Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) Manager

Applied Materials•Austin, TX

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) Manager is the enterprise owner of the U.S. FTZ program, with accountability for strategy, governance, regulatory compliance, and operational oversight across all FTZ locations. This role combines people leadership and program management with direct responsibility for managing U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP), the FTZ Board, FTZ grantees, and critical internal and external stakeholders. The FTZ Manager ensures the FTZ program is audit-ready, scalable, and fully embedded into business operations, while delivering compliance assurance, operational excellence, and measurable duty savings. This role provides leadership over FTZ Administrators and Analysts and serves as the primary escalation point for complex compliance, operational, and strategic matters. The position sits within the Global Trade / Legal & Compliance organization and partners closely with Supply Chain, Logistics, Finance, Manufacturing, IT, and external service providers.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required.
10+ years of experience in global trade compliance, customs operations, or trade program management.
5+ years of direct U.S. FTZ program experience, including zone administration and regulatory engagement.
Demonstrated experience leading regulatory audits, FTZ Board submissions, and CBP interactions.
Experience managing people and leading compliance or operations teams.
Expert-level knowledge of U.S. customs regulations and FTZ requirements.
Strong leadership presence with the ability to influence across a matrixed organization.
Proven ability to design, implement, and sustain audit-ready compliance programs.
Strong analytical, problem-solving, and risk management skills.
Excellent communication skills, with the ability to engage regulators and executives alike.
Program management mindset with a focus on scalability, automation, and continuous improvement.

Nice To Haves

Experience with SAP S/4HANA and FTZ systems strongly preferred.
Customs Broker License preferred.

Responsibilities

Serve as the enterprise owner for all U.S. FTZ programs, zones, and subzones.
Define and maintain the FTZ governance framework, including policies, Procedures Manuals, SOPs, controls, escalation paths, and compliance metrics.
Ensure ongoing compliance with 19 CFR Part 146, FTZ Board regulations, and company trade policies.
Establish and oversee an audit and monitoring framework to validate compliance, inventory integrity, and procedural adherence across all FTZ sites.
Act as the primary point of contact and relationship owner for U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP), Foreign-Trade Zones Board, FTZ Grantees, External auditors, brokers, and service providers.
Lead all regulatory engagements, including audits, inquiries, disclosures, expansions, activations, and compliance actions.
Oversee FTZ Board applications, modifications, boundary changes, and site activations.
Ensure timely and accurate regulatory filings, disclosures, and responses.
Provide executive-level oversight of inbound, outbound, manufacturing, and inventory FTZ operations across all zones.
Approve and govern exception resolutions and corrective actions, inventory discrepancies and reconciliations, system and process changes impacting FTZ execution.
Ensure accurate and compliant filing strategies for all applicable CBP forms (e.g., 214, 216, 3461, 7501, 7512).
Identify, assess, and mitigate compliance and operational risks tied to FTZ activity.
Lead FTZ implementations, expansions, and system integrations (e.g., SAP S/4HANA, FTZ software, broker systems).
Define and track FTZ KPIs, including compliance metrics, cycle time, inventory accuracy, and duty savings.
Partner with Finance to validate duty savings, cost avoidance, and financial reporting impacts.
Drive automation, standardization, and process optimization across FTZ operations.
Embed FTZ requirements into upstream and downstream business processes (logistics, manufacturing, sourcing, inventory management).
Manage and develop the FTZ Administrators and team.
Set goals, priorities, clear expectations, accountability and development plans for team members.
Act as the senior escalation point for complex compliance, system, or operational challenges.
Represent the FTZ program in executive forums and cross-functional governance bodies.
Build strong partnerships across Supply Chain, Logistics, Manufacturing, IT, Legal, Finance, and external vendors.