To help fund his PhD research, Maarten worked as a sediment analysis laboratory assistant at the Cambridge Coastal Research Unit of the University of Cambridge. Following successful completion of his PhD, he worked as a coastal processes engineering assistant within the Flood Defence Department of the Environment Agency in Peterborough.
In 2001 he was employed as an oceanographer/scientific programmer at Fugro GEOS (Global Environmental and Ocean Sciences) in Swindon. Relocation of the company in 2003 let Maarten to move to the Isle of Wight from where he commuted to his work as a consultant coastal modeller at ABP Marine Environmental Research Ltd in Southampton.
He then worked for a short spell for a small Island-based company, PhysE Ltd (Physical Environment) as a metocean adviser, before training as a maths teacher in 2008.