2020 ETO and AVIT Salary Survey in the Superyacht Industry

Well, after a bit of math homework and tiring out the calculator on my iPhone I have been working on a salary survey for ETOs and AVIT Officers in the yachting industry. It was very interesting to see the results and to input all the information of working on the ETO desk at wilsonhalligan for over 2 and ? years.

I thought it would be a good idea to see the results spread out over yacht size, the position onboard (AVIT Officer or ETO) and the years of experience of each crew member. There were a couple of one-off positions that did throw things into the mix, but I think there is a relatively accurate average across the board. I have also written a "conclusion" at the end which may be of interest. Please note all numbers are or have been converted to Euro and are on a paid per month salary (Not including charter tips or annual bonus.)

First off,

Yacht Size

100m+

The average salary was 7020 Euro with a difference between the highest and lowest salaries a whopping 3500 Euro! This could be attributed to 100m+ generally having a 2nd onboard who is new to the industry and would of course be on an entry level salary and also a CETO onboard with many years of experience under their belt.

80m-100m

The average salary was 7371 Euro with a difference between highest and lowest of 3000 Euro. A strong average salary for a position onboard that is generally considered to be a dual role, both electrical and AVIT for this size of vessel, depending on the operation of the yacht.

Below 80m

The average salary was 6900 Euro with a difference of 1500 Euro. There wasn’t a huge amount of data for this size of yachts as generally we tend not to have many ETOs onboard anything smaller that 80m. The more common position would be a 3rd engineer/ ETO.

Position Onboard

AVIT

The average salary was 6740 Euro with a difference of 1800 Euro. This is a position I had the most data for as I generally have far more AVIT roles than ETO.

Dual role (Responsible for both electrical and AVIT)

The average salary was 6840 Euro with a difference of 3500 Euro between the highest and lowest salaries, a very interesting number that shows the fluctuation of salaries at this level.

ETO

The average salary was 6500 Euros which is similar to what I was expecting, however the difference was a staggering 4500 Euros! This could be linked to the position being open to new candidates into the industry who are newly qualified ETO CoC and also using data for Chief ETOs with a wealth of experience and longevity.

Years of Experience *in the superyacht industry*

Less than 3 years of experience.

The average salary was 5800 Euro. With a large difference of 3000 Euro. I believe this is down to at what stage in their career people join the industry, are you joining straight from an ETO Cadetship or are you joining after many years of working at an AVIT integration company with manufacture or brand experience?

3-6 years of experience

The average salary was 7692 Euro with a difference of 1500 Euro. A much more stable salary and this shows that there is a large jump in pay with experience, especially when longevity is included.

6+ years of experience

The average was 7780 Euro with a difference of 2500 Euro. Not a massive jump in average salary, however there is a bigger gap in difference, could this showcase how the industry is still learning about the position and how to reward it's most experienced candidate properly?

After doing this survey I feel that the role of an ETO or AVIT Officer is still very unique and so are the skills and experience of many of the crew out there, hence some of the large fluctuation in many of the findings. Regardless of these numbers I fully believe you get what you pay for, if you are willing to offer a decent, strong salary that will reflect in the person you have looking after your systems, dealing head on with the owner when the internet is down and also the security of your IT. I have recently seen some positions come up which are totally below industry standard in terms of salary and it’s really sad to see that some yachts try to exploit new or desperate crew. The ETO and AVIT role is probably the youngest in our industry and there is still a lot that Captains and Management Companies need to learn to understand the importance of a well-qualified, personable and hardworking ETO.

To note, everyone is going to be on a different salary, people are completely unique. Their background, skill, longevity and qualifications are all reasons to make their salary situation individual. I also like to believe that money isn't everything and what can be a large factor is the team ethic onboard, the management company and the itinerary, if you love where you are working and enjoy the people who are around you 24/7 then that could be worth more than a few hundred Euro a month.

I hope this was informative to some crews out there, the only purpose of me doing this was because I was asked by a couple of people and thought I probably have more data than most so it would be good to put it to use.