Over the past six weeks, I have spent a lot of time speaking with people about technology leadership across shipping and maritime technology — some with shipping companies building their technology capability from almost nothing, others with established maritime technology businesses going through cloud transformation, scaling engineering teams or building entirely new products.
The roles I have been recruiting have been equally varied: Director of Technology, Head of Infrastructure, Head of Engineering, Head of Product, Head of Maritime Intelligence, Data and Analytics Leadership, Head of Information and Cyber Security. Different businesses, different problems. But one thing keeps coming up: technology leaders across shipping and maritime are being asked to wear an extraordinary number of hats, and I am beginning to understand why finding them is so difficult.
What exactly is a maritime technology leader now?
The answer seems to change depending on which side of the market I am speaking to. One shipping group told me: “We have absolutely nothing. Lots of Excel sheets.” They are growing quickly, bringing vessel management in-house, with no finished IT strategy and not even a defined technology budget yet — the person joining will help create both.
At the other end of the spectrum, I have been recruiting for a maritime technology business with more than 100 people across engineering and technology, established Heads of Engineering and Product, and a major cloud and platform transformation underway. They need leadership too. But clearly, these are two completely different jobs. The title might say Director of Technology or Head of IT — what sits underneath it can mean almost anything.
The ‘unicorn’ problem
Increasingly, shipping companies and maritime technology businesses are not simply looking for someone who understands technology. They want someone who understands cloud, architecture, infrastructure and cyber; who can lead transformation; who understands data; who can manage distributed teams and third-party vendors; who is commercially minded enough to sit with the board; who understands shipping — and, increasingly, who can tell them what AI means for their business. Sometimes they need to be strategic, sometimes hands-on. Usually, it is both.
One CEO described what he wanted very simply: “People need to look to that person as the wisdom. The centre of knowledge.” Another needs somebody who can “translate that vision into the language of technology.” That combination exists. But the pool gets pretty small, pretty quickly.
Why the right person is hard to find
Part of it is the cost. Across the senior technology people I have spoken with recently, salary expectations have ranged from around £90,000 to £450,000+. People who have genuinely led technology and transformation inside major shipping organisations, especially those who can move comfortably between the boardroom and the technology team, command a significant premium. If you want one person to understand your existing technology, define your future strategy, modernise infrastructure, improve your data, introduce AI, manage suppliers, build a team and understand how your shipping business actually operates, you are not really hiring for one skillset anymore — you are hiring for several. The more boxes you add, the smaller the pool, and the higher the price.
Part of it is that technology in shipping does not exist independently of the business. I came into this market from general technology recruitment, so my instinct was to look at the technology first. I still think that matters — but I’m increasingly appreciating the value of somebody who actually understands shipping. One former maritime HR leader told me his business worked hard to “improve the shipping literacy of our tech people,” physically placing them amongst chartering and operations so they could hear the problems being solved around them.
And then there is AI, which widens the brief again. One maritime technology leader told me: “Everyone is using AI. Most companies say they are using it, but they are not doing it properly, just trying to sound trendy.” Technology leaders do not need to be AI engineers, but they do need to understand enough to separate useful applications from hype and make sure the foundations underneath it are ready — which brings us back to data, integration and legacy technology.
I am not suggesting businesses should lower the bar. But there needs to be more clarity around which problem this person is actually being hired to solve — an engineering leader, a transformation leader, someone who deeply understands shipping, or someone to build a team that contains those capabilities between them. Expecting one person to be exceptional at everything makes an already difficult search harder than it needs to be.
The best people I have met do not necessarily know everything, but they understand enough across technology, shipping, data, AI and people to connect the dots, challenge assumptions and build the capability around them. Finding people who can do that is not easy — but I am increasingly convinced that is exactly where the best technology leaders in shipping sit.
