Ready to step off the rotations but stay in the offshore sector?
Are you an offshore renewables professional, commercial mariner, or veteran with hands-on experience in the offshore wind sector? If you love the industry but are tired of unpredictable shift patterns, long travel times, and being away from home, this is your route to a rewarding, shore-based career.
At South West Maritime Academy, we are looking for a GWO Training Instructor to join our expert team. This role allows you to maintain your connection to the offshore wind sector, utilise your specialised safety knowledge, and enjoy the job security and regular hours of a land-based position.
The Role: What You’ll Be Doing
Working alongside our lead instructional team, you will be responsible for delivering high-impact, life-saving course content to delegates entering or advancing in the offshore renewables sector.
- Deliver Core GWO Modules: Help deliver our comprehensive GWO Basic Safety Training (BST) modules, including Sea Survival, Fire Awareness, First Aid, Manual Handling, and Working at Heights and associated refreshers.
- Bring Real-World Skills to Life: You will use your practical familiarity with offshore safety protocols to give delegates a realistic understanding of what to expect in the field—whether that's from your time managing boat transfers, working at height on turbines, or handling emergency responses.
- Build Rapport & Share Anecdotes: We pride ourselves on our passionate instructors who build genuine relationships with students. Your personal stories from the field are what bring our curriculum to life and keep delegates returning to us for their refresher updates.
- Maintain the Fleet & Kit: Take a hands-on role in managing our extensive kit stores, ensuring all specialist GWO safety gear, harnesses, PPE, and training rigs are meticulously maintained and "battle-ready" for practical exercises.
- One-Team Culture: We are a small, tight-knit crew. You’ll chip in with the rest of the team to keep our communal training spaces and facilities clean, tidy, and professional.
What We’re Looking For
We are looking for someone with genuine offshore experience who can command a classroom and outdoor training rig with confidence.
- Industry Background: Strong, demonstrable experience working within the offshore wind or maritime industry. You must have real-world, practical experience performing the tasks covered in the core BST modules (such as working at height, sea survival, or vessel transfers). Experience on Crew Transfer Vessels (CTVs) or offshore platforms is highly relevant, but we welcome backgrounds from across the sector.
- Current Qualifications: Must hold GWO Basic Safety Training (BST) certifications.
- The "X" Factor: A confident communicator who can naturally build relationships with students and create an engaging, supportive learning atmosphere.
- Physical Fitness: The role involves leading active, hands-on drills—including working at heights and open-water exercises—requiring a good level of physical fitness.
Note: If you already have a recognised teaching ticket (like AET Level 3), that’s excellent—but if you have the right industry experience and attitude, we will fully support you with the required training.
Why Join Us?
- Work-Life Balance: Transition to regular, predictable hours with a full-time, shore-based contract.
- Stay in Renewables: Remain a vital part of the green energy sector by training the next generation of technicians.
- Professional Growth: Expand your own portfolio. We invest heavily in our team, helping you gain advanced GWO, MCA, and RYA instructional tickets.
About South West Maritime Academy
We are a premier UK provider of specialist commercial maritime and renewable energy training, based at our expansive 10-acre site at Cromhall Quarry. As the parent company to The Lake, our facility is a vibrant hub where professional safety programmes meet an active outdoor leisure destination for open water swimming, scuba diving, and paddleboarding.
Our USP: Unlike standard, classroom-bound providers, we have the unique, dedicated infrastructure to deliver training in real-world scenarios. From live-fire simulators to our expansive open-water quarry environment, we offer delegates the most realistic, hands-on GWO training available in the South West.
Our global footprint also includes our sister company, Palma Sea School in Mallorca, giving our wider team an unparalleled network of expertise across both the commercial and leisure maritime sectors.
Pay: £28,000.00-£35,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Free parking
- On-site parking
Ability to commute/relocate:
- Wotton-under-Edge GL12 8AA: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Application question(s):
- Are you comfortable leading hands-on, physically demanding training drills, including working at heights and open-water sea survival exercises?
- Briefly describe your experience with the core tasks covered in GWO modules (e.g., vessel transfers, working at height, sea survival etc.).
Experience:
- offshore wind or maritime industry: 2 years (preferred)
Licence/Certification:
- GWO Basic Safety Training (BST) certifications? (preferred)
Work Location: In person
