Thank you for your request
We are pleased to share the Naval Architecture Employment Report 2025 with you.
Executive Summary
The Naval Architecture Employment Report 2025 reveals a sector experiencing both opportunity and tension. Demand for skilled Naval Architects remains high, but the challenge to retain them is intensifying.
Job-seeking intentions continue to rise, especially among early-career professionals, with 64% planning a move in 2025. However, only 20% of those who said they’d switch jobs in 2024 did, highlighting a gap between sentiment and action.
Retention appears strongest among experienced professionals, suggesting that tenure correlates with stability. However, the junior end of the market is becoming increasingly restless, often citing a lack of challenge, growth, or support as reasons to leave.
Compensation remains a key driver of mobility. Those who change jobs typically receive significantly higher pay rises than those who stay, reinforcing the perception that internal loyalty is less financially rewarding.
Still, the survey found that meaningful work and alignment with values are just as crucial. Naval Architects are staying in roles that challenge and engage them.
Hybrid working has overtaken full-time office work as the most common and preferred working model. The appetite for flexibility is strong, with many candidates prioritising flexible hours and remote work over other benefits. This growing trend directly impacts job-seeking behaviour: nearly half would turn down a job that didn’t offer flexible hours.
Transparency around salaries and benefits is now expected by job seekers, with 98% wanting this information clearly stated in job advertisements. Meanwhile, 77% of Naval Architects say work-life balance is more important to them than salary, signalling a profound shift in professional priorities.
Overall, Naval Architects want more than just competitive pay. They want flexibility, purpose, professional growth, and to feel truly invested in by their employers. Organisations that respond to these expectations will be best positioned to attract and retain top talent in 2025 and beyond.
Contact the authors
For a detailed discussion of the report's findings, please contact the authors directly:
Mark Charman, CEO & Founder
Kelsey Purse, Director - EMEA & Americas
Media Enquiries
For media enquiries and interviews, please contact the Faststream Marketing Team.
Latest Insights
View All Insights
Talent Is a Competitive Strategy in Maritime
Many maritime businesses have ambitious growth plans.New markets. New technologies. New vessel strategies. Expansion into adjacent services.Yet one question often determines how quickly those plans...
7 Signs Your Maritime Salaries May Be Falling Behind the Market
Salary expectations in the maritime and shipping sectors are shifting quickly. Demand for specialist skills, competition between employers and global hiring trends mean pay levels can move faster t...
Update - Recruitment Scam - Norwegian Fishing Fleet
We have been made aware of a scam involving individuals falsely claiming to represent Faststream Recruitment.These individuals are offering jobs on the Norwegian fishing fleet and contacting candid...
Why Some Specialist Maritime Roles Stay Open for Months
Many maritime businesses have experienced it. A critical specialist role opens. The search begins with confidence. Weeks pass. Then months. Interviews happen, candidates fall short, and the role re...
The High-Volume Crew Hiring Survival Checklist
High-volume hiring in crew recruitment rarely breaks because people don’t know what they’re doing. It breaks when demand spikes, timelines tighten, decisions slow, and multiple stakeholders are pul...
The Maritime Career Roadmap Framework: Where You Are vs Where You Want to Be
You don’t accidentally build a great maritime career. But you can absolutely drift into one you never consciously chose. Most maritime professionals aren’t stuck. They’re unclear. Unclear on what t...
Budget Smart Hiring with RPO: A Finance-Led Guide to Predictable Recruitment Spend
Hiring budgets are easier to manage when maritime recruitment activity is planned, measured, and reported consistently. For many finance leaders, the challenge isn’t simply the recruitment fee; it’...
Singapore Maritime Recruitment Update 2026
Singapore continues to set the pace as one of the world’s most competitive and strategically important maritime talent markets. Hiring is steady, but the tone has shifted: organisations are making ...
Maritime skills-based attraction: Sell problems to solve and skills to build
Most job adverts are written to filter people out.In 2026, the best ones are written to pull the right people in by showing the problems they’ll solve, the skills they’ll build, and the future val...
Closing capability gaps in maritime when permanent headcount isn’t the answer
There’s a familiar pattern in maritime leadership teams. A priority initiative goes live. A key person becomes unavailable. A transformation programme hits the point where specialist depth is no lo...
Your EVP needs to match year one - or people leave fast
If you want a quick reality check on your EVP, ask this: Would a new joiner say your recruitment story matched their first 90 days? Because in 2026, the risk for maritime employers often isn’t tha...
The Maritime Workforce Gaps That Could Jeopardise Your 2026 Plan
If there is one factor that will shape your 2026 plan, it is this: having the right people ready, in the right roles, at the right time. It is an uncomfortable truth in maritime. Demand shifts fast...