Vessel Factory Engineer Trainee (2026)

Sealord is the largest seafood company in the Southern Hemisphere.  And with more than 60 years of fishing experience, farming, processing, and marketing operations, our business consistently delivers quality seafood to our customers around the world.

Established in 1961, Nelson Sealord is half owned by the Māori people of New Zealand, through Moana New Zealand (Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd), and half owned by global seafood company Nippon Suisan Kaisha, Ltd (Nissui).  Sealord is one of the largest quota holders in New Zealand with partners and subsidiaries around the world through Nissui’s global links.  Sealord Group has fishing operations, which include all deep-water fishing activities as well as international and joint venture deep fishing activities, in New Zealand and Australia.

At Sealord, we encourage an innovative, safe working environment and a positive culture. Our people are engaged, motivated and likely to tell you that Sealord is their employer of choice. Coaching, career development, succession planning and promotion from within, are aspects of every employee's career journey at Sealord. We have a performance-based culture and pride ourselves on reward and recognition initiatives that recognize top talent and outstanding performance.



Currently, we're looking to add to our team of 1,200 employees and have opportunities for Trainee Factory Engineers.



Passionate about the sea, fishing, and developing your career in the industry, including gaining qualifications while you work, then this opportunity is not to be missed!



Ideally you will have worked in an engineering or mechanical role prior or have these skills. Alternatively may also have a trade qualification, i.e. diesel mechanic or fitter and turner or have experience in repairing and maintaining machinery or just have a love for working on cars/motorbikes or other machinery.



Trip lengths on the vessels range from two to six weeks and crew operate on a trip on, trip off rotation. The hours of work are generally shift rotations of 12 hours on and 12 hours off and all meals provided by our experienced cooks.

If this sounds like the right job for you, you have proven engineering or mechanical experience and would enjoy working in a small close-knit team, then impress us with your positive can-do attitude, teamwork, safety focus, and the ability to follow instructions and rules. While out on the water, resilience is a life skill that is critical, as is respect for each other and the environment. Being committed to your team and tasks is imperative for the whole crew to be successful.



Being at sea is a way of life, unique and exhilarating! This is a lifetime opportunity with a company committed to its people and their training and development to help you fulfil your potential; offering stability and a great work-life balance.



If you're keen to work at sea and have the right to work in New Zealand, we'd love to hear from you. Please submit your CV and follow the application steps; feel free to visit our careers page to read more about us. Current Vacancies

A satisfactory pre-employment drug test and a physical medical assessment will be required to be considered for this role. Applicants must have legal entitlement to live and work in New Zealand.

If you are interested and able to fulfil the requirements, please apply online at www.sealord.com.