Lead Subsea Drilling Engineer

Since its creation in 2014, Harbour has grown to become one of the world’s largest and most geographically diverse independent oil and gas companies.  Today, Harbour is producing between 475,000 and 485,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day with significant production in Norway, the UK, Germany, Argentina and North Africa. Harbour benefits from competitive operating costs and resilient margins, and a broad set of growth options including near-infrastructure opportunities in Norway, unconventional scalable opportunities in Argentina and conventional offshore projects in Mexico and Indonesia. With low GHG emissions intensity and a leading CO2 storage position in Europe, Harbour remains committed to producing oil and gas safely and responsibly to help meet the world’s energy needs. Harbour is headquartered in London with approximately 5,000 staff and contractors across its operations and offices. 

Ours is an inclusive workplace where individuals can bring their whole selves to their job and feel recognised for the value they add. We are committed to creating a genuinely inclusive and supportive working environment to ensure everyone has a positive experience at work.

At Harbour Energy, we aim to recruit, retain and promote our people based on their unique skills, regardless of race, gender or background. We need excellent people to help shape and develop the future of our company. Could this be you?

If so, we want to hear from you.

Job Expectations :

• Lead the drilling engineering design, planning, and execution for the Zama Phase 1 Development Project, ensuring alignment with project objectives, HSES requirements, and industry standards.
• Ensure safe, efficient, and high-quality Drilling operations while proactively identifying and mitigating risks.
• Collaborate closely with the Wells Manager, Drilling Engineers, Completion Engineers, subsurface, procurement, and service providers to deliver safe, efficient, and cost-effective Drilling operations.
• Provide technical guidance, mentoring, and knowledge transfer to junior Drilling engineers, fostering team development and competence growth.
• Drive continuous improvement by implementing best practices, lessons learned, and innovative technologies in Drilling operations.
• Act as the project’s technical authority for Drilling engineering, operational plans, and execution strategies are technically robust, fully compliant with company standards, regulatory requirements, and international norms, while embedding HSES excellence in every stage of project delivery.
• Monitors the well construction with the rig team.  Provides guidance to execution of Drilling program. 

Critical Responsibilities (MAE/MATTE/HSES):

• Ensuring that all activities are carried out in a safe manner complying with all regulatory requirements, legislation and Harbour Energy HSES Procedures.

Ethics and Compliance Responsibilities:

• Ensure that all activities and behaviours are carried out in accordance with Harbour Energy’s Ethics and Compliance Policies and Procedures, and to complete any compulsory compliance training as required

Tasks And Scope Of Work / Main Responsibilities Areas:

• Lead the design, engineering, preparation, and execution of the well construction strategies, and related studies for the Zama Phase 1 Development Project in a safe, reliable, efficient and responsible manner.
• Coordinate and actively follow up on offshore Drilling operations, ensuring compliance with project plans, service quality standards, and regulatory approvals.
• Ensure all Drilling engineering activities comply with company and international standards.
• Prepare and review Drilling programs, operational guidelines, well schematics, and cost estimates, ensuring technical robustness and operational efficiency.
• Collaborates with subsurface, completion, subsea, HSE, Supply Chain, and operations teams to ensure robust solutions and interfaces.
• Liaises with production and well operations teams to ensure Drilling design is fit for purpose.
• Maintain close and regular interactions with Headquarters to ensure alignment with the company’s project delivery process.
• Manage relationships and technical interfaces with service companies, ensuring delivery of reliable and innovative Drilling solutions.
• Support contract strategy, procurement, and evaluation of service providers for Drilling-related activities.
• Support in the Management of Change (MoC) processes for Drilling activities.
• Participate in readiness reviews, service quality meetings, and risk assessments to safeguard operational integrity and delivery.
• Conduct post-job evaluations and capture lessons learned to drive continuous improvement across Drilling operations.
• Contribute to the development of the BU Mexico Wells department and maintain strong interaction with HQ.

Education (Level of education required)

• Education level of Bachelor / Master Degree in Petroleum Engineering or related.

Professional Experience (Required experience in a clearly definable field of activity and total years).

• At least 20 years of relevant experience in Drilling engineering and operations with focus in the offshore environment, including a minimum of 7-8 years specifically on subsea Drilling.
• Preferred Local experience (Mexico) with planning and execution of subsea wells
• Experience in preparing drilling program, subsea wellhead design and deployment, and Drilling operational plans liaising with service partners
• Experience in interacting with local authorities (SENER, ASEA).

TECHNICAL AND NON-TECHNICAL SKILLS

Technical Skills (Special Technical knowledge: As: Software. Law knowledge, standards knowledge, etc.)

• Experience with design elements including casing design, subsea well control, subsea operations, and subsea wellhead systems
• Knowledge of all relevant local regulations and standards
• Good experience of well planning software like Landmark, StressCheck, WellCat, WellPlan
• Good experience in Drilling procurement processes
• Experience in probabilistic cost estimating and related software
• Clear written and verbal communication and presentation skills
• Willing to work a demanding and flexible schedule
• Able to organize and prioritize a diverse and heavy workload
• Ability to work in a collaborative environment and communicate effectively and constructively with other technical functions, field personnel, and service partners at all levels
• Recognize personal strengths and weaknesses and be proactive in self-development
• Have a strong sense of integrity and the ability to deal with ethical situations effectively
• Proficient in Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, and Teams. 
• Track-record of technical understanding of development Drilling, HSE, field operations and commercial aspects
• Good business awareness and commercial understanding.
• Well site operations experience
• Performance mindset and problem-solving attitude.
• Ability to work independently and as a team player.

Non-Technical Skills (It refers to soft skills: i.e. leadership, management skills, negotiation, communication, etc.)

• Team player, able to work with a multi-disciplinary team.
• Highly motivated to learn from others.
• Mentoring of junior engineers.
• Strong problem-solving capacity.
• Detail-oriented focus on reaching the tasks/objectives proposed.
• Proficient in English, Spanish is an advantage (written & spoken).

Inclusive recruitment is a vital part of our diversity, equity and inclusion strategy. Whatever your background, if you feel you need an adjustment during our selection process to suit your needs, please let us know, and we will be happy to help.

For further information or support on any of these points, please reach out to us at careers@harbourenergy.com