Dive Instructor — Open Water & Advanced Courses

Responsibilities

• Conduct PADI Open Water Diver, Advanced Open Water, and Rescue Diver courses: classroom and pool confined water sessions in Playa del Carmen, followed by open water certification dives at Cozumel and Riviera Maya sites
• Lead certified diver guided tours at Cozumel's Santa Rosa Wall, Palancar Reef, and the Columbia Wall: Cozumel's drift dive environment requires current-specific briefing and dive management that is distinct from standard reef tour instruction
• Maintain PADI Instructor certification and annual professional development currency: Emergency First Response Instructor certification required
• Perform equipment checks for all students and rental equipment: inspect BCD, regulator, tank, and wetsuit before every dive session; identify and remove defective equipment
• Conduct thorough pre-dive safety briefings: hand signals, emergency procedures, buddy system requirements, depth limits, and site-specific current conditions
• Assist with dive shop equipment maintenance: post-dive rinsing protocols, regulator servicing scheduling, tank inspection, and wetsuit maintenance contribute to equipment longevity and student safety

Requirements

• PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI) certification minimum; IDC Staff Instructor preferred
• Minimum 500 logged dives; Cozumel and Mesoamerican Reef site experience a strong advantage
• Emergency First Response Instructor (EFRI) certification
• Spanish and English bilingual — Playa del Carmen's diver demographic includes domestic Mexican, North American, and European clients
• Physical fitness for regular diving in Cozumel's current conditions

Benefits

• IMSS, aguinaldo, paid vacation + premium
• Fixed monthly + student and diver tip income
• Free diving access and course participation for ongoing personal dive development
• Dive equipment provision and wetsuit use during shift
• Career pathway to Divemaster training programs and IDC facilitation

Work environment

PADI Dive Center in Playa del Carmen with operations at Cozumel and Riviera Maya sites. Open water instruction and guided reef tours in the Caribbean's most biodiverse diving corridor.

About the role

The Playa del Carmen dive instructor who has led their thousandth Cozumel drift dive — who knows exactly when to signal the group to ascend as the current accelerates at the Santa Rosa Wall channel — is experiencing the kind of professional environment that people in office jobs dream about. The fact that world-class diving is the daily work setting is not coincidental; it's the reason the best instructors in the Mexican Caribbean stayed.