What you need to perform it
Primary qualification
- Higher vocational or engineering in electronics/telecoms, fluent in measurement instrumentation and serial buses.
- Installed-OEM training (Kongsberg/Simrad, Sea-Bird, Teledyne — per ship) on sounders, CTD and ADCP.
- Sign-on: Basic Training A-VI/1, valid medical and deck safety for winch operations.
Basic STCW
- Basic Safety Training STCW A-VI/1
Specific courses
- Sounder calibration (multibeam patch test) and CTD sensor calibration against standards
- Timing and data: NMEA, GNSS PPS/time, acquisition networks and logging
- Safe deployment: oceanographic winches, conducting cable and terminations
- Moorings and acoustic releases; corrosion care
Indicative experience
Indicative: 2-3 years across instrument labs and embarked campaigns; a good technician's judgement is measured in failures fixed in a seaway without the exact spare.
Observations
The chief scientist's direct counterpart: translates sampling needs into equipment configuration. On polar ships, sensor thermal and condensation management is added. Progression: technician → instrumentation chief → fleet instrument-pool manager.
What this role does
Keeps the ship's scientific payload alive: single- and multibeam sounders, CTD and rosette, profilers, magnetometers, met sensors and the networks integrating their data with position and time. Calibrates, troubleshoots on campaign, prepares deployments (winches, cables, watertight terminations) and guards data quality — without him, a research-ship day is lost whole.
Typical watches
- Continuous availability during scientific seasons and deployments
Key responsibilities
- Maintain, calibrate and diagnose sensors, multibeam echo sounders, CTDs, rosettes and acquisition systems.
- Prepare wiring, power and connectivity of scientific equipment before each deployment.
- Resolve hardware and communications failures during the campaign.
- Record configurations, calibrations and technical traceability of instrumentation.
Operational scope
- dry lab
- electronics room
- Scientific maneuver deck
Profile reviewed by HydroAbyss (2026). Cited rules and timeframes are indicative: the final requirement is set by the flag State, the Administration and each company.