Global Trade Compliance Manager

Tate; West Columbia (TX); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Discretionary bonus

Medical, dental, and vision benefits

401k and retirement benefits

Career advancement opportunities

Job summary

Tate Americas seeks a Global Trade Compliance Manager to own import/export compliance for its liquid cooling business. reporting to the Global Director of Procurement & Supply Chain, this role can be remote or hybrid near Columbia, MD, and collaborates with Legal and Finance.

You will lead HTS classification, customs valuation, COO substantiation, broker management, and tariff exposure modeling, driving duty recovery and compliance programs across the US and international operations.

Qualifications

• 7-12+ years of experience in trade compliance, including at least three years owning a corporate import program in a manufacturing environment.
• Demonstrated classification depth in metals and machinery across HTS Chapters 72, 73, 84, and 85 with defendable rationale.
• Experience with Section 232 and Section 301 including derivative steel coverage and country of melt/pour reporting.
• Familiarity with free trade agreement qualifications and rules of origin (USMCA, KORUS).
• Proven ability to manage customs brokers and forwarders to defined performance standards.
• Excellent cross-functional communication and influence across engineering, operations, finance, legal, and executive leadership.

Responsibilities

• Own HTS classification for liquid cooling BOM with written rationale on file.
• Own customs valuation including assists, royalties, intercompany transfer pricing, and post-importation adjustments.
• Maintain a current tariff exposure model by part and supplier (Section 232, 301, MFN rates).
• Manage Tate’s customs brokers through instructions, entry review sampling, error tracking, and corrective actions.
• Lead IOR structure including broker models and legal/tax/accounting considerations.
• Write and maintain Tate’s trade compliance manual and run a post-entry audit program with defined sampling and root cause analysis.

Skills

Cross-functional communication

Analytical thinking

Influence without authority

Attention to detail

Project management

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in supply chain management / related fields

Customs broker certification (Licensed Customs Specialist)

Tools

ERP systems

Customs entry tools

Denied party screening platforms

Tariff modeling tools

Job description

Job Title: Global Trade Compliance Manager

Job Type: Exempt/ Full -Time

Location: Columbia, Maryland, USA/ Austin, Texas, USA/ Remote

Positions: 1

Reporting to: Global Procurement & Supply Chain Director – Liquid Cooling

About Us

Tate Americas is a key business within Kingspan Data Solutions and is at the forefront of delivering integrated solutions to the rapidly expanding data centre market. We combine engineering expertise, advanced manufacturing and operational excellence to deliver complex, mission-critical projects for some of the world’s largest technology companies.

With significant investment and ambitious growth plans, Tate is evolving beyond traditional manufacturing to become a fully integrated solutions provider, offering customers a seamless delivery model from design and manufacturing through installation, commissioning and final handover.

About The Role

The Global Trade Compliance Manager owns import and export compliance for Tate’s global liquid cooling business, reporting to the Global Director of Procurement and Supply Chain – Liquid Cooling with a dotted line to Legal and Finance. This is the first dedicated trade compliance role on the liquid cooling supply chain team. Tate’s liquid cooling supply chain imports stainless steel content, flow control components, and other mechanical products into a U.S. tariff environment that has been substantially rewritten over the past 18 months. The Global Trade Compliance Manager is accountable for the accuracy of what Tate declares, the defensibility of how goods are classified and valued, and the recovery of duty Tate doesn’t owe. The also carries defined independence. This role works in close partnership with the Global Inbound Logistics Manager. Trade Compliance owns the classification, valuation, COO, entry accuracy, and duty. Incoterms selection, customs broker selection, and IOR structure are joint decisions between these two roles. This is a role for someone who has built a trade compliance program from the ground up. This position is either remote or hybrid to the Columbia, MD area. You will help shape the supply chain strategy reporting to the Global Director of Procurement and Supply Chain of Liquid Cooling. The right person for this role sees around corners and acts accordingly with a sense of urgency.

What You’ll Do

• Own Harmonized Tariff Schedule classification for the liquid cooling bill of material including stainless tube and fittings, manifolds and weldments, valves and quick disconnects, finished assemblies, etc. with written classification rationale maintained on file.
• Own customs valuation including assists, royalties, intercompany transfer pricing across Kingspan entities, tooling amortization, and post-importation adjustments.
• Establish and enforce COO determination and substantiation, including substantial transformation analysis and supplier origin declarations supported by mill test certificates.
• Manage Tate’s customs brokers through written instructions, entry review sampling, error tracking, and corrective action.
• Maintain a current and quantified tariff exposure model by part and by supplier covering Section 232 coverage and rate tier, Section 301 list exposure, Section 122, antidumping and countervailing duty risk, and applicable most favored nation rates.
• Manage Section 232 compliance mechanics including country of melt and pour reporting, derivative inclusion tracking as the annex expands, correct Chapter 99 reporting, and entry line splits where U.S. content applies.
• Pursue duty recovery including IEEPA refund eligibility and the protest or litigation posture Tate should take, drawback feasibility, post-summary corrections, and prior disclosure where an error is identified.
• Evaluate and, where the business case supports it, implement duty mitigation strategies including foreign trade zone, bonded warehouse, first sale for export, tariff engineering, and free trade agreement qualification.
• Advise Strategic Sourcing and Commodity Management on the landed cost and duty consequences of supplier and COO decisions before award, so that a sourcing move which appears cheaper on piece price but costs more after duty is prevented.
• Qualify and document free trade agreement claims, such as USMCA and KORUS, including solicitation, review, and retention of supplier certifications and rules of origin analysis that is defensible under audit.
• Lead IOR structure including evaluation of customer as IOR, third-party importer of record, and brokerage models, assessment of the tax, liability, and control tradeoffs, and ownership of the recommendation to Legal, Finance, and Tax.
• Classify products under the Export Adminstration Regulations, determine license requirements, manage deemed export exposure where engineering data moves borders, and own restricted and denied party screening for suppliers, customers, freight partners, and project sites.
• Write and maintain Tate’s trade compliance manual, internal control procedures, and reasonable care documentation, and run a post-entry audit program with defined sampling, error classification, root cause analysis, and correct action tracking.
• Own the customs bond, confirming existing continuous bond coverage before submitting new applications and sizing coverage to current tariff-elevated duty liability.
• Prepare Tate for CBP focus assessment and customer-driven compliance audits, evaluate CTPAT participation against cost, benefit, and customer requirement, and establish the prior disclosure protocol and escalation path to Legal in advance and in writing.
• Training Sourcing, Planning, Engineering, Finance, and plant receiving on the compliance obligations their decisions create, and build compliance requirements into purchase order terms and supplier agreements including origin declarations, certification cooperation, documentation standards, and audit rights.

Additional Expectation

• Remain compliant with the Code of Conduct and Policies which includes the Kingspan Group Compliance Policy.
• Ensure that all duties related to product compliance are adhered to in accordance with the Product Compliance Policy, Laws, Regulations, and market demands.
• Responsible for all tasks to achieve compliance goals and demands of the Compliance Management System.
• Must raise concerns related to the Compliance Management System to their supervisor, manager, or any member of the Leadership Team, or through the confidential whistle blower service.

What You’ll Bring

• A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Supply Chain Management, International Business, Law, Finance, General Business Management or a related field. Additional certification such as Licensed Customs Broker, Certified Customs Specialist, or Certified Export Specialist are a significant plus.
• 7-12+ years of experience in trade compliance, including at least three years owning a corporate import program in a manufacturing environment, preferably within data center infrastructure, HVAC, fluid systems, precision manufacturing, or a related technical industry.
• Demonstrated classification depth in metals and machinery across HTS Chapters 72, 73, 84, and 85, with the ability to write and defend a classification rationale.
• Direct working experience with Section 232 and Section 301including derivative steel coverage and country of melt and pour reporting. Candidates whose experience is limited to administering entries through a broker will not be a fit for this role.
• Working knowledge of free trade agreement qualifications and rules of origin, such as USMCA and KORUS.
• Deep experience managing customs brokers and forwarders at a senior level and holding them to a measurable performance standard.
• Familiarity with Export Administration Regulations classification, licensing, denied party screening, and sanctions compliance.
• In-depth understanding of Asia import and export requirements.
• Experience with foreign trade zones, duty drawback, or first sale for export programs is a plus, as is experience within a multinational group structure carrying related-party transfer pricing implications.
• Experience supporting or leading CBP focused assessment or customs audit from the company side is a plus.
• Excellent cross-functional communication and influence skills that are able to engage credibly with engineering, operations, finance, legal, and executive leadership without direct authority.
• Strong commercial acumen that is proficient in landed cost analysis, duty exposure quantification, and translating regulatory risk into financial terms a P&L owner will act on.
• Proficiency in ERP systems, customs entry and classification tools, and denied party screening platforms.
• Strong analytical skills: comfortable with BOM-level data, duty modeling, and entry-level audit data
• Clear and disciplined written communication, recognizing that much of this role produces documentation that must hold up years later under external examinations.

What You'll Get

• Pay range: $140,000 USD to$150,000 USD. This role is eligible for a discretionary bonus.
• Career Scope and Advancement: As we grow, new positions and career opportunities arise, offering accelerated paths for the right candidates, locally and globally.
• World of Wellness Philosophy: We empower you to take charge of your health and well-being. You’ll have access to a wide range of medical, dental, and vision benefits, along with personalized guidance from a “Health Advocate.” We also offer other supplemental options, including 401k, legal, disability, and theft insurance, to ensure your financial wellness.
• Corporate Social Responsibility: Through Planet Passionate we are determined to reduce our manufacturing carbon (CO2e) emissions to as close to zero as technically possible, together with halving carbon intensity in our primary supply chain. We are very involved in our community, and you will have ample opportunities to support us, in creating a better world.
• Skills Development: Given the dynamic pace of our business and a strong collaborative environment, your new role will be diverse and multifaceted – allowing you to be more versatile and develop a broader skill set.
• Mentorship and development: At Tate, we don’t believe in hierarchy, we work together as one team for one common goal. You will have access and exposure to our senior leaders and experts for learning in your role, and additionally mentorship for the future.
• Culture: We have a great team culture, highly collaborative, supportive and social. Together we innovate, collaborate, take ownership and strive for excellence.

Tate Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to legally protected characteristics. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. Employment is contingent upon the successful completion of post-offer requirements, including a background check and drug screening, in accordance with company policy and applicable laws.

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