Assistant Engineer Jobs in the U.S. Maritime Industry

Assistant engineer is where a license turns into responsibility for specific machinery. On a manned plant you stand a watch, make rounds, log readings, answer alarms and keep the plant on line. On an unmanned automated plant you work days on a maintenance program and take duty rotations for after-hours callouts.

The grades split the work. A third assistant typically holds auxiliaries: generators, purifiers, compressors, sewage and water systems. A second assistant often takes boilers, main propulsion support or the heavier maintenance. The first assistant runs the deck plates day to day and assigns the work.

You arrive here either from an academy engineering program with a license in hand, or from the engine room as a QMED who built sea time and sat the exams. Companies hire from both, and the hawsepipe engineers often know the machinery better while the academy graduates know the theory better.

Billets are on deep-sea ships, MSC and government-operated vessels, research and survey ships, offshore supply and construction vessels, ferries and larger towing units.

Rotations follow the sector: even time offshore and on government contracts, voyage length deep sea. The next step is first assistant, then chief, and the path is well marked.