Drilling Engineer

Role Overview

Title: Drilling Engineer

Hours: Full Time; Salaried

Location: Salt Lake City, UT (In-office, Hybrid)

Benefits Eligible: Yes

Manager: Head of Exploration

Mission - Why we need you

Geothermal energy is the most abundant renewable energy source in the world. There is 2,300 times more energy in geothermal heat in the ground than in oil, gas, coal, and methane combined. However, historically it’s been hard to find and expensive to develop. At Zanskar, we’re using better technology to find and develop new geothermal resources in order to make geothermal a cheap and vital contributor to a carbon-free electrical grid.

In order to find and develop a portfolio of new geothermal projects, we need a Drilling Engineer to join our Exploration team to enable large-scale drill programs, scope completion parameters, monitor drilling programs in-field, and identify ways to drill safely and more rapidly in frontier geothermal systems.

Outcomes - Problems you’ll solve

The Drilling Engineer is responsible for leading the design, plan, and operational execution of drilling campaigns ranging from temperature gradient wells to full-size production and injection geothermal well construction, including completions. The scope of work includes owning the technical, business, and operational aspects of drilling.

- Develop and implement step-by-step well program design(s) to achieve well objectives and maintain full compliance with regulatory and HSE requirements

- Provide technical and management support on daily drilling activities and serve as the primary point of contact for field engineering issues

- Integrate with the exploration and R&D teams to implement novel drilling programs for temperature gradient campaigns and full-size wells

- Negotiate contracts from drilling companies on drilling and materials cost estimates ranging from simple scoping to probabilistic cost estimates

- Support cross-functional field development optimization efforts through well planning, in-field mobilization, and design optimization

- Compile technical and operations data for permitting and all other regulatory filings

- Lead after-action review to identify best practices and lessons learned; provide internal and external benchmarking and end of project reports

- Prepare tenders, analyze vendor responses, and support contract negotiation and administration

- Travel to the field frequently to oversee operations, and foster strong working relationships with contracted drillers, field personnel and 3rd party vendors and suppliers, to effectively coordinate and provide support to business-critical needs

Competencies – What we’re looking for

Drilling Experience: Minimum of 5 years of hands-on field experience in drilling engineering/completions/operations. Experience with tools and methods for evaluating completion efficiency and optimizing well performance. Competent with standard drilling calculations. Bachelor’s Degree in an Engineering discipline and geothermal experience preferred.

Vendor and project management: Can evaluate drilling contractors’ performance and manage to improve performance in speed and cost. Ability to travel up to 30-40% of the time to field locations to manage projects. 

Balances safety and adaptability: Understands and manages the risk trade-offs needed to both create safe, standardized operations and well control while working in a fast-paced, innovative environment and shift priorities/focus depending on the business needs

• Paid holidays
• 15 days PTO PTO accrual increase based on tenure
• Medical and dental coverage
• 401k Match
• Stock options
• Growth opportunities at a company with a direct impact in displacing carbon emissions

Equal Opportunity Employer

Zanskar is an equal opportunity employer (EOE) and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local employment practice laws. 

Please reach out to careers@zanskar.us with any questions.