Top 10 Hot Maritime Vacancies

Hot Maritime Jobs

Entering the jobs market in the current climate can be a daunting prospect. However, the maritime industry is a dynamic, evolving sector, always on the lookout for candidates with a range of skills! We have taken a look at our current list of vacancies and put together the below list of 10 of the hottest maritime jobs currently available. Get in touch if you’re interested but do it quickly as they won’t be around for long!

1. Senior Dry Vessel Operator – Singapore

Our client is involved in the international trading and merchandising of agricultural commodities across 50 countries, and is seeking a Senior Vessel Operator. This is a role for a strong communicator, who will be responsible for the end-to-end management of all allocated vessels’ shipping operations matter, for Dry Cargo ships and managing relations with partners, suppliers and the commercial team.

2. Operations Analyst – Limassol

A leading investment management company working with more than $1 Billion in assets is seeking an Operations Analyst. The successful candidate will join their Operations and Marine Team in Limassol, Cyprus and will work on the operational side of S&P transactions, manage the vessel delivery, handle delivery notices and ship registration and take responsibility for commercially operating their vessels.

3. Operations Manager – London

A leading commercial manager with 180 vessels is seeking a talented PCTC Operations Manager. This is a great opportunity for someone with vast experience within the car carrier market to join a growing and highly commercially minded outfit. It would be ideally suited to someone that has sailed to Chief Officer or Master onboard Car Carriers, with good shore-based experience in a commercial operations role.

4. Procurement and Contractor Manager – Middle East

A market leading provider of offshore construction and engineering services to the oil and gas industry is looking for a new procurement and contractor manager. The successful applicant will be responsible for managing third party contractors, including the tendering and administration of contracts to ensure that they are working to principals’ corporate policies and procedures.

5. Policy and Organisational Development Specialist – Qatar

This position offers the opportunity to be part of a huge, globalised shipping and maritime company as its new Policy and Organisational Development Specialist. This will require specialist experience in HR, as the successful candidate will devise  organisational development initiatives, monitor structural change, and develop HR policies and procedures. As a core company member, they will work closely with both internal and external contacts to successfully deliver on policies, procedures, and people management.

6. Integrated Planning Analyst – Qatar

A leading energy provider is seeking an analytically focused problem solver and planner to fill their Integrated Planning Analyst role. This will require skills of analysis, market knowledge, and logistics integrated planning to construct forecasts, recommendations, and strategies. The successful candidate’s delivery, creation, and implementation of a long-term strategy will provide the operation with clarity, direction, and best practice.

7. Senior Marine Operations Executive – Singapore

An expanding, global renewable energy company is looking for an adaptable, quick-thinking, problem solving Senior Marine Operations Executive. The successful applicant will work as part of a tight-knit team,  becoming an integral point of contact in a dynamic trading environment and leading on preparing contracts, LC negotiations, shipping instructions, dock instructions, and inspection appointments.

8. Senior Freight Assessor – Singapore

Our client is advertising for a Senior Freight Assessor, with strong organisational skills, self-motivation, a professional and confident manner. The successful candidate will also need to be able to run voyage calculations and have experience of people management. 

9. Customer Support Manager – Cyprus

A Maritime, satellite communications provider is hiring a customer support manager to ensure customers receive the correct guidance, help and assistance with any issues they may face. This will involve: the development and maintenance of processes, procedures, and workflows between the various levels of support; supervision of the T3 engineering department; travel for exhibitions, conferences, training, or customers meetings, and converting support cases into sales leads.

10. Business Controller – United Arab Emirates

Our client is recruiting for a Business Controller, to minimise financial risk and play a large part in supporting the business strategy and execution. This position will be an opportunity to work closely with the Managing Director and is well suited to an individual with strong views.

You Snooze, You Lose

People in a workplace feedback meeting

I sat down this week with my colleagues in the senior recruitment leadership team at Spinnaker to discuss the state of the maritime recruitment market.

It should come as no surprise that it’s not business as usual.  Whereas there is usually a trend, whether it’s up or down, the only consistent thing about the market for the last two years is that it is very inconsistent.  “One day it’s up, the next it’s down,” according to Spinnaker Director David Tubb. “It changes with the wind.”  However, David agrees with Spinnaker’s MD of Executive Search Teresa Peacock that “people seem to be more optimistic in terms of their recruitment plans at the moment; there’s a sense that clients are positioning themselves for a better year in that respect. Old jobs that were on hold are crawling out of the woodwork and there is a renewed interest to see CVs and candidates for those jobs.”  

Overall recruitment volume is up at the moment.  Director of commercial recruitment, Matt Cornelius, says the market is “really competitive” for operations and chartering staff, particularly in dry bulk and that a number of companies have given “solid” pay rises and bonuses recently, which naturally makes it more difficult for their competitors to tempt staff away.

There is a palpable supply-side shortfall. A lot of people have left the workplace thanks to covid – the consequences of people deciding to make lifestyle changes and to take early retirement cannot be overstated. Only a small amount of Spinnaker’s recruitment is for UK employers, but the situation there is exacerbated by Brexit and the loss of a significant potential workforce. Put together, these factors mean that shipping is facing even tougher competition than usual from other sectors that are facing the same supply problems.

Across industry, inexperienced and unskilled people have choice in a way that we’ve never seen before. The market for support staff, for graduates and second-jobbers is red hot. As a group, these people will never before have felt so wanted.  It’s making recruitment very difficult for employers who are having to pay inflated salaries for people with little or no experience and who, on paper, might previously have been their second choice.  At the same time, the recruitment process is frustrating to say the least, with no-shows and poor communication from candidates becoming run of the mill.  We have certainly been on the receiving end of this ourselves in our search for new junior members of the Spinnaker team.

But it is what it is. We can speculate about how sustainable this situation is and whether we’re setting up the younger generation for unrealistic expectations, but that doesn’t change the here and now. If you need staff, you have to fish in the same pond as everyone else and cope with the same market conditions.

Employers are in an impossible position.  Inflation is at levels not seen for decades, interest rates are rising, there is a war in Europe, we’re just emerging from covid and understandably they (we) are keen to keep control of costs while fighting to retain their staff and to hire new staff in a tight market.

The reality check is this: If you do have to hire at the moment, then it’s crucial to understand the current market and to get the salary budget right at the outset, or face a long and frustrating process.  If you don’t have to hire and can wait things out to see if the market settles down, then that is an option worth considering.

David Tubb again: “Candidates can pick and choose at the moment, whether that’s new entrants, accounts staff, lawyers or technical superintendents. I know of accounts staff getting for or five headhunting calls and social media messages a day. You have to move fast – you snooze, you lose. Some get this and others are completely blind to it.  There is no point making optimistic job offers at the moment by which I mean below candidates’ current salary levels or below clear indications of what the candidates are looking for.”  

Of course, there will always be a natural tendency to think a recruitment consultant who gets paid a percentage of salary has a vested interest in talking the market up.  The truth though is that recruiters – other [partly] than executive search consultants – only get paid if they make placements. Their motivation is to fill the job.  If the candidate turns an offer down due to salary, it is just as likely in today’s marketplace that both the client and the recruiter lose out. “Our interests are aligned therefore,” says Matt Cornelius. “I’ve had to learn to be unequivocal in what I say to clients, otherwise I’ll just be wasting their time and mine and that’s no good for anyone.”

Steve Cox, Spinnaker’s CEO notes the difficulty for employers: “I don’t think it’s arrogance that drives employers to try their luck despite the advice they’re being given. If you are looking for one new hire in a team of ten, you have a real problem if you break existing pay scales for that one new person. At the same time, competitors are sniffing around as they too are struggling to recruit. So, what we’re seeing is quite a lot of offers being turned down due to existing employers making defensive counter-offers and competing new employers offering more money. In the current economic climate, it’s even easier than usual to understand why candidates are accepting the higher offers.”

That all being said, it’s not 100% about the money. Covid has shifted the balance of power when it comes to employee demands to work from home.  It’s quite normal in the current market for candidate interest in roles to be subject to some guarantee of hybrid working. Two days a week from home is probably the most common request.

But, while there is much more focus on company culture nowadays, we don’t see too much of that at the recruitment stage – that tends to come when candidates are on the inside – the exceptions being vacancies with companies known to have high staff turnover or long-hours cultures.

When it comes to cross-border recruitment, there has also been a shift, this time in employer willingness to hire overseas workers based from home, but a number of assignments we have been involved in have not come to fruition due to the practicalities and legalities: where is the employment contract legally situated, which tax laws apply, must a local subsidiary company by set up to employ the new hire, can they not work as self-employed…and so on?  As with salaries, we have learned from experience that it’s important to explain to employers what’s involved before they get too far down the line with someone without thinking all of this through.

So, the market is odd, it’s often frustrating, but it’s buoyant …this week that is!

It’s also a candidate’s market and that means that now is a good time for candidates with a genuine reason for wanting to change jobs to make their move – lack of promotion opportunity, a desire for different experience, personality clashes and so on are the usual push-factors and short-term salary increases don’t tend to solve those problems for long so candidates motivated by this sort of thing are so much less likely to accept a counter-offer.

Phil Parry, Spinnaker

Hot jobs December 2021

hot jobs

Our top shore-based vacancies for December 2021 include roles in Europe, the Middle East and Singapore, with insurance, BD and technical roles in the spotlight…

Contracts Specialist, Copenhagen (Exclusive role)
In-house Lawyer, Singapore (Exclusive role)
Marine Adviser, London (Exclusive role)
Senior Business Development Executive, Cardiff (Remote)
Marine Engineer Surveyor, Aberdeen
Port Engineer, Self Propelled Jack Up, UAE
Senior Account Executive, H&M, London
Senior Lawyer, Oslo – email to apply

For all our shore-based vacancies click here.

Hired: COO, Shipowner

hired

Spinnaker’s Executive Search team are busier than ever with senior-level recruitment, and we’d like to share with you some of our success stories. In this case, we take a look at a recent COO hire for a shipowner based in Europe where we were able to utilise video interviewing in the face of hiring during the height of the pandemic.

The brief

Client – Shipowner, Europe
 A new but very successful shipowner was looking to expand their team by bringing in a Chief Operating Officer.  A newly created role meant discussion and clarification on what their expected deliverables would be.  Advice on job description, person specification and remuneration was given.

Stakeholders

CEO and PE based in Europe.  Private equity backed gave several stakeholders with views and opinions that all needed to be taken into consideration.

Issues

A small but growing organisation, they wanted a skilled and capable person, not only with the correct technical knowledge to manage the day to day operations, but someone who was adept at looking at the longer term. At this stage in an organisation’s life there are inevitably growing pains, so the right person needed to manage those issues at this critical point.  A person who could grow with the business,  so someone with lots of potential to develop further as the company grows. Therefore finding the right ‘level’ of candidate was interesting.  Too senior and the organisation would be too small for them, too junior and they wouldn’t have the right experience yet. Covid restrictions meant interviewing in person was not possible, however, they did not want to delay.

Execution & solution

A mixed shortlist was presented; those with very established backgrounds who would consider a move to a smaller company for the promise of exciting growth plans, and those ready for that next step up.  Those with the potential to grow with the business, who were demonstrating through the process their drive for personal development, and future capability.

Using our extensive network and database and gaining referrals, alongside a social media campaign, 104 people were gathered and reviewed by the Search Team.  8 were shortlisted and presented to the client.  3 were interviewed.  One was selected, offered and accepted, and commenced.

Of course, covid was continuing to present major challenges in interviewing, so video conferencing was used extensively enabling the process to move along.

Outcome

The role was filled by a candidate already based in Europe, so there were no relocation issues.  They had significant operational experience, along with good management experience.  They were ready for the next step in their career so this was an ideal match for both them and the company.

Relationship

We remain the client’s partner of choice for their search and selection requirements.

Want to know more about Spinnaker’s Executive Search offerings? Click here.

The maritime market – taking a leap of faith

maritime lead of faith

Spinnaker launched the first ever shore-based shipping recruitment agency in 1997 and we’ve seen highs and lows – the boom and bust of the 2008-2009 crash, and of course the still-present effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the global workforce – and as we approach the final months of 2021, we take a look at market sentiment. 

Succession planning and career reassessment 

There seems to be a lot of succession planning happening as executives are approaching retirement age, or are just wanting to step back,” says Teresa Peacock, Managing Director of Spinnaker’s Executive Search division. “Judging by what I’m hearing through our network, I think this is in part due to lifestyle changes because of covid. People are reassessing. As a result, our team are picking up new senior-level roles at a high rate for this time of year.” 

A leap of faith? 

We were instructed on a number of high-profile board level searches during the first six months of the pandemic, only to experience a quiet period from late 2020 until early summer this year. “The search market seems to have exploded again since then and we are enjoying a bit of a purple patch at the moment,” says Spinnaker Chairman Phil Parry. “There seems to be a general air that it’s time to get on with things.  A couple of clients who have been biding their time have now pulled the trigger on their plans to recruit 30 and 10 people each, quite simply saying that they can’t wait any longer. It’s a strange time out there. I think people have concluded that they can’t tell what’s coming, so are looking past macro indicators at the moment and taking a leap of faith.” 

Spinnaker’s Executive Search team are hiring for several senior roles currently including: 

  • General Counsel, UK 
  • Chief Underwriting Officer, London 
  • Chief People Officer, Asia Pacific 
  • Technical Director, Middle East 
  • Senior Chartering Manager (Dry Bulk), Middle East 
  • Non-Executive Director, USA 
  • Procurement Director, Middle East 
  • Port Director, Middle East  

The offshore landscape is shifting 

For the offshore market, things are picking up,” says Oliver Mason, Principal Technical Consultant at Spinnaker. “Since the word ‘lockdown’ was first mentioned, the price of oil dropped instantly, and OSV companies had to accept the cheap rates. But now we’re at a point where oil fields and rigs are up and running again. A client of mine turned down the chance to bid for an ARAMCO contract – those cheap rates are being rejected, it’s not a buyers’ market anymore. The general feeling from my clients is that they’re all expecting a better ’22.” 

Sustainability driving change 

Technical recruitment remains stable,” says David Tubb, Director, Recruitment at Spinnaker. “There are opportunities through natural movement that would be expected in the market, yet not too many opportunities being created through growth as the net size of fleets largely remains the same. Where there are changes it’s through acquisitions and distressed assets finding their way into ship managers with economies of scale.”  

ESG are the initials on everyone’s lips of course. Spinnaker is handling all sorts of job titles the didn’t exist 5 or 10 years ago. We’re definitely moving beyond image and seeing clients serious about what can be done to make actual changes. Just as shipping shaped up and hired HR professionals from other sectors some years ago, we’re now seeking ‘external’ sustainability skills. 

The maritime tech market continues to fight for the best salespeople on the market. It’s not unusual for candidates to be having conversations with multiple companies and having several offers on the table at one time. It’s a candidate market for these people and it’s coming down to salary and commission structures, the culture of the organisation …and candidates are evaluating the products of hiring companies much more closely than ever before, before joining them. 

Maintaining stability 

We’re finding that finance and accounting opportunities remain buoyant at the junior to middle management level through attrition, growth, and internal promotions.  Opportunities at the senior management and director level continue to be narrow as organisations are keen to hold on to the great people they have and maintain stability rather than changing the status quo.   

It will be interesting to see how the continual changes to international travel restrictions and global mobility impacts business decisions over the next three months and how that will translate into recruitment opportunities as people are again able to move more freely,” concludes Tubb. 

For more information on our recruitment and search services, click here.  

A selection of our recent successful placements: 

  • Sale Representative, Fort Lauderdale  
  • In-house Lawyer, Superyachts, Middle East 
  • Dry Bulk Vessel Operator, Singapore 
  • Technical Purchaser, Germany  
  • Operations Manager, Houston 
  • Commercial Operator, London 
  • Operations Assistant, London  
  • Operations Manager, Singapore 
  • Marine Superintendent, Athens  
  • Dry Cargo Shipbroker, South England  
  • Law Firm – Master Mariner, London 
  • Deputy Commercial Manager, LNG, London 
  • Technical Manager, London  
  • Director of Project Management (Transshipment), Germany  
  • FD&D Solicitor, UK  
  • Senior Operations Manager (Bulk), London   
  • Operations Superintendent – Towage, Italy 
  • Marine Personnel Officer (Dry), London  
  • Technical Superintendent, Tankers, Denmark 

Hot jobs November 2021

hot jobs

Spinnaker’s top shore-based vacancies in November 2021 span the globe from Aberdeen to Australia, from Dubai to Fort Lauderdale. Whether it’s technical, operations, claims, crewing, finance or sales, we’ve got something for everyone. Just click each role to read more and apply direct. Want to see all of our shore-based vacancies? Click here.

Technical Manager, UAE – exclusive role
Chartering Manager, Dry Cargo, Dubai – exclusive role
Dry Bulk Operator, Athens
Dry Bulk Operations Manager, USA
Disbursements Manager, London
Claims Assistant, UK
Head of Insurance, Europe
Marine Engineer Surveyor, Aberdeen
Dry-dock Superintendent, AHTS, Rotation
Security Officer, London
Director of Crewing, London – exclusive role
Head of P&I, Japan
In-house Lawyer, UK
Sales Engineer, Western Australia
Sales Manager, Fort Lauderdale

Hot jobs October 2021

hot jobs

Spinnaker’s top shore-based maritime vacancies for October 2021 include roles in the Middle East, Germany, Cyprus and the UK, with sectors spanning claims and HR to technical. Simply click each job title to view more and apply.

Recruitment Specialist, Qatar
Technical Superintendent, Cruise, Germany
Crewing Superintendent, Cyprus
Claims Assistant, UK
Claims Executive, London
Exclusive role: Technical Manager, UAE
Supply Chain Executive, Middle East
Port Manager, Middle East
In-house Lawyer, UK
Claims Manager, Charterers’ Team, London

To view all Spinnaker’s shore-based shipping jobs, click here.

£100k for newly qualified lawyers (but not in shipping!)

business computer

Newly-qualified lawyers in some of London’s major law firms are now paid £100,000. We’ve spoken recently about how it’s a candidate’s market, and we’ve always seen the legal private practice market as candidate-driven, with demand often outweighing supply, especially at the 2-5 years’ post-qualification level. 

Market competition for the brightest newly qualified lawyers is strong, and pay wars are driving salaries up to dizzying heights. Law firm Linklaters confirmed this week that their NQ pay is £107,500.

However these astronomical salaries – while great for occupying headlines – are limited to the ‘magic circle’ law firms, the 5 most prestigious firms in the City of London, who are known for paying high and working their lawyers incredibly hard. Outside of the ‘circle’, it’s a different story in shipping.

In the shipping firms, the salary benchmarks are looking slightly more modest. According to rollonfriday, Hill Dickinson is currently paying just under £60k for newly qualified lawyers, with Ince, Clyde & Co and HFW next in the £60-£66k category.  WFW are paying £73k with Reed Smith (now an American firm) out in front at £75k, which despite all being considerably less than the splashy salaries quoted in the news at other firms, are still healthy salaries for those in their first year post-qualification.

Tom Brooks, Senior Consultant of Spinnaker’s Legal and Insurance team, says “The demand for shipping lawyers remains steady.  We’re currently searching for lawyers for shipowner in-house roles as well as FD&D roles, which adds supply pressure to the private practice market. The sentiment for our sector is unchanged, with most clients still staying optimistic. The outlook for the next couple of quarters is certainly positive.”

For our current legal vacancies, click here.

It’s a candidate’s market

Colleagues at work together

We’re being asked by our maritime clients for advice on the fact it’s a candidate’s market right now. When the pandemic hit, it was a different story. People were being laid off, and companies weren’t hiring. The market was employer-led, and high numbers of candidates were applying for a small number of jobs. This continued for many months of this unsettled time, but as many countries progress with vaccination programmes and the easing of covid restrictions, market sentiment is more optimistic and people are hiring again.

What does this mean for maritime recruitment? Well, at the time of writing, the number of vacancies is now outweighing the number of candidates on the market. And in turn, this means that the market is very competitive. Companies are battling to get the best of the best. Candidates are driving the market and by being clearer in their demands can appear less flexible. With those who are passively considering opportunities, there needs to be an absolute clear and concrete reason and an advantage to them to move.  If the package and conditions are not in complete alignment, they will find someone else who can offer it, or will stay where they are for the security. 

The recruitment impact

This is 100% a candidate-driven market at the moment,” confirms Matthew Cornelius, Director of Commercial Recruitment for Spinnaker. “Especially in operations. Good operators and charterers have several companies all wanting them. But candidates are reluctant to move unless it’s worth it for them. Sideways moves aren’t always attractive when you’re in a stable job during an unstable time.

The commercial market is particularly affected by this. I’m hearing that operators are being poached from all over the industry.”

This is echoed in the technical recruitment department at Spinnaker, headed by Director, David Tubb. “90% of passive candidates are still willing to have a conversation. However, this discussion of upfront information comes much earlier in the process for some to even consider taking the next steps forward and getting someone interested in a position can take a lot more work than it did before. There is still a real fear around security and making the right decision. There have been more instances of candidates either staying put, being counter offered, or having more than one option on the table at a time.”

It’s not all about money: some candidates are more willing to look at less responsibility and less salary for a more comfortable balanced life and other benefits beyond the numbers. This is confirmed by Spinnaker consultant Hayley Menere. “In the legal and insurance sector, it’s often a candidate-led market. If you’re a 3/4 PQE UK-qualified Solicitor, you have the pick of the law firms. But we’re seeing more lawyers looking to move out of private practice. It’s a different dynamic, with less pressure, so we’ve definitely noticed an uptick in those seeking in-house roles.”

The effect on salaries

At Spinnaker, we provide salary benchmarking in maritime. Top shipping companies participate each year in both our shore-based and seagoing salary surveys, so we can give reliable salary data and promote best practice in the industry. Because this candidate-driven market affects salaries, our benchmarking team predict this will show itself in next year’s surveys.

“Our reports showed very little change to shore-based salaries in 2020, the result of an unsurprisingly cautious approach to pay increases during such uncertainty,” says Sarah Hutley of Spinnaker’s benchmarking team. “However, in 2021 I think we are seeing a growing desire within companies to reward and retain staff who have worked hard throughout the pandemic. This, along with the need to potentially pay more to attract new recruits, is likely to drive up the market salary ranges and potentially create some internal inequity which could take some years to address.”

Matthew Cornelius has noticed this effect in the recruitment team too. “Clients are asking me constantly if they’re underpaying because salaries have become so inflated. I can understand it: if you urgently need an operator, you’re willing to pay extra to secure the hire. However, I am advising my clients to hold fire and approach with caution, because hiring someone at such an inflated salary won’t be a good thing a year or two down the line when things have settled.”

Our advice to clients

We advise clients to be mindful of their ability to retain staff at such high rates – and think about the impact on existing staff salaries and inequities. We promote the use of annual pay reviews, including equal pay audits and gender pay analysis, which will identify any areas of immediate concern.

When it comes to recruitment, at Spinnaker we use a combination of advertising, email marketing, and direct approach. Don’t just rely on a job ad alone. While advertising is a great way to reach candidates, you’re missing out on people who aren’t actively looking.

I always remember placing a candidate,” recalls David Tubb, “and the client said to me: ‘He never would have found us, and we never would have found him.’ – that’s what we do as recruiters, we pick up the phone, we directly source, we take a chance on those who aren’t out proactively job seeking. Most of our placements come from having the right conversation with the right person at the right time.”

If you’d like to know more about our salary benchmarking or recruitment services, visit our website.