Job Description: Junior Customs Automation Assistant
Position Title: Junior Customs Automation Assistant
Department: Customs & Trade Compliance / Engineering
Location: On-site
Employment Type: Full-Time
1. Reporting Structure & Working Relationships
Indirect Line & Technical Mentorship: Reports indirectly to CTIO Specialist / Systems Architect) for technical review, code quality standards, pipeline architecture approval, and skill mentorship.
Operational Alignment: Reports directly to the VP of Customs to identify operational friction, gather process requirements, and understand customs bottlenecks.
2. Role Summary
We are seeking a motivated, hands-on Junior Customs Automation Assistant (recent graduate or 1–2 years of practical experience) to join our Customs team. In this role, you will serve as the dedicated technical execution engine embedded directly in customs operations.
You will work closely with the Director of Customs to discover and document manual bottlenecks (such as document review, pedimento verification, commercial invoice parsing, and tracking). Under the direct mentorship and technical supervision of our Lead Automation Architect, you will actively write code, build integrations, and maintain automated data pipelines using n8n, Claude’s API, JavaScript, and Python.
While overarching architectural design and strategic system governance remain with leadership, you will be in the trenches developing practical scripts, connecting endpoints, transforming payloads, and deploying robust automations.
3. Key Responsibilities
Process Discovery & Operational Collaboration
Shadow customs specialists and review day-to-day trade documentation processes (e.g., pedimentos, bills of lading, commercial invoices, tariff classification sheets).
Translate pain points identified by the Director of Customs into structured technical requirements and workflow flowcharts.
Hands-on Development & Workflow Engineering
Develop, test, and deploy automated pipelines in n8n utilizing Webhooks, HTTP Request nodes, split/merge branches, and sub-workflows.
Write custom scripts in JavaScript (inside n8n Code nodes) and Python to handle complex string parsing, regular expressions, JSON payload transformations, and data schema validations.
Integrate Claude’s API (Anthropic) into production pipelines for intelligent document extraction, OCR text processing, classification, and structured JSON output generation.
Construct and execute database queries (SQL) to read and write records across relational databases and operational repositories.
Maintenance, Reliability & Error Handling
Monitor live pipeline executions and webhook logs daily to diagnose dropped payloads, failed retries, or unexpected API schema changes.
Implement structured error-catching routines (error workflows, alerting channels) to ensure customs operations run uninterrupted.
Debug node failures and script exceptions methodically, presenting technical root-cause analyses during mentoring reviews.
Documentation & Knowledge Transfer
Maintain clear documentation for all developed workflows, including parameter definitions, environment variables, API endpoint contracts, and deployment notes.
Create concise operational user guides for the Customs team when new automated features are rolled out.
4. Technical Skills & Requirements
Area
Requirement
Experience Level
Recent graduate (Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or equivalent) or 1–2 years of experience in junior development, technical support, or data integration.
Workflow Platforms
Practical experience building pipelines in n8n (preferred), or equivalent platforms (Make, Zapier) with a willingness to master n8n.
Programming & Scripting
Foundational proficiency in JavaScript or Python, specifically for object/array manipulation, JSON parsing, and string cleansing.
AI / LLM Integration
Hands-on familiarity with prompting and consuming LLM APIs (specifically Claude API via Anthropic) using structured outputs, schemas, and system instructions.
APIs & Web Protocols
Clear understanding of REST APIs, Webhooks, HTTP status codes, headers, and authentication methods (Bearer tokens, API keys).
Databases
Working knowledge of relational databases and standard SQL queries (SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, JOIN).
Languages
Professional working proficiency in both English and Spanish (written and verbal) to collaborate effectively between technical documentation and operational business teams.
5. Nice-to-Have Skills (Not Required)
Exposure to international trade documents, Mexican customs procedures, pedimentos, or tariff codes (fracciones arancelarias).
Familiarity with containerized environments (Docker) or self-hosted server basics.
Experience with Git, version control, or CI/CD pipelines.
Benefits:
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
Work Location: In person
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