All roles/Shoreside/Crew Coordinator
Shoreside
Crew Coordinator
A Crew Coordinator handles the paperwork and logistics behind yacht crew: contracts, flights, visas, certificates and crew changes. Done well, crew arrive legal, paid and on time, and captains can run the boat.
- Department
- Shoreside
- Reports to
- Yacht Crew Manager
- Yacht size
- Shore based
- Contract
- Permanent, shore based
- Starting pay
- €32,000 a year
What the job is
You work in a yacht management company or crew agency, looking after the crew of a fleet of yachts, often ten to thirty boats. Your job is to make sure every crew member has a valid Seafarer Employment Agreement, an in-date ENG1, the right STCW tickets and the visas for the next cruising ground. You keep the records that flag authorities, insurers and port state inspectors will ask to see, and you keep them accurate.
Much of the day is logistics. A deckhand signs off in Palma, a relief engineer joins in Fort Lauderdale, and three new stewards need flights to Antigua before the season starts. You book travel, arrange hotels, brief port agents and send crew lists ahead. When plans change, which they do constantly, you rebook fast and keep the captain informed without filling their inbox.
You also support payroll, leave tracking, medical claims and onboarding. Captains and heads of department ring you when something goes wrong ashore: a crew member stuck at immigration, a missing certificate, a hospital visit in a foreign port. Many coordinators are former crew, and that matters. You understand rotations, sea time and what a B1/B2 or C1/D visa means to someone's career, so crew trust you.
What makes a good one
- Accurate record keeping
- Travel and visa logistics
- Calm under pressure
- Clear written English
- Knowledge of MLC 2006 and crew certification
A day in the life
- 08:30Check emails and messages that came in overnight from yachts in the Caribbean and Florida. Flag anything urgent, such as a crew member who missed a connecting flight.
- 09:15Rebook the missed connection through Paris and update the captain and the port agent in St Maarten with the new arrival time.
- 10:00Run the weekly certificate expiry report. Email four crew whose ENG1s or STCW refreshers expire within 90 days and ask them to book.
- 11:00Draft Seafarer Employment Agreements for two new stewards joining a 60m yacht, checking wage, leave and repatriation terms against MLC 2006 and the yacht's crew policy.
- 12:30Lunch at the desk while answering a chief officer asking whether a new deckhand's Schengen stay allows a two month Med season.
- 13:30Prepare crew lists and passport copies for a yacht arriving in Sardinia on Thursday and send them to the Italian agent for clearance.
- 14:30Send monthly payroll data to the finance team: joining dates, sign offs, overtime agreed by captains and leave taken.
- 15:30Call with the Yacht Crew Manager to review a shortlist for a relief Second Engineer and confirm references and certificates before an offer goes out.
- 17:00Open a medical claim with the insurer for a deckhand treated for a hand injury in Palma, then update the crew database and log off.
Pay by country
Annual gross salary for a full time office role. Varies with the size of the fleet and whether the company is a large management house or a small agency. No charter tips; some firms pay an annual bonus.
- France and Monaco
- €32,000 – 42,000
- Spain
- €26,000 – 34,000
- Italy
- €26,000 – 34,000
- United Kingdom
- £28,000 – 36,000
- USA (Florida)
- US$45,000 – 60,000
- Caribbean
- US$35,000 – 48,000
- UAE
- AED 120,000 – 170,000
- Australia
- A$60,000 – 75,000
- New Zealand
- NZ$55,000 – 68,000
Required
- Right to work in the office location
- Fluent written and spoken English
- Experience as yacht crew, in maritime HR or in recruitment
- Confident with spreadsheets and crew databases
Recommended
- Sea time as yacht crew
- STCW Basic Safety Training
- MLC 2006 training course
- ISM Code awareness course
- CIPD Level 3 Certificate in People Practice
- Second European language
Visas
- Right to work in the country of the office
- EU passport or residence permit for Monaco, France, Spain or Italy offices
- US work authorisation for Florida offices
Where it leads
Crew Coordinator jobs open now
Questions crew ask
Do I need to have worked on yachts to become a Crew Coordinator?
It is not legally required, but most employers prefer it. Former crew understand rotations, tickets and life on board, which makes them quicker to learn the job and easier for captains to trust.
Will I work outside office hours?
Sometimes. Yachts operate across time zones and crew get stuck at airports at weekends, so many companies run an on call rota for urgent crew changes and emergencies.
How is this different from a Crew Recruitment Consultant?
A recruitment consultant finds and places new crew. A Crew Coordinator looks after crew once they are employed, handling contracts, travel, certificates, payroll data and welfare for the yachts the company manages.