Research and survey ships, specialty vessels, and oil-spill, salvage and emergency response: career paths that don’t fit neatly into deep-sea, tug, ferry or offshore categories.
Home › Careers › Who’s Hiring › Research, Specialty & Marine Response
This is not a live job board. Current openings stay on each employer’s own website.
Career paths can include:
Some jobs require traditional maritime credentials. Others follow technical, scientific, engineering, environmental or emergency-response qualification paths.
3 entries
Federal, academic and institutional research ships with deck, engine and steward crews plus marine technicians.
VIEW RESEARCH EMPLOYERS →1 employer
Marine and geophysical survey, ROV and data work, much of it on technical rather than licensing paths.
VIEW SURVEY EMPLOYERS →3 employers
Response vessels, salvage, firefighting, diving and environmental response.
VIEW RESPONSE EMPLOYERS →Buttons marked ↗ take you to the employer’s or agency’s own website in a new tab, so you will be leaving Mariners Online. Legitimate employers do not ask applicants to pay to be hired.
Research and oceanographic ships run by a federal agency, universities and laboratories, and research institutions.
Requirements vary by vessel, project and position. Always check the current employer posting.
NOAA’s fleet of 15 research vessels conducts hydrographic surveys, oceanographic and atmospheric research, and fisheries research, crewed by civilian professional mariners in deck, engine and steward positions. Recruiting: 833-SAIL-USA (833-724-5872), moc.recruiting@noaa.gov. Its full profile is in our Military & Government Sealift directory.
UNOLS (the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System) coordinates the U.S. Academic Research Fleet: 16 research vessels operated by 14 universities and laboratories. Its jobs page gathers openings from across the fleet, so you do not have to search each institution separately.
Master · Mate · AB / deck crew · Engineers · Steward department · Marine technicians · Electronics / technical staff
Common credentials associated with vessel positions may include: MMC, TWIC, Medical Certificate, STCW, AB / Able Seafarer, RFPNW, officer endorsements, engineering licenses, and a passport. Technical, scientific and shoreside positions follow their own requirements.
UNOLS coordinates the fleet; the institution named in each posting is the employer. Technician Pool hiring runs through Texas A&M University.
WHOI operates major research vessels and supports oceanographic research. Its ships are crewed by deck, engine and steward departments.
Deck department · Engine department (including marine electrician) · Steward department
Credentials WHOI asks crew applicants for: MMC, STCW basic safety training and STCW endorsement, licenses and training documents (including GMDSS), passport and TWIC.
Marine Employment, Port Office – MS#27
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole, MA 02543
General inquiries (not a recruiting line):
508-548-1400
Collecting data about the seafloor and subsurface for charting, energy, cables and construction.
Requirements vary by vessel, project and position. Always check the current employer posting.
Fugro is a global geo-data company working in marine survey, geophysical data, offshore technical operations, ROV and engineering.
Geophysical Operator · Surveyor (including remote operations) · ROV and site management · Geo-data and technical operations · Projects and engineering · Internships and traineeships
Technical survey, geo-data and ROV positions follow their own training and qualification paths; vessel-based roles may require offshore safety training or maritime credentials. Check the requirements in each posting.
Prismastraat 3
2631 RT Nootdorp, Netherlands
Corporate phone (not a recruiting line): +31 70 311 1422
Oil spills, casualties, salvage operations, pollution response, groundings and other marine emergencies need both vessel crews and specialized response personnel. Career paths include vessel operations, spill response, salvage, environmental remediation, logistics, diving, engineering, incident support and marine supervision.
Requirements vary by vessel, project and position. Always check the current employer posting.
MSRC provides oil-spill response and marine emergency-response capability, with response vessels crewed by mariners. It shows that spill response offers both traditional vessel careers and emergency-response work.
Master · Mate · Chief Engineer · Assistant Engineer · QMED / Oiler · Able Seaman · Vessel relief crew · Spill responders · Response managers · Back-office response support
Credentials MSRC lists for its vessel relief positions: a valid Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Credential with STCW, lifeboatman and RFPNW endorsements as applicable, a Coast Guard medical certificate (STCW), and a TWIC.
220 Spring Street, Suite 500
Herndon, VA 20170
Resolve Marine provides marine salvage, emergency response, wreck removal, and associated engineering, including naval architecture, along with marine firefighting, oil-spill response, subsea and commercial diving, and marine construction and demolition.
Mariners · Salvage personnel · Emergency-response staff · Diving personnel · Naval architecture / salvage engineering · Logistics · Technical specialists · Shoreside support
Common credentials associated with vessel positions may include: MMC, TWIC, Medical Certificate, STCW, AB / Able Seafarer, RFPNW, officer endorsements, engineering licenses, and a passport. Technical, scientific and shoreside positions follow their own requirements. Diving and salvage roles have their own qualification requirements.
3301 SE 14th Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316
24-hour emergency response line (not a recruiting line):
954-764-8700
Clean Harbors is a large environmental and industrial services company and a nationally classified (Coast Guard/EPA) emergency-response and Oil Spill Removal Organization (OSRO). Its response resources include more than 200 vessels, containment boom and skimmers.
Emergency response · Environmental field work · Marine response · Equipment operation · Technical and support roles
Requirements depend on the position. Vessel-operator roles may involve maritime credentials; most environmental and field roles follow other training paths.
42 Longwater Drive
Norwell, MA 02061
Main phone (general, not a recruiting line):
781-792-5000
Research, specialty and marine-response employers can be good options for experienced mariners. Possible directions include:
Not every employer has every role. Check each employer’s current postings.
Related career guides and directories on Mariners Online.
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