Senior Manager Technical Services

Mercy Ships; United States; On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Mercy Ships is seeking a Senior Technical Services Manager to lead the fleet's shared technical services capability, ensuring fleet-wide readiness and long-term maintenance strategy.

Reporting to the Director of Technical Operations, you will guide a specialist team, balance competing priorities, and drive improvements across engineering, regulatory compliance, and lifecycle planning. This role requires international travel to vessels and shipyards.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in a maritime technical discipline.
• Minimum 15 years of progressively responsible maritime technical experience.
• Experience leading technical personnel and coordinating specialist resources.
• Demonstrated familiarity with vessel maintenance, dry dockings, repairs, and working with classifications societies and flag states.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Technical Services Team and allocate specialists across machinery, electrical, navigation, hospital, accommodation, deck, and other systems.
• Coordinate surface engineering, maintenance planning, and defect reporting with vessel teams and third-party vendors.
• Balance immediate operational needs with long-term reliability and lifecycle objectives across fleets and ships.
• Drive implementation and improvement of engineering practices and maintenance strategy with the Fleet Technical Manager.
• Oversee regulatory compliance reviews with Classification Societies and Flag States; assess fleet impact of regulatory changes.
• Support recruitment and development of technical personnel through coaching and knowledge transfer.

Skills

Leadership

Maritime Operations

Maintenance Planning

Risk Assessment

Stakeholder Management

Cross-functional Coordination

Regulatory Compliance

Project Management

Engineering Judgement

Vendor Management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Marine/Mechanical/Electrical Engineering

Professional maritime credentials (STCW/Chief Engineer)

Job description

The Senior Technical Services Manager is responsible for leading the fleet's shared technical services capability, maintaining a fleet-wide perspective on vessel maintenance, asset performance, and technical support while building long-term future readiness.

Reporting to the Director of Technical Operations, the role leads the specialist team and allocates its support to Technical Superintendents and Asset Management teams, adjusting priorities against competing fleet demands.

The role develops and maintains fleet technical standards and drives technical readiness across the fleet by balancing immediate operational needs with long-term reliability, maintainability and lifecycle objectives.

How You Will Contribute:

• Lead the Technical Services Team and allocate the shared specialist bench: aligns priorities, manages performance, and schedules specialists across machinery, electrical, navigation, hospital, accommodation, deck, and other assigned systems, resolving competing demands against fleet priorities across AMPs, dry dockings, defect resolution, and major technical work.
• During AMPs and vessel work, Technical Services specialists work under the direction of the Technical Superintendent responsible for the vessel.
• Keep specialists closely engaged with vessel engineering, electrical, and biomedical teams to surface technical pain points early.
• Coordinate the team's specialist support for complex, cross-disciplinary, or recurring vessel issues, engaging third-party vendors and driving structured defect reporting where specialist input is needed, while the responsible Technical Superintendent owns resolution for the vessel.
• Leads the implementation and continuous improvement of engineering practices and maintenance strategy while ensuring the quality and content of the planned maintenance system, in coordination with the Fleet Technical Manager.
• Collaborate across the disciplines and teams for engineering review and acceptance recommendations on complex repairs, modifications, upgrades and technical solutions.
• Establish and maintain engineering adequacy standard for major repairs, replacements, upgrades, modifications, and installations, providing technical review, and acceptance recommendation against maintainability, safety, regulatory compliance, lifecycle impact, and operational suitability.
• Initiate management of change for equipment and modifications as determined by risk assessments
• Own the technical case for major equipment replacement and modification and drive it into asset lifecycle and roadmap planning with Asset Management, shaping vendor selection, obsolescence management, and long-range capital planning.
• Monitor maritime legislation, Classification Society rules, Flag State requirements, and relevant industry standards; coordinate assessment of fleet impact; and support implementation of required changes, including review of technical documentation and submissions to Classification Societies and Flag States.
• Develop Technical Services capability through coaching, knowledge transfer, delegation, and succession planning, and advise on the technical capability and development of engineering personnel.
• Support recruitment and placement activities with specialty consultants for engineering candidates
• Maintain effective working relationships with vessel leadership, shipyards, contractors, suppliers, Classification Societies, Flag States, and external technical partners, and maintain current knowledge of the company Safety Management System, planned maintenance practices, and applicable technical procedures.
• Other duties as assigned

Ideal Candidate:

• Deep knowledge of vessel technical operations, maintenance, repair, dry docking, defect management, and technical support within a maritime environment.
• Strong working knowledge of ship machinery and systems, with the ability to understand technical interactions across engineering, electrical, deck, hospital, and accommodation disciplines.
• Strong understanding of maritime regulations, Classification Society rules, Flag State requirements, statutory surveys, and technical compliance processes.
• Sound engineering judgment with the ability to assess technical risk, evaluate alternatives, and make practical recommendations in safety-critical and operationally constrained environments.
• Knowledge of planned maintenance systems, maintenance strategy, asset lifecycle principles, obsolescence management, and Management of Change.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to identify root causes, evaluate technical evidence, and develop effective corrective actions.
• Ability to interpret and critically evaluate technical drawings, specifications, manuals, engineering documentation, survey requirements, and regulatory information.
• Strong leadership capability, including developing technical specialists, setting expectations, building capability, and supporting succession within a multidisciplinary team.
• Strong cross-functional coordination skills with the ability to align technical, operational, regulatory, and commercial stakeholders around complex technical issues.
• Strong communication, facilitation, and relationship-management skills in an international and multicultural environment.
• Ability to balance urgent operational requirements with long-term technical reliability, maintenance priorities, and fleet needs.
• Ability to exercise sound judgment and decision-making with incomplete information, competing priorities, and operational constraints.
• Willingness and ability to travel internationally, including extended periods onboard vessels and at shipyards.

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent technical qualification in Marine Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related discipline; equivalent professional qualifications and extensive maritime technical experience may be considered.
• Minimum of 15 years of progressively responsible maritime technical experience, including technical superintendency, marine surveying, senior shipboard engineering, fleet technical management, or comparable technical leadership.
• Demonstrated experience with vessel maintenance periods, dry dockings, repairs, equipment replacement, technical modifications, and working with Classification Societies, Flag States, shipyards, contractors, and vessel technical teams.
• Demonstrated experience leading technical personnel and coordinating specialist resources in an international, regulated, or safety-critical environment.

Certifications and Licenses

Preferred

• STCW III/2 Marine Engineering Officer Certificate of Competency, Chief Engineer qualification, or equivalent professional marine engineering credential.
• ISM/ISPS, Classification Society, statutory survey, or maritime auditing qualifications relevant to the role.
• Professional engineering, technical superintendent, asset management, or other recognized maritime technical qualification.