Lead Production Engineer - Wellsite Autonomous Operations
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Required Skills
Job Description
Full time
Lead Production Engineer \- Wellsite Autonomous Operations
United States of America, Colorado, Denver 4 days ago
Job category
Engineering
Experience level
Senior
Relocation available
This role is not eligible for relocation
Job type
Professionals
Travel required
Up to 25% travel should be expected with this role
Job code
RQ107901
Job Description
Role Synopsis
The Enterprise Production Engineering Lead for Wellsite Autonomous Operations serves as the single production engineering authority for autonomous and semi‑autonomous production optimization across the enterprise. This role is accountable for ensuring production optimization logic delivers measurable value at scale, while remaining aligned with enterprise governance, process safety, and operating model standards.
The role has final decision authority for production optimization standards within delegated authority and escalates strategic or cross‑system changes as required. The position is a cornerstone of the Wellsite Automation Operations, converting field‑level innovation into repeatable, governed, enterprise advantage.
Scope \& Accountability
Own the enterprise production engineering standards that underpin autonomous and semi‑autonomous operations.
Ensure optimization strategies deliver production uplift, deferral reduction, and reliability improvement across all business units.
Serve as the production engineering counterpart to automation, facilities, and operations leadership within the autonomy governance model.
Performance Management \& Learning
Partner with WAO leadership to define success criteria, KPIs, and OKRs for autonomous production optimization initiatives.
Establish clear, outcome‑based measures for value delivery, reliability, and operational confidence.
Lead or support root cause failure analyses (RCFAs) for material production, reliability, or autonomy‑related events.
Ensure RCFA outcomes are translated into updated standards, control logic guardrails, and deployment criteria.
Standards \& Governance
Define, steward, and maintain production optimization standards, including:
Dynamic gas lift optimization logic
Autonomous and supervised restart strategies for ESPs and compression
Operating envelopes and guardrails for autonomous control
**Establish clear criteria for:**
Standard application
Approved deviations
Required escalation for strategic or risk‑based decisions
Ensure production optimization logic is consistent with process safety, equipment protection, and cybersecurity requirements.
Value Delivery
Deliver measurable production and reliability value through scaled deployment of autonomous optimization.
Enable faster replication of successful optimization strategies across business units.
Reduce variability in production outcomes by eliminating bespoke, non‑standard logic.
Lessons Learned \& Continuous Improvement
Capture positive and negative outcomes from autonomous optimization deployments.
Convert lessons learned into updated standards, logic refinements, and deployment constraints.
Ensure learning velocity outpaces deployment velocity to protect value and safety.
Enterprise Interface \& Influence
**Act as the trusted production engineering authority for:**
Business Unit Production Engineering Leads
Automation \& Controls leadership
Operations leadership (VP / Superintendent level)
Influence outcomes without direct execution ownership.
Provide clear, data‑based recommendations to senior leadership.
Essential Experience and Education
Experience
12\+ years of Production Engineering experience in onshore oil and gas operations.
Demonstrated enterprise or multi‑asset influence.
Recognized internally as a technical authority and reviewer.
Technical Domain Expertise
Deep expertise in gas lift design, surveillance, and optimization.
**Hands‑on experience with:**
ESP systems and failure modes
Compression systems and restart constraints
Production instability, deferral, and optimization campaigns
Strong production surveillance and diagnostics capability using real‑time and historical data.
Automation \& Autonomy Literacy
Working knowledge of control philosophies, interlocks, permissives, and fail‑safe design.
Clear understanding of assisted, supervised, and autonomous operating modes.
Ability to translate production engineering intent into automation‑ready, governable logic.
Technical Competencies
System‑level optimization thinking (reservoir well surface compression sales).
Ability to balance short‑term production uplift with long‑term reliability and risk.
Critical evaluation of rules‑based, physics‑based, and data‑driven optimization approaches.
Governance \& Decision‑Making
Comfortable exe
Lead Production Engineer \- Wellsite Autonomous Operations
United States of America, Colorado, Denver 4 days ago
Job category
Engineering
Experience level
Senior
Relocation available
This role is not eligible for relocation
Job type
Professionals
Travel required
Up to 25% travel should be expected with this role
Job code
RQ107901
Job Description
Role Synopsis
The Enterprise Production Engineering Lead for Wellsite Autonomous Operations serves as the single production engineering authority for autonomous and semi‑autonomous production optimization across the enterprise. This role is accountable for ensuring production optimization logic delivers measurable value at scale, while remaining aligned with enterprise governance, process safety, and operating model standards.
The role has final decision authority for production optimization standards within delegated authority and escalates strategic or cross‑system changes as required. The position is a cornerstone of the Wellsite Automation Operations, converting field‑level innovation into repeatable, governed, enterprise advantage.
Scope \& Accountability
Own the enterprise production engineering standards that underpin autonomous and semi‑autonomous operations.
Ensure optimization strategies deliver production uplift, deferral reduction, and reliability improvement across all business units.
Serve as the production engineering counterpart to automation, facilities, and operations leadership within the autonomy governance model.
Performance Management \& Learning
Partner with WAO leadership to define success criteria, KPIs, and OKRs for autonomous production optimization initiatives.
Establish clear, outcome‑based measures for value delivery, reliability, and operational confidence.
Lead or support root cause failure analyses (RCFAs) for material production, reliability, or autonomy‑related events.
Ensure RCFA outcomes are translated into updated standards, control logic guardrails, and deployment criteria.
Standards \& Governance
Define, steward, and maintain production optimization standards, including:
Dynamic gas lift optimization logic
Autonomous and supervised restart strategies for ESPs and compression
Operating envelopes and guardrails for autonomous control
**Establish clear criteria for:**
Standard application
Approved deviations
Required escalation for strategic or risk‑based decisions
Ensure production optimization logic is consistent with process safety, equipment protection, and cybersecurity requirements.
Value Delivery
Deliver measurable production and reliability value through scaled deployment of autonomous optimization.
Enable faster replication of successful optimization strategies across business units.
Reduce variability in production outcomes by eliminating bespoke, non‑standard logic.
Lessons Learned \& Continuous Improvement
Capture positive and negative outcomes from autonomous optimization deployments.
Convert lessons learned into updated standards, logic refinements, and deployment constraints.
Ensure learning velocity outpaces deployment velocity to protect value and safety.
Enterprise Interface \& Influence
**Act as the trusted production engineering authority for:**
Business Unit Production Engineering Leads
Automation \& Controls leadership
Operations leadership (VP / Superintendent level)
Influence outcomes without direct execution ownership.
Provide clear, data‑based recommendations to senior leadership.
Essential Experience and Education
Experience
12\+ years of Production Engineering experience in onshore oil and gas operations.
Demonstrated enterprise or multi‑asset influence.
Recognized internally as a technical authority and reviewer.
Technical Domain Expertise
Deep expertise in gas lift design, surveillance, and optimization.
**Hands‑on experience with:**
ESP systems and failure modes
Compression systems and restart constraints
Production instability, deferral, and optimization campaigns
Strong production surveillance and diagnostics capability using real‑time and historical data.
Automation \& Autonomy Literacy
Working knowledge of control philosophies, interlocks, permissives, and fail‑safe design.
Clear understanding of assisted, supervised, and autonomous operating modes.
Ability to translate production engineering intent into automation‑ready, governable logic.
Technical Competencies
System‑level optimization thinking (reservoir well surface compression sales).
Ability to balance short‑term production uplift with long‑term reliability and risk.
Critical evaluation of rules‑based, physics‑based, and data‑driven optimization approaches.
Governance \& Decision‑Making
Comfortable exe
Posted: 2026-03-11