Yacht New Build Project Manager
A Yacht New Build Project Manager takes a superyacht from signed contract to delivery, usually over two to four years. You sit between the owner, the shipyard, the designers and the future crew, and you check that what gets built matches what was paid for. Most come from senior engineering or command roles at sea, or from naval architecture and shipyard project offices.
The jobWhat fills the day
The job starts before any steel is cut. You review the technical specification, general arrangement and makers' list, and push back wherever the yard has priced something cheaper than the owner expects. Once the build starts you run the plan approval loop with class and flag, chase drawing comments, attend factory acceptance tests for engines, generators and stabilisers, and keep a punch list that can reach several thousand items. Change orders are where budgets drift, so you price and document every one before the owner signs.
On a 40m semi-custom build in Italy or Turkey you may be the owner's only technical voice, handling everything from paint thickness readings to AV cabling yourself. On an 80m-plus full custom project in the Netherlands or Germany you lead a site team of specialists: an electrical surveyor, a paint inspector, an interior coordinator, and often the build captain and chief engineer. The work also changes as the build goes on. The early years are drawings and meetings. The last nine months are commissioning, the inclining test, sea trials, class survey and a handover that rarely finishes on time.
Owner's representative firms, management companies and some shipyards hire for this role. Yards want someone who understands production. Owners want someone who will protect their interests without souring the relationship with the yard. The usual candidates are chief engineers with a Y1 or Y2 and a couple of builds behind them, captains who have stood by a build, and naval architects or marine engineers from yard project offices. Pay is a day rate or a salary plus site allowance. Expect to live near the yard for long stretches.
Most people start as an assistant or site engineer on someone else's build, then take on a project of their own. What wins the next contract is delivering two or three yachts on time and close to budget, because owners, brokers and representatives all know each other. From here people move into owner's representative work across several projects, technical director posts at management companies, or senior roles on the yard side. Some go back to sea as build captain or chief engineer on the yacht they helped deliver.
Skills employers look for
- Specification and contract review
- Change order control
- Class and flag approval
- Budget and schedule tracking
- Commissioning and sea trials
- Marine systems knowledge
- Firm but fair negotiation
A working daySite day at a full custom yard, 85m motor yacht build, Aalsmeer
Walk the hull with the paint inspector before the yard trades start. Check fairing on the port side and log the humidity readings in the paint shed.
Weekly progress meeting with the yard's project manager. Go through slippage in interior outfitting and three open change orders on the beach club.
Coffee in the owner's site office, catching up on emails from suppliers in Italy and the UK.
Review the yard's revised electrical one-line diagrams and mark up comments for class before Friday's deadline.
Lunch in the yard canteen with the build captain and chief engineer, talking through crew mess and cabin layouts.
Video call with the owner's family office in London. Present the cost-to-complete figures and get a decision on the glass supplier for the sky lounge.
Witness the pressure test on the black water system with the class surveyor. Add two leaking flanges to the punch list.
Write the weekly report: progress by area, approved and pending changes, cost exposure and the top five schedule risks.
Pay by experienceAnnual salary. Estimates. Bars share one scale.
Many work as contractors on day rates of roughly EUR 600-1,000, with travel and accommodation near the yard paid on top. Site allowances and bonuses tied to the delivery date can add a large share to take-home pay. See the Refit, Shipyard & Project Management salary guide for figures from live adverts.
Qualifications
Must have
- Degree in naval architecture or marine engineering, or senior MCA CoC (Master or Chief Engineer Y1/Y2)
- STCW Basic Safety Training for sea trials
Gets you hired
- APM PMQ or PRINCE2 Practitioner
- NEBOSH General Certificate
- FROSIO or AMPP coating inspection course
- Class society rules training (LR, ABS, BV or DNV)
Where it leadsA typical career path
Yacht New Build Project Manager jobsOpen now on SuperyachtRoles.com
Questions crew ask
Do I need a degree to become a new build project manager?
No, though it helps. Many successful project managers are former chief engineers or captains whose CoC and build experience count for more than a degree. Yards and larger firms are asking more often for naval architecture or marine engineering degrees for the senior posts.
Who do I actually work for?
Usually the owner, through an owner's representative firm or a management company. Some yards employ their own project managers, who deal with the client from the other side of the table. Be clear which side you are on, because your job is to protect that party's contract.
How much time is spent at the yard?
Most of it. Expect to be on site four or five days a week through the build, plus trips to suppliers' factories for acceptance tests. Many people move their families to the Netherlands, northern Germany or Viareggio for the length of the project.
How is this different from a build captain?
The build captain represents the future crew and how the yacht will run day to day. The project manager owns the contract, budget, schedule and technical compliance. On smaller builds one person often covers both jobs.