Jobs and Careers in Immingham

Immingham is a town whose economy is unusually easy to describe in one sentence: it exists because of the port, and most of the jobs around it trace back to the port in one way or another. With a population far smaller than Hull or Grimsby, Immingham sits at the centre of one of the busiest stretches of industrial coastline in the country, handling tonnage that places it among the UK’s largest ports. For anyone weighing up a career in ports, logistics or process industries, it’s one of the most concentrated job markets in the Humber.

A port town built around tonnage and throughput

The Port of Immingham, operated by Associated British Ports (ABP) alongside the ports of Grimsby, Hull and Goole, is one of the UK’s largest ports by tonnage handled. It moves everything from bulk commodities and containers to roll-on roll-off freight, and its scale means the town’s employment base looks quite different from a typical Lincolnshire market town. Across the Humber, ABP’s ports support trade worth around £75bn a year and around 33,000 jobs regionally, with over 1,200 people directly employed by ABP itself.

The new ferry freight terminal

ABP has been developing a roughly £200m ferry freight terminal at Immingham, a project that has already generated around 700 construction jobs and is expected to support around 200 permanent roles once fully operational, one of the more significant single investments in the Humber’s freight infrastructure in recent years. Typical duties at a terminal like this include vehicle marshalling, cargo documentation, terminal operations and traffic management, alongside the engineering and maintenance work needed to keep berths and equipment running. Our ports and logistics sector guide covers these entry routes in more detail, and current vacancies across ABP’s Humber sites are listed on its Humber careers page.

Stallingborough and Helm @ Immingham

Beyond the quayside, ABP has been developing major warehousing and logistics parks at Stallingborough and at Helm @ Immingham, adjacent to the port itself, letting logistics operators locate their warehousing right next to the cargo they’re handling rather than trucking it inland first. For job seekers, this means a growing number of warehouse operative, forklift, supervisory and site management roles, typically with entry-level positions offering on-the-job training. Indicative pay for warehouse operative roles in the area typically sits in the region of £22,000–£27,000, rising for supervisory, HGV driving and specialist logistics roles, depending on experience and employer. Our interview tips for warehouse and logistics roles guide is worth reading before you apply.

Phillips 66’s Humber Refinery at South Killingholme

Just along the coast from Immingham, at South Killingholme, sits the Phillips 66 Humber Refinery, one of the Humber’s largest single industrial sites and a major regional employer in chemicals and process. The refinery employs roughly 750–1,100 people directly, plus a substantial contractor workforce, and is an anchor employer for anyone in the area considering a career in process operations, engineering or maintenance.

The refinery is also a well-established entry point for school leavers who don’t want to go down the university route. Its four-year craft apprenticeship programme takes on up to around 12 apprentices a year, covering trades such as process operations, instrumentation, mechanical and electrical engineering. Locally, Ron Dearing UTC and ENL UTC, both linked to employers like Phillips 66, give secondary-age students an early technical route in, while HETA is a well-regarded regional apprenticeship provider for engineering disciplines more broadly, partnering with more than 400 companies across the area. Indicative pay for skilled process and craft roles at a refinery of this kind typically runs from around £30,000 for newly qualified technicians up towards £45,000-plus for experienced operators and engineers, depending on role and shift pattern. Our chemicals and process sector guide and our engineering apprenticeships with HETA guide go into more detail, and current vacancies are listed on Phillips 66’s Humber Refinery page.

Freeport status and what it means locally

Immingham is one of the tax sites within the Humber Freeport, a programme that has already attracted over £2bn of investment across its Hull, Goole and Immingham sites, with a 2026 investment prospectus targeting a further £3bn and around 5,000 jobs over the next decade. For a town whose economy is so closely tied to trade and logistics infrastructure, this points to steady demand for ports, logistics, engineering and process roles around Immingham for some years to come.

Getting into work in and around Immingham

For most entry points into Immingham’s job market, you don’t need a degree. School leavers can look at apprenticeships through Phillips 66’s craft programme or via HETA, both leading into skilled technical careers without upfront tuition costs. TEC Partnership, based nearby in Grimsby, offers apprenticeships from Level 2 through to Level 7 and is worth checking for courses feeding into port, logistics or process roles. For those with existing warehouse, driving or logistics experience, the entry-level roles at Stallingborough and Helm @ Immingham tend to be the quickest way in.

Where to go next

Our ports and logistics guide and chemicals and process guide cover the sectors that dominate Immingham’s job market in more depth, including typical career progression and the qualifications employers look for. If you’re a school leaver weighing up options, the engineering apprenticeships with HETA guide is a sensible starting point, and our Grimsby apprenticeships guide covers the nearest larger training hub. And if you’re not sure how to structure a search across the wider Humber, our guide on how to find a job in the Humber is a good place to start.