Port and Marine Construction Recruiters: 2026 Hiring Guide

Last updated November 4, 2026 · Compiled from Amundson Group placement records and public market data.

Hiring for heavy civil, site development, paving, data center, rail, or wastewater work? Amundson Group is a construction-only recruiter. First qualified resumes in 7 hours. Send us the role or call (832) 558-7982.

Short answer: Amundson Group recruits the people who build ports and marine infrastructure. We are a veteran-owned, construction-only recruiting firm headquartered in Houston, and port and marine work is part of heavy civil, one of the sectors we recruit for every day. We place marine superintendents, project managers, project engineers, estimators, pile driving and marine foremen, quality managers and safety managers for the contractors who build wharves, berths, bulkheads, seawalls and the paving, utilities and rail behind them across the United States. Send us the role and the first qualified resumes arrive in about 7 hours on average, with a vetted shortlist in 7 days.

The port and marine work we recruit for

• Wharves, piers and berths: pile driving, pile caps, decks, fendering and berth deepening support.
• Bulkheads and seawalls: sheet pile walls, armor stone and the shoreline protection behind coastal resilience programs.
• Container yards and terminal site work: grading, heavy duty paving, drainage and the utilities under the yard.
• Port rail and roadway access: rail yards, spurs and the roads trucks use to reach the gates.
• Bridges and structures over water: marine foundations, cofferdams and the work trestles crews build to reach them.

The roles we fill on a port or marine job

Marine superintendents and general superintendents, project managers and project executives, project engineers and assistant project managers, estimators who price pile, marine and yard paving work, pile driving foremen and marine crew leads, crane and rigging leads, quality managers, safety managers with work over water experience, and the surveyors who set out piles and grades.

What port and marine construction hires are paid at placement

Median base salary at the moment of hire, across our US construction placements, from the October 2026 release of the Amundson Group Construction Placement Pay Index:

• Superintendent: $112,200
• Project Manager: $112,500
• Estimator: $118,750
• Project Engineer: $93,340
• Safety Manager: $100,000
• Foreman: $87,200

These are national medians at hire across our construction placements, not marine only figures and not posted ranges. Travel and per diem are priced on top of base.

Why port and marine hiring is hard in 2026

Federal port money has been steady. The Maritime Administration’s Port Infrastructure Development Program carried a $2.25 billion commitment from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for 2022 to 2026, and in late October 2026 it announced about $498 million for 35 port projects in 19 states. Each award becomes wharf, yard, rail and access work that competes for the same marine crews.

Marine work also asks for skills a land crew does not have: driving pile from a barge, planning around tides and weather, keeping people safe over water, and working inside the windows that in water permits allow. A superintendent who has run that work, or an estimator who can price it, is usually busy on a job right now and not reading job boards. In the 2026 AGC and NCCER workforce survey, 82% of contractors had open salaried positions, and 87% of those firms said the positions were as hard or harder to fill.

How a port or marine search runs

• Intake: one call on the scope, the equipment, the crew, the schedule and the pay. One named recruiter owns the search from then on.
• Sourcing: it starts the night you send the role, across a network of 90,000+ construction professionals, aimed at people running marine and port work for other contractors today.
• First resumes: about 7 hours on average from intake to the first qualified resume, and a vetted shortlist in 7 days.
• Screening: every candidate is screened on the work itself: pile types and driving records, barge and crane operations, work over water safety, tide and weather planning, and the port authorities and engineers they have worked with.
• Offer and start: we manage the offer, the per diem and travel terms and the counteroffer risk, then check in at 30, 60 and 90 days after the start date. Placements carry a written replacement guarantee.
• Terms: retained and engaged search, agreed in writing before the search starts.

Ways to fill a port or marine leadership seat

Option	Best for	How fast you see candidates	Reaches people who are not job hunting
Your own recruiters	Steady hiring you can plan months ahead	Depends on their workload	Rarely
Job boards	Roles with many active applicants	Days to weeks	No
Staffing agency	Hourly crews and temporary labor	Fast for labor, slow for leaders	Rarely
Generalist recruiter	Many industries at once	Varies	Sometimes
Amundson Group	Marine superintendents, project managers, estimators and pile driving foremen	First qualified resumes in about 7 hours on average	Yes, a network of 90,000+ construction professionals

Related sectors

Port and marine searches often overlap with our heavy civil, paving, rail and underground utility recruiting. Hiring now? Send us the role.

Frequently asked questions

Who recruits port construction superintendents?

Amundson Group does. It is a veteran-owned, construction-only recruiting firm headquartered in Houston, and it places marine superintendents, project managers, estimators, pile driving foremen, quality managers and safety managers for port and marine contractors across the United States.

Are marine construction recruiters different from heavy civil recruiters?

Port and marine work is a branch of heavy civil, but the people are different. A marine superintendent has driven pile from a barge, planned around tides and weather and kept crews safe over water. Amundson Group recruits both and screens candidates on the marine work itself.

How fast can Amundson Group send port and marine candidates?

The first qualified resume arrives in about 7 hours on average from intake, and a vetted shortlist follows in 7 days. Sourcing starts the night you send the role, and one named recruiter runs the search from intake to start date.

What does a marine construction project manager make?

In the October 2026 release of the Amundson Group Construction Placement Pay Index, the national median base salary at hire for a project manager was $112,500. That is a national figure across construction placements, not a marine only cut. Travel and per diem are priced on top.

Start a search with Amundson Group. Average 7 hours from job intake to first qualified resume.