Customs & Excise Manager (East Africa)

East African Breweries PLC (“EABL” or “the Group”) is the leading branded alcohol beverage business in East Africa. EABL is quoted in the 3 East African stock/ securities exchanges and has operations in six markets with a turnover of over $1b. EABL operates within a multicultural, multinational, multicurrency environment.

In Tanzania, EABL operates through its subsidiary, Serengeti Breweries Limited (“SBL”, or “the Company). SBL manufactures and distributes alcoholic beverages, including beer, spirits, and ready-to-drink products The Company operates three principal production sites located in Dar es Salaam, Mwanza and Moshi.

The Customs & Excise Manager will lead the Company’s customs and excise strategy by ensuring full regulatory compliance, running collaborator relationships with revenue authorities, optimizing duty and tax costs, and safeguarding the business against customs and excise risks while supporting sustainable growth and operational efficiency.

Purpose of the role

Responsible for leading the Company's customs, excise, and international trade agenda to ensure full regulatory compliance, effective risk management, and optimization of duty costs.

The role serves as the primary interface with revenue authorities and other regulatory bodies, providing strategic guidance on customs and excise matters, supporting business growth initiatives, and enabling efficient cross-border trade and supply chain operations.

The incumbent will partner closely with Finance, Supply, Procurement, Legal, and Commercial teams to safeguard the business from customs and excise risks while finding opportunities to improve value and operational efficiency.

Accountabilities

• Provide specialist support with customs issues including product classification disputes (both customs and excise), Customs Valuation and Inter-Company Selling Price (ICSP) reviews.
• Manage Customs and Excise related queries from the customs and excise authorities relating to imported products and raw materials.
• Manage Customs and Excise aspects of international trade projects to deliver shareholder value and manage potentials exposure to the business.
• Provide technical support with respect to addressing inefficiencies and driving process improvement within the Customs and Excise arena.
• Recommend and implement changes to optimize processes, systems, policies, and procedures.
• Keep up to date with customs and excise regulatory changes and standard methodology; identify risks and opportunities and recommend actions.

Key interactions

Internal

• Finance Director and Finance Leadership Team
• Supply Chain Director and Operations Leadership
• Procurement Team
• Manufacturing / Site Leadership (Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, Moshi)
• Legal & Corporate Relations Teams
• Commercial and Innovation Teams
• Regional Tax and Global Trade Teams

External

• Tax authority and particularly customs and excise duty teams
• Other regulatory authorities coordinating licenses and permits
• Customs clearing and forwarding agents
• Logistics and freight providers
• Industry associations and trade bodies
• External advisers and legal counsel

Critical Capabilities

• Sophisticated customs & excise knowledge
• International trade experience
• Project management and collaborator communications
• Compliance and ethics mentality

Experience / skills required

• Experience within a Global Trade or Tax advisory function in a consulting firm or multinational beverage/tobacco manufacturer.
• Data analytics skills (Power Query/BI etc.), ideally with systems experience in SAP or equivalent
• Effective project management and implementation skills
• Phenomenal teammate with experience working across diverse cultures
• At least 5 years of customs & excise experience

Flexible Working Statement:

Flexibility is key to our success. Talk to us about what flexibility means to you so that you’re supported to manage your wellbeing and balance your priorities from day one.

Rewards & Benefits Statement:

We offer a comprehensive and competitively benchmarked rewards and benefits package that reflects our dedication to recognizing and valuing our people.

Diversity statement:

Our purpose is to celebrate life, every day, everywhere and crafting an inclusive culture, where everyone feels valued and that they can belong, is a crucial part of this.

We embrace diversity in the broadest possible sense. This means that you’ll be welcomed and celebrated for who you are just by being you. You’ll be part of and help build and champion an inclusive culture that celebrates people of different gender, ethnicity, ability, age, sexual orientation, social class, educational backgrounds, experiences, attitudes, and more.

Our ambition is to develop the best performing, most trusted and respected consumer products companies in the world. Join us and help transform our business as we take our brands to the next level and build new ones as part of crafting the next generation of celebrations for consumers around the world.

Feel inspired? Then this may be the opportunity for you. 

If you require a reasonable adjustment, please ensure that you capture this information when you submit your application.