Bond and Excise Compliance Manager in Basingstoke

Bond and Excise Compliance Manager (Wines and Spirits)
South Hampshire. £52000 to £58000 DOE plus benefits. Monday to Friday, site-based.
Commutable from Southampton, Portsmouth, Fareham, Gosport, Havant, Waterlooville, Eastleigh, Hedge End, Whiteley, Winchester, Chichester, Petersfield, Romsey and the Isle of Wight.
Compliance that the whole business relies on
There are bonded warehouses where compliance is a box to tick, and there are bonded warehouses where it is the foundation of the entire business. This is the second kind. Our client is an established, independently owned drinks supply business in South Hampshire, supplying cruise lines, airlines and international travel retail customers. Its HMRC-approved excise warehouse holds duty-suspended wines, spirits and other alcohol for the company, its wider group and a growing roster of third-party brands. The business can only trade while that approval is in place, so they are looking for a Bond and Excise Compliance Manager who will own excise compliance completely and who will be trusted by HMRC, colleagues and customers alike.
The role
You will be the compliance authority for the bond. You will hold the relationship with HMRC, including visits, audits and assurance reviews, and you will inherit a strong audit record that you will be expected to protect. You will make sure duty-suspended stock records are accurate and reconciled by owner and product, that alcohol duty is calculated correctly, that returns, duty payments and EMCS movements are right and on time, and that every cruise, airline, export and group order is released compliantly at the pace the business needs. In summer that pace is considerable, with ships turning round in Southampton every weekend and stock moving every few days. Winter is quieter, and it is when you will refine procedures, train your team and help connect the bonded system to a new group ERP platform.
The role reaches well beyond the warehouse floor. You will onboard new third-party bonded customers, set up their documentation and service terms, and then own those relationships, with clear KPIs and regular reviews. Many of these customers are brand owners who know their products far better than they know excise, so you will guide them through exports, import requirements and Incoterms in a way that is clear, commercial and helpful. You will also oversee a direct to consumer pick operation run from the bond, and you ...