Fleet Manager
A fleet manager sits above the individual yacht managers in a management company. You're responsible for a group of yachts, often ten or more, and for making sure each one is safe, compliant, crewed and on budget. Most people in the job have run a yacht themselves as captain or chief engineer. This is a desk job, and it carries a lot of responsibility.
The jobWhat fills the day
The work is oversight. Your yacht managers handle the day-to-day for their own yachts. You make sure they handle it well and the same way across the fleet. That means checking budgets against actual spend, chasing survey and certificate dates, approving big purchases, and stepping in when a captain and an owner fall out. You own the company's Safety Management System for the fleet, work closely with the DPA, and stand behind the shore side of every ISM and MLC audit.
Fleet size changes the job. With eight yachts between 30m and 50m you'll still pick up the phone to captains yourself and might review crew contracts line by line. With thirty yachts, some over 80m and on commercial codes, you manage managers. Your days fill with reporting to owners' family offices, signing off refit budgets running into millions of euros, and keeping procedures consistent across flag states such as the Cayman Islands, Malta and the Marshall Islands.
Most companies hire former captains with a Master 3000gt or Y1 CoC, or chief engineers with a Y1 or Chief Engineer Unlimited ticket. Usually they've spent a few years as a yacht manager first. A smaller number come up through the office from compliance or operations roles, or arrive from commercial ship management. Owners and their advisers want someone who has run a crew and taken a yacht through a yard period. They expect firm control of money and paperwork too.
Most fleet manager posts are in Monaco, Antibes, Palma, Fort Lauderdale and the UK south coast. From here, people move up to director of yacht management, operations director or partner. Some leave to become a private owner's representative, which often pays more. Some captains try the job for a year and go back to sea because they miss being in command. If you want to stay ashore, it's one of the more stable senior jobs in the industry.
Skills employers look for
- ISM and MLC compliance
- Fleet budget control
- Managing yacht managers
- Owner and family office reporting
- Refit and survey planning
- Flag state liaison
- Incident and crisis handling
A working dayTuesday in the Antibes management office, mid-season
Read overnight emails and the fleet tracker. A 55m in the Caribbean has reported a generator failure, and its yacht manager has already called the engineers in.
Weekly meeting with the yacht managers. Go through upcoming surveys, crew changes and any yacht spending more than 10 percent over budget.
Call with a family office about a 70m that has gone over budget. Explain the overspend on paint repairs and agree a revised forecast to year end.
Lunch near the port with a refit yard's commercial director. You talk about slot availability for winter.
Review with the DPA the findings from a flag state inspection in Palma. Sign off corrective actions and update the fleet SMS procedure.
Interview a candidate for a yacht manager role. A former captain of a 60m, now looking for a job ashore.
Approve purchase orders above the yacht managers' authority, including a new tender for a 45m charter yacht.
Short call with a captain in the Maldives who's unhappy with the owner's crew rotation policy. Agree to raise it at the next owner meeting.
Head home. The company duty phone is with a yacht manager this week.
Pay by experienceAnnual salary. Estimates. Bars share one scale.
Unlike seagoing crew, shore salaries in France, Monaco and Spain are taxed. Senior packages often include a performance bonus, a car or housing help in Monaco. See the Yacht & Crew Management salary guide for figures from live adverts.
Qualifications
Must have
- Senior seagoing CoC or equivalent management background
- ISM Code internal auditor training
Gets you hired
- Master (Yachts) 3000gt or Y1 Chief Engineer CoC
- DPA and CSO courses
- MLC 2006 training
- Budgeting or management qualification
- French or Spanish language
Where it leadsA typical career path
Fleet Manager jobsOpen now on SuperyachtRoles.com
Questions crew ask
Do I need to have been a captain to become a fleet manager?
Not always, but most fleet managers have been a captain or chief engineer. Owners and crews take you more seriously if you've run a yacht. If you come up from the office, you'll need strong compliance experience and years of working with crews.
What is the difference between a yacht manager and a fleet manager?
A yacht manager looks after a handful of yachts directly and deals with their captains daily. A fleet manager supervises the yacht managers, sets standards across the whole fleet and handles the escalations. The fleet manager also answers to the company directors for results.
Will I earn less than I did as a captain?
Often, yes, especially once you pay tax ashore. A captain of a 60m may take home more than a fleet manager in Monaco. In return you get regular hours, time at home and a career that can carry on into your sixties.
Where are most fleet manager jobs based?
Most are in Monaco, Antibes, Palma and Fort Lauderdale, plus some on the UK south coast and in the Netherlands. You'll travel to yards, surveys and owner meetings several times a year.