Customs Broker Job Description

A Customs Broker is the licensed professional who gets imported goods legally into the United States on someone else's behalf. The broker holds a license issued by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and acts for importers under a power of attorney, which lets the broker file entries, pay duties and answer CBP questions in the client's name. When an ocean container lands at a port or an air shipment reaches a cargo terminal and the importer has hired a broker, the broker's filing is what gets the freight released.

The work begins with documents. A shipment arrives with a commercial invoice, a packing list and a bill of lading or air waybill, and the broker's first job is to check that they agree with one another and with what the importer actually bought. Value, quantity, country of origin and a clear description of the goods all have to line up, because each feeds the duty calculation.

Classification comes next, and it is the heart of the craft. Every product has to be assigned a ten-digit number in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States. That number sets the duty rate, decides whether trade remedies such as Section 301 duties, Section 232 duties or antidumping and countervailing duty orders apply, and flags whether another agency, such as FDA, USDA or EPA, needs its own data before the goods can be released. Brokers work through the General Rules of Interpretation, the section and chapter notes and CBP's published rulings to reach a defensible answer.

With the classification settled, the broker builds the entry and entry summary and transmits them to ACE, CBP's Automated Commercial Environment, through the Automated Broker Interface (ABI) connection in the firm's brokerage software. If CBP places a hold or selects the cargo for examination, the broker coordinates with the carrier, the warehouse and the CBP officers until the goods are released. After release, the broker tracks the entry through liquidation and handles any requests for information, notices of action, post-summary corrections or protests.

Recordkeeping and security are part of the license too. Brokers keep powers of attorney, entry files and correspondence so they can be produced when CBP asks, and under the modernized broker regulations they must notify CBP when there has been a breach of electronic or physical broker records and identify the importer of record numbers affected. A broker who runs a team also has to exercise responsible supervision and control over the entry writers and classifiers whose work goes out under the license.

Beyond routine clearance, experienced brokers also advise clients. Importers want to know whether a product qualifies for a trade agreement, how a supplier change will affect landed cost, whether a binding ruling is worth requesting before a new item ships, and what a tariff announcement means for orders already on the water. That advisory work is where a broker's judgment earns its fee.

The one credential that defines the job is the individual customs broker license issued by CBP, and the road to it runs through the Customs Broker License Exam (CBLE). The exam is given electronically and consists of 80 multiple-choice questions over 4.5 hours, and a score of 75 percent is required to pass. On the date of the exam a candidate must be a U.S. citizen, at least 18 years old and not an officer or employee of the U.S. government. CBP's exam categories include entry and entry summary, partner government agencies, and foreign trade zones and bonded warehouses. Preparation means long hours with the tariff schedule and the broker regulations in Title 19 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

Passing the exam is only the start. Candidates then apply to CBP for the license, and holding it now comes with a continuing education obligation. CBP's Continuing Education for Licensed Customs Brokers final rule (88 FR 41224) requires individual brokers to complete 36 continuing education credits per triennial period. For the 2024 to 2027 period, CBP allowed 20 hours instead, because brokers did not have the full three years, and its broker page set a Jan. 31, 2027 date for completing those 20 hours. Brokers report their credits on the triennial status report, and CBP set the filing window for the report at Dec. 14, 2026 to Feb. 28, 2027, with a $100 fee; and CBP states that failing to complete the credits and the report results in revocation of the license by operation of law.

CBP sets no degree requirement for the CBLE. As a rough guide, the practical route to the license runs through one to three years as an entry writer, classification specialist or import coordinator at a brokerage or forwarder, and a degree in international business, supply chain management or economics can help with an in-house trade compliance path. Working on live entries before sitting for the CBLE gives candidates daily practice with the rules the exam covers.

Professional certifications fill the gap between entry-level work and the license, or deepen a licensed broker's knowledge. The NCBFAA Educational Institute, part of the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America, awards the Certified Customs Specialist (CCS) designation, a six-month, self-paced online course of 25 modules that ends in a proctored final exam, open both to license holders and to people with a year or two of related experience. The same institute awards the Certified Export Specialist (CES) for export-side professionals.

The skills that matter day to day are concrete: reading a tariff schedule and a ruling with care, spotting when an invoice value or an origin claim does not hold up, explaining a classification decision to a CBP import specialist in plain terms, and keeping a cool head when a container is on hold and a client is calling every hour. Fluency in ACE reports, spreadsheet work for duty reconciliation and a working knowledge of trade agreement rules of origin round out the toolkit.

BLS does not count customs brokers separately. O*NET places them within Compliance Officers, an occupation it projects to grow at an average rate of 3% to 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 32,700 openings a year on average. Those figures cover every kind of compliance officer, so they describe the broad field rather than brokerage alone. Within the freight transportation arrangement industry, BLS counted 4,520 compliance officers in May 2025.

The license exam is the main gate into the profession. CBP publishes pass rates for each CBLE before appeal decisions: 30% for the April 23, 2025 exam, 12% for the October 22, 2025 exam and 22% for the April 22, 2026 exam. Beginning with the April 2026 exam, CBP added an appeals threshold, so only examinees who score within three questions of the passing score, 57 or more of the 80 questions, can appeal individual answers. CBP scheduled its October 2026 exam for Oct. 28, 2026, and it holds the test on the fourth Wednesday of April and October.

Regulation has also made the license more portable. CBP's modernization of the broker regulations, published as a final rule in October 2022 and effective Dec. 19, 2022, eliminated broker districts and district permits and moved every broker to a single national permit. That national permit allows a broker to conduct customs business on a national scope, without separate permits or waivers for individual districts.

Tariff policy has also shaped the work. On Feb. 20, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump that tariffs imposed by the President under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act were unlawful. Importers of record and authorized customs brokers can request refunds of those duties from CBP, and in October 2026 CBP sought public comment on a worksheet for processing court-ordered IEEPA refunds. Classification and duty stacking under the trade remedies that remain in force still decide what an importer pays, and every change in a duty program means re-checking entries and advising clients on what is owed.

On automation, the brokers' trade association has taken a clear position. In a May 2026 policy paper on artificial intelligence and automated technologies, the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America said these tools enhance, but do not replace, core broker responsibilities, and that brokers are responsible for establishing inputs, governing outputs and exercising professional judgment over all entry filings. Under that model, the broker's job is to supervise the software, audit its output and be able to explain the result to CBP.

Career paths branch in several directions. Licensed brokers move up to compliance manager or branch manager at a brokerage, take in-house roles running import compliance for manufacturers and retailers, or specialize in areas such as trade remedies, food and drug imports, or drawback. Others open their own brokerages, and the national permit lets a small office serve importers whose freight arrives at ports across the country.

Dear Hiring Manager,

Please consider me for the licensed broker opening at Harborline Trade Services. I passed the Customs Broker License Exam last spring, received my license this summer, and I want to put it to work at a brokerage that handles complex entries rather than only routine clearances.

For the past four years I have worked as an entry writer and classification specialist at a mid-sized forwarder in Long Beach. I prepare entries and entry summaries in ACE for apparel, consumer electronics and auto parts importers, and I review every line for value, origin and trade remedy exposure before it is transmitted. When our team took on a furniture importer facing an antidumping order, I built a checklist for supplier and origin documentation that cut our requests for information from CBP and gave the client a clear picture of its exposure before each shipment sailed.

I also spend a large part of my week on the advisory side. I answer client questions about trade agreement eligibility, draft binding ruling requests for new products, and translate tariff announcements into plain-language notes for our account managers. Clients tell me they value that I explain why a classification is right, not just what the number is.

At Harborline I would bring careful classification work, steady communication with CBP import specialists, and a habit of checking the output of our brokerage software rather than trusting it blindly. I am completing my continuing education credits and the NCBFAA Certified Customs Specialist course, and I would welcome the chance to grow into supervising a small entry team.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I would be glad to talk about how I can support your import clients.

Sincerely, Jordan Alvarez