• Sea Kayaking
    • Day Trips
    • Multi-day Trips & Courses
    • Expeditions
  • About
  • Contact
  • Sea Kayaking
    • Day Trips
    • Multi-day Trips & Courses
    • Expeditions
  • About
  • Contact

We are a young and vibrant company with a huge enthusiasm for sea kayaking, adventure and Scotland's epic coastline.

Kayak guide jobs at Arisaig sea kayak centre.

Careers at Arisaig Sea Kayak Centre

Arisaig sea kayak centre is a small business based in Arisaig village at the heart of Scotland’s West coast. We run a range of sea kayak journeys along some of the most stunning coastline in the world. 

As a guide for Arisaig sea kayak centre you'll work as part of a small and friendly team and help to deliver enjoyable and rewarding sea kayaking journeys for our clients. You'll get to explore some epic coastline, meet like minded people and enjoy the reward of helping others discover the joy of sea kayaking.

We are interested in hearing from -

Sea Kayak Guides wishing to work with us in the 2025 season - we can offer blocks of work or single courses/expeditions through the 2025 season and beyond.

We currently don't have any full season or multi-month jobs on offer.

Who we are

Arisaig sea kayak centre is a small business based in Arisaig village in the heart of Scotland’s West coast. We run a range of sea kayak journeys along some of the most stunning coastline in the world. We are a young and vibrant company with a huge enthusiasm for sea kayaking, adventure and Scotland. The business has enjoyed rapid growth and now runs a range of trips throughout Scotland. Arisaig sea kayak centre is owned and run by Mike Martin.

The driving force of Arisaig sea kayak centre is a strong connection to Scotland’s coast and seas and a love of sea kayaking. We thrive on exploring this coastline, finding ourselves transformed by the magic of paddling a kayak or living in wild places. Sharing these transformational experiences with our clients is at the core of what we do - simply letting the magic of the experience of sea kayaking shine through in how we present our trips and how we guide our trips. To the clients we aim to be relaxed but professional and easy-going but strong leaders, creating a sense of inclusion, care and friendliness whilst also keeping control and safety within our grasp.

Our easy to use and inspiring website, diverse range of trips, high quality equipment and most importantly our knowledgeable, friendly and enthusiastic guiding team are the core of our success. Attention to detail in our work, knowledge of our sport and coastline and exceptional levels of customer care are all fundamental to our success and can be demonstrated by all those who belong to Arisaig sea kayak centre’s professional team.

What we are looking for

The core of the role will be centred on guiding sea kayaking journeys. A successful guide will not just have the ability to keep people safe on a sea kayak journey but should possess the knowledge, skills and emotional intelligence necessary to create superb experiences for the centre's clients. The role will involve working with a range of customers, with a range of skill levels and expectations. Adapting to these different customer groups will be a daily task and a successful guide will blend coaching, journeying, insight and interpretation in order to deliver excellent sea kayak trips. 

A successful guide will be able to work independently; assessing the forecasted conditions and choosing an appropriate location, managing the logistics and equipment for their trip and coaching and guiding the clients so that they have a successful day.

Knowledge and experience of paddling in Scotland will be a huge advantage, we will rarely consider applications from guides who have not paddled in Scotland before.

Specific tasks for a sea kayak guide:

  • Sea kayak guiding. Delivering a high level of customer care, an expert knowledge of sea kayaking and the marine environment and a strong personal paddling ability and experience.
  • Running multi-day sea kayak expeditions.
  • Managing the use of vehicles, trailers, kayaks and equipment to ensure the centre is operating as efficiently as possible.
  • A minor role will be to assist with the maintenance and repair of the sea kayaks and kit..

Training and development

We do not expect that every guide we employ will turn up with expert level knowledge or training and due to the range of trips we run then we can offer the chance for less experienced guides to gain experience progressively through their employment.

Qualifications

Essential:

BC sea kayak leader (or equivalent)

Driving licence (cat B is fine)

Desirable:

BC Advanced sea kayak leader

BC coaching awards

What you can expect

The type and range of trips you will be asked to run can be found below:

Day trips:

The most common type of trip. A full day exploring anywhere around the Sound of Arisaig area, usually with mixed groups of adults and sometimes families. The guide would be expected to choose an appropriate location and to both coach and guide the group, initially coaching as a group and then individualised throughout the day so that clients’ enjoyment of the trip is maximised through gaining better control of their kayaks. A balance should always be reached where the main emphasis is on completing a journey but the client should also feel able to progress their skill and knowledge. Guides should be well practiced in teaching clients how to control their kayaks in the wind, how to paddle efficiently and how to turn their kayaks - a successful guide will be able to deliver these sessions to the clients with minimal interruption to the journey or the flow of the day.

Sea kayaking courses:

A range of courses based on consecutive day trips aimed at various levels of paddling experience. Coaching needs to be individualised and relevant to the clients needs as much as possible.

Expeditions:

The guide will be expected to pack for the trip, as well as to coordinate the cooking of meals. To run these trips successfully then guides will need to have a good knowledge of the route choice possibilities in the Sound of Arisaig, with windier forecasts then guides will need to be creative and careful with route planning and logistics to ensure the clients have a good trip.

Working conditions

Guiding work is available on a flexible basis - either for blocks of work or individual expeditions.

You’d be expected to work flexibly with different expeditions and courses having different client meeting places and meet and finish times. Banavie or Inverness are the two locations where we store equipment and where you'd start your work.

Rates of pay

Rates of pay 2025:

Our guides can expect to earn between £135 and £200 per day. Specific rates are dependant upon the type of guiding work (expeditions, courses, day trips, lead guide/second guide) and also your qualifications and level of experience. You can expect to earn more per day on expeditions involving camping with the clients compared to day trips and courses.

Application process

Initial contact:

We’d expect a CV as well as an email containing relevant information about your sea kayaking experience and work history. Please remember that sea kayaking experience and your ability as a guide is our main interest and you should form the focus of your CV and application.

Interview:

If you are satisfied that the demands of the job are suitable for your knowledge and experience and we are interested in taking your application further then we will invite you to either a phone or in-person interview where we will discuss your relevant experience and what we require from our guides. If we feel that you satisfy the requirements for working at Arisaig sea kayak centre then we will discuss opportunities for guiding with us.

Either Guide selection, staff training, shadowing or employment:

If we are happy to take your application further then we will invite you to come and paddle with us, either as part of our staff training or on a seperate day. This will give us the opportunity to assess your skill and knowledge and for you to make sure Arisaig sea kayak centre is a good fit for you. In most circumstances we will not be able to confirm employment until we’ve paddled with you, depending on the circumstances of your application.

Depending on experience we’d expect you to attend staff training, shadow an existing guide, work as a second guide or go straight into guiding trips.

  • Day Trips
  • Multi-day Trips & Courses
  • Expeditions
  • Contact Us
  • Kit list
  • Location
  • Careers
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Used Sea Kayaks for Sale
  • FAQ

© 2025 Arisaig Sea Kayak Centre

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.AcceptReject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT