Job Description

Senior Drilling Engineer (Onshore Planning) – Nairobi, Kenya

We are seeking to hire a Senior Drilling Engineer (Onshore Planning) who will be responsible for leading the design, planning, and optimization of onshore drilling campaigns. The role will ensure safe, efficient, and cost-effective well construction while meeting technical, operational, regulatory, and schedule objectives. The ideal candidate must have extensive upstream oil & gas experience in drilling engineering, well construction planning, and onshore well delivery environments.

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop basis of design and detailed well engineering programs, including casing design, cementing programs, drilling fluids requirements, BHA design, drill string design, and directional drilling plans.

• Prepare drilling work programs, execution work packs, and tender documentation, including drilling schedules, critical path analysis, and resource planning.

• Conduct drilling risk assessments, including HAZID, HAZOP, well control evaluations, and drilling hazard identification, ensuring mitigation measures are incorporated into well designs.

• Develop well cost estimates, AFE budgets, and schedule baselines to support project planning, tender evaluation, and contractor selection.

• Coordinate with subsurface, production, completions, HSE, logistics, procurement, and land access teams to ensure alignment of well objectives and operational constraints.

• Specify, evaluate, and verify drilling equipment, services, and materials, ensuring contractor systems, performance, and compliance meet operational requirements.

• Ensure compliance with HSSEQ standards, regulatory requirements, and well control procedures throughout the well construction lifecycle.

• Provide technical support during drilling execution, including troubleshooting drilling challenges such as stuck pipe, lost circulation, well control events, and directional drilling issues.

• Participate in post-well reviews, lessons learned sessions, and continuous improvement initiatives to enhance future well delivery performance.

• Maintain accurate well construction records, including as-built documentation, well files, drilling reports, and performance tracking data.

• Perform any other duties as assigned in support of drilling and well construction operations.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Petroleum Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.

• Minimum of ten (10) years’ experience in upstream oil & gas drilling engineering, with strong exposure to onshore drilling operations and well construction planning.

• Proven experience delivering onshore wells from planning through execution in upstream drilling environments.

• Strong knowledge of drilling engineering principles, including well design, casing and cementing programs, drilling hydraulics, torque and drag, hole cleaning, well control, directional drilling, and BHA design.

• Experience using well planning and drilling simulation software such as Landmark suite (Drillbench, WellPlan, Compass, WellCat), Schlumberger tools, OpenWells, and related platforms.

• Strong understanding of drilling contracts, rig operations, logistics, permitting, and onshore operational constraints including land access requirements.

• Experience in cost estimation, AFE preparation, scheduling, and drilling performance tracking.

• Strong understanding of HSSEQ systems, risk management frameworks, and well control standards.

• Professional certification such as IWCF Well Control Certification will be an added advantage.

• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, communication, stakeholder engagement, and leadership skills.

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