Port Operative - Boatyard - Cowes Harbour Commission
Job Posted: 28 January 2026
- Contract Term: Permanent
- Location: Cowes, Isle of Wight
- Contract Type: Full time
- Salary: £13.21ph
- Industries: Marine
Job Start Date: 01 March 2026
Looking for a new challenge? Join our dedicated team at Cowes Harbour Commission as a Port Operative in our bustling Boatyard at East Cowes. If you have a positive, ‘can-do’ attitude and a passion for delivering great service, we’d love to hear from you.
The Role:
This hands-on, customer-focused role involves working both independently and as part of a close-knit team. Your primary responsibilities will include assisting in the lifting and launching various types of boats, performing general boatyard tasks, and maintaining vessels.
Key Duties:
- Promoting a safety-first culture, ensuring the highest standards of health and safety for all harbour users and colleagues.
- Engaging proactively with harbour and boatyard users, delivering excellent customer care and satisfaction.
- Carrying out boatyard duties and vessel maintenance as directed by the Team Leader.
- Assisting other Cowes Harbour Commission teams as needed
About You
We’re looking for a motivated, enthusiastic individual with a commitment to safety and a proven ability to work in a health and safety-conscious environment. You’ll need to balance multiple priorities effectively and take direction from your Team Leader. Ideally, you’ll have experience in polishing and anti-fouling however training is provided. A resilient attitude toward working outdoors in all weather conditions is essential.
Preferred Qualifications:
- GCSE Maths and English (Grade 4/C or above).
General Information
This is a full-time, seasonal position based at Kingston Boatyard in East Cowes, with occasional work at our other sites in Cowes. Some flexibility is required during peak times, including weekends, evenings, and Bank Holidays (with prior notice).
Rate of pay: £13.21 increases to: £13.72 April 01 2026.
About Us
Cowes Harbour Commission is the Statutory Harbour Authority for Cowes on the Isle of Wight. As the Island’s major port, Cowes supports a wide variety of commercial shipping and ferry operations. It’s also a global hub for yacht racing and leisure sailing, welcoming countless resident and visiting vessels each year.
As a Trust Port, Cowes Harbour Commission reinvests all its income into the harbour and its facilities for the benefit of the community. We are entirely self-funded, with revenue generated through activities such as Kingston Boatyard, Shepards Marina, moorings, and our afloat team’s commercial contract work.
Cowes Harbour Commission
Cowes is one of the most visited ports on the south coast of England and provides excellent boating facilities and services in the harbour and on the River Medina through the many boatyards, marinas, and marine services operators. Home to Red Funnel's regular vehicle ferry and freight ferry services operating between East Cowes and Southampton, as well as their high-speed passenger ferries. It is also the major port of entry for commercial shipping trading to the Isle of Wight and one of the busiest leisure ports in the UK -a foremost centre for yacht racing, a popular cruising destination, easily accessible for all types of vessel, and therefore a magnet for visiting tall ships and private yachts. Cowes Harbour is a Trust Port, which means it has no shareholders or other owners, but is managed for the benefit of its users, or ‘stakeholders’ and is run by a Commission of 10 Harbour Commissioners who give their time on a voluntary basis. Cowes Harbour Commission’s main function is to be the Statutory Harbour Authority for Cowes and to undertake commercial activities, so that it can be self-financing. A publicly accountable body, the Commission strives to ensure that it maintains proper standards of safety, transparency, accountability, integrity and honesty and to support and encourage the local economy.
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