The present study was carried out to determine and characterize the virulence and antimicrobial resistance profile of S. aureus from ready-to-eat (RTE) shrimp. A total of 720 RTE shrimp samples from open market in Delta State Nigeria were assessed for the virulence and antimicrobial characteristic profile of S. aureus using classical and molecular biology method. All S. aureus isolates in this study were positive for DNase, β-hemolysis, and coagulase activity phenotypically. A total of 21 (39.6%), 15 (28.3%), 10 (18.9%) and 7 (13.2%) S. aureus isolates were strong, moderate, weak and negative to biofilm formation respectively. A total of 86.8% were resistant to >3 antibiotics with 52.8% of the isolates resistant to >10 antibiotics. Multiple antibiotic resistant index ranged from 0.05 to 0.96. The most prevalent virulence determinants in this study includes 53 (100%) for coa, hla, icaA, icaB and spa. Some prevalent toxins genes include sea 29 (54.7%), see 26 (49.1%), tsst-1 11 (20.8%) and pvl 24 (45.3%). Occurrence of some antibiotic resistance genes screened based on their phenotypic resistance profile is as follows: mecA 53/53 (100%), tetK 44/44 (100%) and cat::pC194 31/31 (100%). Findings from this study pinpoint the role of contaminated seafood in the spread of drug resistant pathogenic S. aureus strains representing an important public health risk.