datasets.
• Strong control, documentation, and audit-readiness mindset
• Experience establishing governance frameworks, documentation standards, reconciliation processes, and compliance controls.
• Ability to lead enterprise initiatives and drive results through influence rather than formal authority.
• Strong business judgement balancing financial opportunity, compliance requirements, operational practicality, and organizational risk.
• Strong executive communication skills with the ability to translate technical issues into clear business implications and recommendations.

Valued But Not Required Skills And Experience

• Experience in beverage alcohol, spirits, consumer packaged goods (CPG), manufacturing, or another highly regulated industry.
• Licensed Customs Broker, Certified Customs Specialist, or other relevant trade compliance credential.
• Experience with global trade optimization strategies, tax recovery programs, and trade technology solutions.

Physical Requirements

While performing duties of job, employee is frequently required to:

• Stand, walk, use hands and fingers to handle, or feel objects, and use of computer; reach with hands and arms.
• Occasionally lift up to 20 pounds
• Primarily office-based with travel to Heaven Hill production, warehouse, distribution, logistics, broker, or other relevant locations as required. Travel expectation is as-needed, with original estimate to be around 10%.

Benefits

• Paid Vacation
• 11 Paid Holidays
• Health, Dental & Vision eligibility from day one
• FSA/HSA
• 401K match
• EAP
• Maternity/Paternity Leave

Heaven Hill and its affiliates are committed to fostering a diverse workforce as an Equal Employment Opportunity company. We invite applications from candidates of all backgrounds, without regard to race, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, natural origin, gender identity or expression, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected characteristic.