Private Yacht Physiotherapist — Onboard Longevity & Performance, Mediterranean

Medical Staff Talent is appointing a UK & European-trained Physiotherapist to a permanent onboard role aboard a private yacht cruising the Mediterranean.

The position delivers one-on-one manual therapy and longevity protocols from a bespoke onboard treatment suite. Precision and adaptability matter as much as technique when the treatment room moves.

The Mandate

• Discreet one-on-one manual therapy from a bespoke onboard treatment suite.
• Design and delivery of longevity and performance protocols.
• Adaptability to a moving clinical environment.
• Seasonal Mediterranean routing.

Candidate Requirements

• Chartered Physiotherapist with five or more years in manual therapy or performance rehabilitation.
• Trained and licensed in a Tier-1 UK or European system — UK, Ireland, or an accepted European jurisdiction.
• Fluent English.
• Prior yacht or travel-based experience an advantage.

Package

• £55,000 – £65,000 per annum, tax-free.
• Private onboard cabin and full relocation to point of embarkation.
• Comprehensive medical insurance and flights home between charters.
• Advisory guidance throughout onboarding and documentation — see Gulf Healthcare Licensing Support.

What this appointment asks of you

The treatment suite is on board, and it moves with the family through the Mediterranean season. The clinical brief is one-to-one manual therapy, longevity conditioning and performance maintenance for a small number of people, delivered in a space you will help to specify and keep. Sea days call for adaptability — treatment timings around the itinerary, programming that works within a vessel’s footprint, mobility work that uses what the yacht and the anchorage offer. The household will look for precise hands, a practitioner who can design and progress programmes without institutional scaffolding, and someone comfortable being part of a close crew for weeks at a time. Prior yacht or travel-based work is an advantage rather than a requirement.

Registration and sea-readiness

There is no Gulf licence to obtain for time at sea; the vessel’s flag state and management company look to your home registration and to standard maritime certification. The sequence is:

• Home registration in good standing (GMC, NMC, HCPC or your European regulator) with a current certificate of good standing, verified through DataFlow so the file is portable.
• STCW basic safety training and a seafarer medical certificate (ENG1 or the national equivalent), which most management companies require before embarkation; maritime medical training is valued.
• Where the household winters in the Gulf, activation of a DHA, DOH or SCFHS registration for the shore season — we sequence the DataFlow stage early and brief you on what it will need, so it does not delay the first winter.
• Onboarding with the household and the captain: NDA execution, cabin allocation, medical locker and inventory handover, and the evacuation protocols for the season’s itinerary.

Our notes on maritime governance for onboard clinicians, superyacht medical staffing and how Gulf households staff their vessels explain what to prepare before the season. Physiotherapists should also read private yacht physiotherapy for private families.

Reading the package

Remuneration of £55,000 – £65,000 per annum is quoted net, with a private cabin, medical insurance and flights home between charters provided by the household; living costs at sea are close to nil, which is why onboard appointments build savings faster than the headline figure suggests.

Onboard remuneration is only as tax-efficient as your residence planning allows: day-counts, flag state and where you spend the winter all matter, and we introduce every candidate to a cross-border adviser before contract. Cost of living and net position and wealth preservation for Gulf clinicians cover the planning points.

Insurance is the other line to read carefully — the vessel’s policy, your own indemnity and repatriation cover — and our insurance and liability resources list what to ask the management company for.

Life on board and between charters

The Mediterranean season runs from late spring to early autumn, port to port, with the vessel as home and the anchorage as the view. Clinicians who thrive on board are those who enjoy a compact, well-run community, who can work to an itinerary that changes with the weather and the family’s plans, and who value the flights home between charters as genuine leave. Where the household winters in the Gulf, the shore months are spent in Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Riyadh with accommodation provided.

Read our overview of yacht appointments in the Mediterranean for the shape of a season, superyacht medical staffing for how vessels are equipped, and the Gulf family relocation brief for the shore season.

How we run this search

Every appointment of this kind follows the same discipline. It begins with a confidential briefing call with Vanessa, our Executive Search Lead, covering your clinical profile, your motivations and your family situation; nothing is written down that you have not agreed to share. Your dossier is then reviewed against the licensing route above so that we know, before anyone else is involved, whether your file will classify cleanly.

The household or its family office is briefed anonymously. Your name and documents are shared only with your written authorisation, first-stage interviews are held by video, and a final meeting is arranged in person — usually with travel organised by the household. Offer, NDA and contract follow, and licensing and mobilisation begin the same week. Our time-to-hire estimator shows how long each stage takes; the confidential hiring process and confidentiality, NDA and vetting pages explain how the household side is governed.

Related mandates and resources

• Physiotherapists practice: how we appoint physiotherapists to Private Families
• Private physiotherapist for private families
• Ongoing physiotherapy opportunities in the Mediterranean — register
• The longevity mandate in elite private care
• Longevity and elite performance physiotherapy for private families
• Physiotherapy salary benchmarks in the Gulf 2026
• Evaluating a physiotherapy job offer in the Gulf
• Live GCC mandates by specialty

Process

The family and vessel are never identified until mutual interest is established. See our Physiotherapists practice.

Submit a confidential profile through the Candidate Portal, or contact us directly.