Senior Manager, International Trade Compliance

Hybrid working - 3 days in the office, 2 days working from home

Location - London, Birmingham, Manchester or Bristol

About the role

The Compliance function is responsible for ensuring that BT operates in accordance with all relevant national and international laws and regulations, as well as internal codes of conduct, policies, standards, and procedures.

The role of the International Trade Compliance (ITC) team is to ensure that BT Group remains compliant with all applicable national and international laws and regulations relating to international trade – namely, sanctions, export control and customs. The team acts as a specialist second-line advisory service for the business.

The ITC team is charged with delivering a comprehensive risk-based internal compliance programme and ongoing assurance across BT to ensure BT remains compliant, calling out risks, issues and opportunities for improvement.

Given the constantly evolving nature of sanctions, export controls and international trade regulation, this Senior Manager role is central to shaping BT Group’s strategic International Trade Compliance capability, ensuring the framework is risk-based, business-relevant and capable of keeping pace with regulatory change.

What you’ll be doing

• Act as a senior subject matter expert for sanctions, export controls and wider international trade compliance, providing clear, practical advice to commercial teams, first line teams, senior leaders and governance forums.
• Accountable for shaping, maintaining and delivering BT’s ITC strategy and risk-based Internal Compliance Programme, ensuring it reflects the regulatory environment, business strategy and BT’s risk appetite.
• Lead strategic ITC projects and change activity, translating regulatory requirements and risk priorities into deliverable plans, clear ownership, measurable outcomes and sustainable control improvements.
• Partner with assurance, risk and control teams to assess whether ITC controls are appropriately designed, operating effectively and delivering compliance outcomes within agreed risk tolerances.
• Develop and oversee pan-BT sanctions, export controls and trade compliance training, communications and awareness activity, building capability across high-risk teams and embedding a stronger compliance culture.
• Lead horizon scanning and regulatory impact assessment, identifying relevant developments across UK, EU, US, UN and other applicable regimes and ensuring BT’s policies, processes and controls remain current.
• Influence and challenge senior stakeholders across BT, calling out material ITC risks, securing business ownership of controls and supporting proportionate, risk-based decision making.
• Develop and provide targeted and informative reporting to the Sanctions and Trade Compliance SteerCo highlighting material ITC risks and pragmatic and sustainable strategies for risk mitigation
• Lead, coach and develop ITC capability across first and second line teams, setting clear expectations, sharing expertise and supporting consistent interpretation of ITC requirements.

Essential Skills / Experience

• Sanctions & International Trade Compliance Expertise – Senior-level expertise in sanctions, export controls and international trade compliance, with strong knowledge of UK, EU, UN and US regimes and a proven ability to apply complex regulatory requirements within multinational business environments.
• Sanctions Risk Assessment & Strategic Advisory – Extensive experience leading sanctions risk assessments, due diligence and screening processes, including assessment of ownership structures, restricted parties, sanctions exposure and red flags, with strong strategic judgement to interpret regulatory change, assess business impact and implement appropriate risk mitigation.
• Sanctions Compliance Programme Leadership – Proven track record of designing, implementing and enhancing Internal Compliance Programmes, including policies, standards, controls, assurance, monitoring, issue management, training and reporting, leveraging compliance systems, screening tools, MI and automation to drive control effectiveness and data-led decision-making.

Desirable Skills / Experience

• Excellent communication, influencing and stakeholder management skills, with the credibility to advise, challenge and brief senior leaders on complex and sensitive ITC matters.
• Experience engaging with sanctions and export control regulatory authorities, such as OFSI, OFAC, DBT, BIS or equivalent bodies, would be beneficial.

Our Package

Tailored benefits make a real difference. That’s why we offer a comprehensive range to support your growth, wellbeing, and everyday life. You can design the package to suit you and your lifestyle.

Your core benefits include:

• Company car scheme (or cash alternative)
• 15% on target annual bonus
• Private healthcare for you and your family
• Access to an online private GP 24/7 for you and your immediate family
• Market-leading paid carers leave with up to 2 weeks off
• Equalised maternity, paternity, and adoption leave – 18 weeks’ full pay and 8 weeks’ half pay
• Discounted EE and BT products, including mobile and broadband
• Market leading Pension scheme – 5% from you and 10% from us
• Holiday purchase scheme

You can select additional benefits, including healthcare, dental, gym memberships and more when you’re ready.

BT Group is the UK’s leading communications group and the holding company behind some of the country’s most recognised brands – including BT, EE, Openreach and Plusnet. Our purpose is as simple as it is ambitious: we connect for good. Our customers include consumers, small, medium and large businesses, public sector organisations and other communications providers.

BT Group’s role is about setting direction, unlocking value and creating the conditions for our brands and businesses to thrive.

Having come through the most capital-intensive phase of our fibre investment, our focus now is on what comes next – simplifying how we operate, using technology and AI to work smarter, and organising ourselves to serve customers better and grow sustainably. Group teams shape strategy, policy, brand, capital allocation and transformation, helping the whole organisation perform at its best.

We have a singular culture that unites all our people: we are customer-first challengers, who are committed, clear and connected. These behaviours unite us as one team to deliver for our colleagues, our customers, our stakeholders and the country. Joining BT Group means working at the heart of a business that matters to the UK, with the opportunity to shape decisions, influence outcomes and help set the future course of one of the country’s most important companies.