Head of Marine & Vetting – Tanker & Bulk – London

Head of Marine & Vetting – Tanker and Bulk Fleets

London based.
 
An established international shipowner and manager is seeking an experienced Head of Marine & Vetting to lead marine assurance, vetting and navigational standards across its tanker and dry bulk fleets.
 
This is a senior, hands-on leadership position with responsibility for maintaining the safe and compliant operation of the fleet while protecting vessel employability, commercial performance and reputation. The successful candidate will lead the company’s approach to SIRE, CDI and RightShip, working closely with operational, technical, QHSSE and commercial stakeholders.
 
Key Responsibilities

• Own and lead the vetting and vessel-acceptance strategy across the tanker and dry bulk fleets.
• Ensure vessels meet oil major, terminal, charterer and regulatory requirements.
• Oversee pre- and post-fixture vetting to maximise fleet employability and minimise commercial and off-hire risk.
• Coordinate SIRE, CDI, RightShip, PSC, Class and other external inspections.
• Ensure vessels are inspection-ready and that findings are investigated, closed out and embedded across the wider fleet.
• Monitor approval status, ratings and inspection performance across relevant vetting platforms.
• Act as the senior authority on vessel suitability, vetting decisions and risk acceptance.
• Investigate vetting concerns, terminal feedback and complaints, ensuring effective and timely resolution.
• Develop consistent marine assurance and vetting policies, procedures and performance standards.
• Analyse inspection trends and fleet data, establishing KPIs and driving continuous improvement.
• Prepare the fleet for changes to vetting regimes and industry requirements, including SIRE 2.0, CDI and RightShip developments.
• Drive improvements in PSC performance, audits, navigational standards and overall fleet quality.
• Ensure lessons learned from incidents, inspections and near misses are implemented fleet-wide.
• Maintain compliance with SOLAS, MARPOL, ISM, ISPS, flag-state and other applicable requirements.
• Liaise with classification societies, flag administrations, P&I clubs, charterers, oil majors, terminals and industry bodies.
• Support Chartering and Commercial teams with vessel clearances, cargo suitability, trade restrictions and voyage-risk considerations.
• Lead, develop and support office-based and travelling Marine and Vetting team members.
• Provide support during incidents and emergency-response situations when required.

Candidate Profile

• Previous experience in a senior marine operations, marine assurance or vetting leadership position.
• Shipboard experience as a Master or Chief Officer on tanker and/or dry bulk vessels is essential.
• Strong experience managing oil-major vetting, RightShip ratings and PSC performance.
• Detailed knowledge of SIRE, including SIRE 2.0, CDI and RightShip requirements.
• Strong understanding of tanker and dry bulk operations, including cargo-handling risks.
• Sound knowledge of SOLAS, MARPOL, ISM, ISPS and wider international maritime regulations.
• Experience supporting vessel acceptance, fleet employability and the reduction of commercial and off-hire risk.
• Established relationships with, or experience engaging, charterers, oil majors, terminals, regulators and other industry stakeholders.
• Proven ability to lead and develop marine professionals while remaining operationally involved.
• Commercially aware, decisive and comfortable making risk-based judgements.
• A confident communicator capable of influencing stakeholders at all levels.
• Comfortable working within a multicultural, entrepreneurial and relatively flat organisational structure.
• Willingness to travel and respond to out-of-hours incidents when necessary.