Lead, Marine Recruiter in Weybridge

Position is based in Weybridge, Surrey. Join Our Global Talent Team! We are pleased to offer a competitive compensation and benefits package, and excellent career development opportunities, each offering unique ways to explore the world.

Position Summary

The Lead Marine Recruiter plays a pivotal role in driving strategic recruitment initiatives, ensuring a continuous pipeline of top-tier talent for shipboard Marine operations. This leadership role is responsible for overseeing daily recruitment activities, mentoring Recruiters, and providing strategic insights to optimise hiring effectiveness. The Lead Recruiter collaborates with key stakeholders, analyses workforce demands and ensures recruitment processes align with global maritime standards and company objectives.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Strategic Talent Acquisition Leadership
  • Analyse recruitment forecasts and operational workforce plans to manage recruiter capacity, hiring velocity, and resource allocation.
  • Oversee and drive the daily sourcing and recruitment efforts, ensuring a strong pipeline of qualified candidates for shipboard positions across multiple business units.
  • Partner closely with HR Operations, HRBPs, and operational leadership to ensure alignment between recruitment strategies and workforce needs.
  • Proactively identify external talent market trends and adjust sourcing strategies to meet evolving business demands.
  • Develop and implement recruitment strategies for hard-to-fill and critical leadership roles, ensuring operational continuity.
• Talent Sourcing & Identification
  • Lead proactive sourcing initiatives for management and executive shipboard roles, including passive candidate strategies, Boolean searches, professional networking, referrals, and cold calling.
  • Manage and maintain gap talent pools for specialised marine roles, continuously monitoring external factors affecting candidate supply.
  • Directly source, screen, and interview high-impact candidates for leadership and technical roles.
  • Ensure the continuous development of talent pipelines to meet both short-term and long-term hiring goals.
  • Conduct in-depth, competency-based interviews to assess candidate suitability for shipboard environments and leadership readiness.
  • Oversee the standardisation and continuous improvement of candidate assessment tools and interview frameworks.
  • Review and approve final candidate shortlists, ensuring alignment with hiring goals, operational needs, and company standards.
  • Provide hiring recommendations and collaborate with leadership on final candidate selection for key positions.
• Stakeholder Management & Collaboration
  • Act as a trusted advisor to hiring leaders, providing recruitment data insights and market intelligence to support informed decision-making.
  • Lead regular collaboration meetings with department heads to review hiring progress, pipeline health, and talent acquisition strategies.
  • Develop and deliver presentations on recruitment effectiveness, process improvements, and hiring trends to executive stakeholders.
  • Facilitate ongoing partnerships between the recruitment team and operational leadership to ensure talent strategies align with business objectives.
• Operational Excellence & Compliance
  • Ensure all recruitment activities comply with international maritime labour standards (MLC) and company-specific policies (SQM).
  • Continuously review and refine recruitment standard operating procedures (SOPs) for process efficiency and compliance.
  • Monitor and maintain detailed recruitment records, ensuring adherence to global labour regulations and data protection policies.
  • Mitigate legal risks by staying informed of regional employment laws and providing ongoing training to the recruitment team.
• Data-Driven Recruitment Management
  • Utilise recruitment data, dashboards, and productivity reports to monitor individual and team performance against hiring targets.
  • Leverage data insights to optimise sourcing strategies, streamline hiring workflows, and ensure resource efficiency.
  • Prepare comprehensive reports, including hiring forecasts, talent gap analyses, and operational efficiency metrics for leadership review.
  • Provide ongoing mentorship and professional development to recruitment team members, fostering continuous learning and performance improvement.
  • Lead recruiter training sessions, including new recruiter onboarding, competency-based interviewing techniques, and refresher workshops.
  • Offer guidance to resolve recruitment challenges, providing escalation support and process improvements when needed.
  • Promote a culture of accountability, collaboration, and excellence within the recruitment team.
• Employer Branding & Candidate Experience
  • Champion a positive candidate experience by ensuring timely feedback, transparency, and professionalism throughout the recruitment process.
  • Represent the company at global recruitment events, hiring fairs, and industry conferences to strengthen employer brand visibility.
  • Communicate the company’s value proposition effectively, emphasizing career growth, shipboard culture, and global opportunities.

Qualifications and Experience

• Minimum 5 years relevant recruitment experience, ideally within the marine or cruise industries.
• Proven leadership experience mentoring and leading recruitment teams with expanding responsibilities for performance oversight.
• Familiarity with shipboard operations, including maritime labour regulations (MLC), SQM policies, and vessel staffing structures preferred.
• Expertise in passive sourcing strategies, including Boolean searches, direct outreach, and professional networking for leadership roles.
• Demonstrated experience in competency-based interviewing and candidate evaluation for both technical and leadership roles.
• Ability to influence and collaborate with operational leaders, HRBPs, and senior management across multiple regions.
• Proficient in using recruitment metrics, talent analytics, and dashboards to drive process improvements and hiring decisions.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, including Excel (pivot tables, data visualisation, and reporting tools), ATS, CRMs and Smartsheets a plus.
• Global Mindset: Knowledge of global labour markets, international recruitment practices, and regional employment regulations.

We know there's a lot to consider. As you go through the application process, our recruiters will be glad to provide guidance, and more relevant details to answer any additional questions. Thank you again for your interest in Royal Caribbean Group. We'll hope to see you onboard soon!

It is the policy of the Company to ensure equal employment and promotion opportunity to qualified candidates without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, sexuality, gender identity or expression, marital status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Royal Caribbean Group and each of its subsidiaries prohibit and will not tolerate discrimination or harassment.