Director, Global Regulatory Ethics & Compliance

Location: London, UK or Netherlands

About the Role

Forward Air is seeking an accomplished, globally minded compliance leader to serve as Director, Global Regulatory Ethics & Compliance. Sitting at the intersection of strategy, governance, and business partnership, this role carries enterprise-wide accountability for the design, maturation, and continuous advancement of Forward Air's global ethics and compliance program across global markets. Reporting directly to the Chief Compliance Officer, this Director will serve as a trusted advisor to senior leadership, a visible steward of the Company's integrity culture, and a hands-on program builder capable of translating complex regulatory obligations into practical, scalable frameworks. The role carries primary ownership of the Company's anti-corruption, fair competition, conflicts of interest, gifts and hospitality, data privacy compliance, and Speak Up program portfolios, and will be a key voice in shaping how compliance is experienced across the global organization. This is a high-visibility, high-impact role well-suited to a compliance leader who thrives in fast-moving environments and brings the strategic credibility to influence at the executive level while driving execution across diverse markets and business lines.

What You’ll Do

• Define and lead the long-term strategic vision for Forward Air's global Ethics & Compliance program, ensuring it is risk-based, proportionate, and aligned with the Company's scale and international footprint.
• Serve as the primary global subject matter authority on anti-bribery/anti-corruption (FCPA, UK Bribery Act, and equivalent international regimes), fair competition and antitrust, conflicts of interest, gifts and hospitality, data privacy compliance, and Speak Up governance.
• Develop and maintain a robust global policy architecture, ensuring policies are current, consistent, jurisdiction-sensitive where required, and embedded in business operations rather than siloed in compliance.
• Lead the design and execution of the Company's global compliance risk assessment program, including enterprise-level and market-specific assessments, with an emphasis on identifying systemic vulnerabilities and emerging regulatory trends.
• Translate risk assessment outputs into prioritized, measurable mitigation plans with clear ownership and executive visibility.
• Monitor the evolving global regulatory environment across key jurisdictions and proactively advise leadership on implications for the business.
• Architect and oversee a global training and awareness strategy that goes beyond compliance checkbox requirements – building genuine understanding of ethical expectations across all levels of the organization.
• Design role-specific and risk-tiered learning experiences (including eLearning and live delivery) that are engaging, culturally resonant, and linked to measurable behaviour change.
• Champion a speak-up culture by providing strategic oversight of the Company's reporting channels, non-retaliation framework, case trend analysis, and escalation governance.

Executive Partnership & Reporting

• Serve as a strategic partner to the CCO, providing risk counsel, regulatory horizon scanning, and executive-ready reporting on the program’s health and emerging issues.
• Develop and maintain program metrics, dashboards, and governance reporting that demonstrate program effectiveness to senior leadership and relevant oversight bodies.
• Build and sustain trusted relationships with Legal, HR, Internal Audit, Finance, Procurement, IT, Security, and business leaders globally to ensure compliance is a genuine operational partner rather than a gatekeeper function.

What You’ll Bring

• 12+ years of experience in compliance or regulatory roles.
• Juris Doctor (JD), LL.B., or equivalent legal qualification required; Master of Laws (LL.M.) or equivalent advanced legal degree preferred.
• Substantial experience in senior ethics, compliance, legal, or regulatory roles within a large multinational or global organization, with direct accountability for multi-jurisdictional program governance.
• Deep, substantive expertise across anti-bribery/anti-corruption, competition/antitrust, conflicts of interest, gifts and hospitality, data privacy compliance (GDPR and equivalent regimes), and Speak Up governance – with the ability to distinguish between legal nuance and practical business risk.
• A proven track record of operating at the strategic level, advising key stakeholders, influencing without authority across a matrixed organization, and driving meaningful compliance culture change.
• Strong program-building instincts: comfortable designing frameworks from the ground up, scaling them across diverse markets, and continuously improving them based on risk signals and business feedback.
• High executive presence, exceptional written and verbal communication skills, and the ability to translate complex regulatory concepts into clear, business-relevant guidance.
• Experience in transportation, logistics, freight forwarding, supply chain, or another operationally complex, high-volume international business strongly preferred.
• English fluency required; additional languages are a plus.