Employment

Fun

Fairbanks’ Best Summer Job

Family

100 Years of Family Traditions

Flexibility

Enjoy Your Job and Your Summer

Who We Are

Our company can be described as a small, local, family owned and operated business.

Captain Jim Binkley, Sr., followed in his father’s footsteps and piloted freight vessels on the Yukon and Tanana Rivers in the 1940’s. In 1950, noting the coming changes in the freighting business, Captain Jim and his wife, Mary, began the business. Over the coming years, their business grew from the Godspeed, a 25-passenger vessel, to the Discovery III, a 900-passenger vessel. Today, their grandchildren run the company and you will still see Mary B around the property and waving to the boat.

The Binkley’s also operate a mining attraction: Gold Dredge 8. This tour incorporates large scale mining and the smaller scale side of mining into an all-encompassing tour that also features the Trans Alaska Pipeline and a replica of the Tanana Valley Railroad.

Who We're Looking For

We are looking for those with good work ethic. If you have that, we can teach you anything else you need to know to do your job effectively. Every position within our company is customer service based, and we strive to provide the highest quality of customer service to our guests.

Alaska holds a special place in our guests’ hearts. It is a bucket-list destination that most have dreamed of visiting for a lifetime. To locals, the things about Alaska and Fairbanks that we are used to — like long daylight hours in the summer, dark winters, natural beauty, etc. — are exotic to our guests. We are looking for individuals who are nice, outgoing, optimistic, enthusiastic, and passionate about sharing our great state of Alaska with those who visit us!

Where We Work

Riverboat Discovery and Gold Dredge 8 are located in the heart of Fairbanks, the second-largest city in Alaska.

At 65 degrees north latitude, the sky takes on a capricious life of its own — a canvas for the aurora borealis, the midnight sun and sunsets and sunrises that last forever. Here there are serious mountain ranges, pristine rivers and lakes, abundant wildlife and a certain poignant solitude that is found nowhere else on earth. Locals embrace the natural world and have created a vibrant river city in the far north. Nowhere else can you travel to such a remote locale and still enjoy all the amenities of a charming downtown, a thriving arts community, rich Alaska Native culture, authentic Alaskan activities and attractions and endless opportunities for exploration.

Current Openings

Seasonal: Full Time

Join the Family! The Riverboat Discovery and Gold Dredge 8 offer a multitude of jobs in every department of the operation.

All of our positions at Riverboat Discovery & Gold Dredge 8 have an element of customer service; some more so than others. They can be categorized into two groups, On Stage and Back Stage. On Stage positions have more interaction with our guests, while Back Stage positions have less interaction. However, it is vitally important that every employee (whether On Stage or Back Stage) provides the highest level of customer service possible. As a company, we are committed to create a trip that is a memorable, first class experience for our guests.

The job descriptions and hours range from job to job, but we do not require our employees to come into a department with a specific set of skills in hand; as long as our employees are excited and energetic we can teach them anything they need to know to do their job.
We offer multiple levels of employment; opportunities to lead and manage a team.
Wages starting from $17-$18/hour (this includes $1/hour bonus paid in a lump sum at the end of our season). Leadership position wages range from$17-$20/hour DOE.

Apply Now

On Stage

Retail Sales Associate

‍Riverboat Discovery - Retail Sales Associates serve as a customer service representative for visitors to the Riverboat Discovery; assist visitors with purchases; prepare and stock merchandise for sale; perform inventory control duties; organize and distribute merchandise. Perform other duties related to the successful operation of a retail store including cleaning and moderate lifting.

Dining Hall Associate

Riverboat Discovery - Dining Hall Associates serve as customer service representatives for visitors to the Riverboat Discovery; provide dining service to guests and meet their needs to ensure a pleasurable dining experience; set up/remove food service items; greet and seat guests in a prompt and courteous manner; reset tables according to service standards; operating commercial dishwashers; ensuring cleanliness of dishes including some polishing of glass for water spot removal; maintain sanitation and safety standards.

Reservationist

Riverboat Discovery – Reservationists are in a customer service focused position spending about half of the workday time face to face with our guests and the other half of the day answering phones, responding to emails, giving directions, and other administrative related tasks as directed.

Guide

Riverboat Discovery - Guides greet passengers and serve as ambassadors for Alaskan Native culture; conduct the tour of the Chena Athabascan Village; serve coffee and donuts and assist Deckhands in the snack bar during busy times.

Deckhand

Riverboat Discovery - Deckhands cast off at departure and secure the Riverboat Discovery on landing; maintain the safety and cleanliness of the boat; staff the snack bars when passengers are on board; provide general passenger assistance and if necessary, provide emergency first aid until trained EMTs arrive. Mandatory drug testing per the U.S. Coast Guard.

‍Village Hand

‍Riverboat Discovery - Village Hands maintain the Chena Athabascan Village; set up and take down props, cabins, and displays used during the tour; perform maintenance and upkeep; feed and monitor reindeer; catch and cast lines during boat landing and departure; push and receive gang planks; greet passengers; clean restrooms and porta potties; monitor inventory of supplies.

‍Gold Guides

‍Gold Dredge 8 - Gold Guides assist visitors with purchases; fill pokes with pay dirt and offer them to visitors; demonstrate gold panning techniques and assist visitors with gold panning; weigh gold and assemble lockets; assist with preparation and clean-up of panning area; sell tickets at the train station; assist passengers with boarding the train; fill in at the gift shop or on grounds maintenance as needed; prepare and stock merchandise for sale; perform inventory control duties; organize and distribute merchandise; perform other duties related to the successful operation of a retail store including cleaning and moderate lifting. ‍

‍Train Engineer‍

Gold Dredge 8 – Train Engineer is responsible for the operation of a diesel and an electric train and the safety of the passengers as well as the maintenance of the trains and train tracks. Reports to the General Manager and President.

Back Stage

Accounting Clerk‍

‍Riverboat Discovery - ‍Accounting Clerk duties may include counting cash; preparing daily receipts ledgers and deposits; entering accounts receivable into an accounting program; preparing invoices and journal entries; reservation support duties.‍

Kitchen Assistant‍

‍Riverboat Discovery - ‍Kitchen Assistants primarily work in our kitchen area with some duties performed in our dining hall. Their duties include operating kitchen cooking equipment to heat fixed menu food; preparing all food for our gift shop café; serving food in the dining hall; maintaining the cleanliness standards required in the kitchen.‍

Donut Maker‍

‍Riverboat Discovery - ‍Donut Maker duties include operate the donut-making machine, clean the donut-making machine and Commissary; ensure that donuts are properly produced, boxed and refrigerated.‍

Grounds Crew (Full-time & Part-time)

‍Riverboat Discovery - Full-time (11am - 7:30pm) and part-time (5pm - 7:30 pm) Grounds Crew members clean the Riverboat Discovery and premises twice a day (after the boat returns to the dock at 12:30pm and again at 5:30pm). Duties include dusting, vacuuming, emptying trash, washing windows, cleaning restrooms and miscellaneous warehouse/grounds maintenance duties; some off-site maintenance tasks to be performed as directed.

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Seasonal Management & Leadership Positions

Please email hr@riverboatdiscovery.com if you have any questions about the positions listed below
Supply Chain Manager - Riverboat Discovery

Boat Operations Manager - Riverboat Discovery

Retail Sales Manager - Riverboat Discovery

Retail Warehouse Manager - Riverboat Discovery

Shipping Manager - Riverboat Discovery

Retail Buyers Assistant - Riverboat Discovery

‍First Mate & Lead Deckhand – Riverboat Discovery‍

Grounds Crew Lead - Riverboat Discovery

Kitchen Lead - Riverboat Discovery

Outside Ops Lead - Gold Dredge 8

Retail Lead - Gold Dredge 8

Gold Counter Lead - Gold Dredge 8

Reservations Lead - Gold Dredge 8

Warehouse Lead - Gold Dredge 8

Year Round: Full Time

Join the Family! Our year round, full time employees become exactly that, members of our family. Our full time positions offer great compensation, health benefits, 401K programs, flexibility in schedules and a great place to grow within the Alaska hospitality industry. Please click the 'contact us' button below to inquire about job opportunities and submit a resume.

Contact Us