Senior Dive Instructor — Technical & Specialty Programs

Responsibilities

• Facilitate PADI specialty instructor courses: Wreck Diver Instructor, Night Diver Instructor, Deep Diver Instructor, and Peak Performance Buoyancy Instructor — courses that develop the skill set and income stream of junior instructors at the dive shop
• Conduct advanced certification programs for experienced divers visiting Cancún: Rescue Diver and Divemaster courses require an experienced instructor with multiple course completion records
• Lead Divemasters through PADI Divemaster Internship programs: the internship is the highest-volume pathway to professional-level certification — managing interns through the full program requires structured mentorship, assessment, and documentation
• Plan and conduct dive expeditions to Isla Contoy and Isla Mujeres for the dive shop's certified customer base: these day-trip sites require boat logistics, site selection based on seasonal current and visibility conditions, and multi-dive day management
• Manage the dive shop's daily operations when the owner or manager is absent: equipment rental oversight, booking management, and team briefing are within the senior instructor's scope
• Develop and maintain the dive shop's specialty program calendar and marketing communications

Requirements

• PADI Instructor (OWSI) with multiple specialty instructor ratings
• 500+ logged dives with Cancún and Caribbean reef site experience
• Divemaster Internship management experience
• Small business operations competency for shop management cover
• English and Spanish bilingual at professional instructional standard

Benefits

• IMSS, aguinaldo, paid vacation + premium
• Senior monthly salary + specialty program fee participation
• Free technical specialty dive access for personal development
• Career track to PADI IDC Staff Instructor and Course Director pathway

Work environment

Senior professional diver and program developer at a Cancún PADI dive shop. Specialty instruction, internship management, and dive shop operations in the Caribbean's highest-volume recreational diving market.

About the role

The Cancún senior instructor who runs a Divemaster Internship with 4 candidates over 8 weeks — who knows which ones have the spatial awareness and buoyancy control for cave diving, which have the communication skills for great instruction, and which should direct toward the technical side — is doing talent development as well as technical instruction. The best candidates go on to teach for decades; the instructor who identified and developed that potential is part of that trajectory.