Marine and maritime careers

Watch a great video on marine and maritime careers in the Solent area here!


Maritime UK held a virtual careers fair featuring live sessions with over 50 employers. The recordings can be found here.

Ever wondered what it is actually like on board a ship? Take a look at the virtual tours here and  explore everything from canal boats to Royal Navy submarines.

Here in the Solent area we are ideally placed for exploring careers in the maritime sector - from the luxury cruise industry to the Royal Navy.  The Solent's marine and maritime sector is one of our largest and most productive sectors, accounting for 20.5% of Solent's GVA, providing 40,000 jobs locally, and supporting more than 3,000 businesses. Over the period to 2025, the marine and maritime sector in the Solent region is forecast to grow by at least 5%. Portsmouth Naval Base sits at the heart of a high-tech defence and advanced manufacturing cluster, supporting 20,000 direct and indirect jobs, contributing over £1.6bn of GVA. This cluster extends beyond marine into aerospace, including companies such as BAE Systems, GE Aviation Systems, Airbus and QinetiQ.

We have an international reputation for leisure marine excellence, and a cluster of world-class superyacht designers that play a central role in maintaining the UK’s world-leading reputation for the production of quality powerboats and high-value sailing yachts. We are renowned as a venue for watersports, sailing, ocean racing, long-distance races and for globally recognised events such as Cowes Week, Southampton Boat Show and Seawork. Our waterways and marinas are filled with leisure boats year around, supporting a variety of jobs in large and small businesses across the economy.

For information on a huge variety of roles, both at sea and on land

For seafaring roles on all kinds of ships

For information on different routes into, and career pathways within the RN

For careers in yachting, smaller vessels and super

A huge selection of relevant courses in Southampton

Details of the Oceanography course as mentioned in the podcast