Customs, Compliance and Excise Analyst in City of Westminster

About the role

We are seeking a highly motivated, self‑starting Customs and Excise Analyst to join our team. This role will be instrumental in ensuring operational compliance with all HMRC customs and excise regulations. You will play a key part in maintaining compliance with HMRC regulations, while supporting the monthly duty and accounting close processes. You will be the operational expert on the ground, driving necessary procedural changes and acting as the vital link between compliance strategy and day‑to‑day operations.

• Expected salary: Salary up to £60,000 to £65,000 depending on experience.
• Contract type: Permanent contract.
• Working pattern: Hybrid – work a mixture between the office and home based on your personal needs while balancing the needs of the business.
• Location: Remote with travel to Pimlico or Waitrose DC’s as required.

Key responsibilities

• Act as a subject matter expert in customs and excise operational procedures and provide essential cover for the manager, particularly during monthly return cycles, holidays, and other absences.
• Monitor and enforce customs and excise compliance procedures within the distribution centre (DC) environment.
• Manage and analyse operational data, utilising software tools (including advanced Excel skills) to monitor compliance, identify risks, and report on performance.
• Review, consolidate and prepare monthly excise duty liabilities, ensuring accurate accounting of customs and excise duty in line with reporting timetables.
• Forecast excise duty gains/losses and report variances to budget.
• Liaise with HMRC on customs and excise matters.

Essential skills/experience you’ll need

• Proven experience of creating excise movements on EMCS.
• Good written communication skills.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Proficient in Excel and/or Google Sheets.
• Ability to work under pressure and adapt to a changing environment.
• Basic knowledge of excise principles and warehousing.
• Previous experience in a Customs or Excise role.

Desirable skills/experience you may have

• Knowledge of excise documentation requirements (e.g., W5D, W1).
• Knowledge of documentation requirements for different products and origins.
• Good knowledge of excise stock management and reconciliation.
• Good knowledge of duty suspension procedures.

The partnership

We’re the largest employee‑owned business in the UK and home of our cherished brands, John Lewis and Waitrose. We’re not just employees; we’re Partners driven by our purpose to build a happier world. As we look to our future, there’s never been a more exciting time to join us.

We’re ruthlessly focused on being brilliant at retail, continually innovating, adapting and diversifying. Never knowingly undermanned on price, quality and service in John Lewis and passionately serving food lovers in Waitrose.

As Partners we all share the responsibility of ownership and its rewards. We use our voices to contribute to our success, working together through the good and challenging times, holding true to our behaviours and treating everyone with kindness and respect.

We all own making the Partnership somewhere we belong, embracing our differences and creating an environment where we’re free to be ourselves and can thrive. Growing ourselves individually and as a collective.

As Partners, we make all the difference. And, we all own it.

Important points to note

It’s important to note that some of our roles are subject to pre‑employment vetting (which may include DBS checks for successful candidates). If required, you’ll be informed and provided with information about vetting during the recruitment process and we encourage you to complete any vetting documents quickly to avoid delays. Any DBS checks required will be carried out by a third‑party registered body and financial probity checks may also be required for some of our roles.

We occasionally close vacancies early in the event we receive a high volume of applications, and therefore we recommend you apply early. If you require a reasonable adjustment due to a disability which means you may need longer to complete your application please contact us as soon as possible.

We want all of our Partners to have a good work‑life balance and we support flexible working. This might mean flexible or compressed hours, job sharing or shorter hour contracts, where possible. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.