How To Become A Navigation Officer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a navigation officer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a navigation officer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $17.65 an hour? That's $36,717 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 1% and produce 500 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreNavigation OfficerUS Average

Salary

2.9

Avg. Salary $36,717

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.1

Growth rate 1%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.08%

Asian 3.14%

Black or African American 6.86%

Hispanic or Latino 8.91%

Unknown 4.73%

White 75.28%

Gender

female 5.00%

male 95.00%

Age - 40.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 40.5

Stress level

9.1

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.1

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

2.3

Work life balance is very poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a navigation officer

Explore navigation officer education requirements

Most common navigation officer degrees

Bachelor's

71.6 %

Master's

14.7 %

Associate

8.6 %

Start to develop specific navigation officer skills

Skills	Percentages
Safety Equipment	49.30%
Cargo Operations	14.10%
Navigation Equipment	13.25%
Vessel Operations	12.82%
Logistics	5.65%

Complete relevant navigation officer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New navigation officers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a navigation officer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real navigation officer resumes.

Research navigation officer duties and responsibilities

Trained/Mentore multiple junior officers in dynamic positioning, ballast control, and seamanship.
Administer the company/client relationship particularly in the areas of safety and budget expectations.

Prepare your navigation officer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your navigation officer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a navigation officer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable navigation officer resume templates

Build a professional navigation officer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your navigation officer resume.