Applications Engineer

Job Purpose

JOB PURPOSE & KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

Provide reliable support, administration and continuous improvement of the application portfolio used by NOC  Subsurface business lines, including Reservoir and  Development, Drilling and Wells departments.
Act as a bridge between business users, DBS teams and  vendors to maintain secure, available and fit-for-purpose  application services.
Design and develop new digital tools, automations and AI-enabled solutions on approved NOC platforms, translating business requirements into scalable products that improve technical workflows, data quality and
decision-making.

JOB DIMENSIONS:

Managed positions: None
Direct reports: None
Budget responsibility: No direct budget responsibility; contributes to cost, contract and licence optimisation.
Projects: Application upgrades and deployments; implementation of new software solutions; subsurface workflow improvements; integrations; cloud and data-platform initiatives; development of automation, analytics and AI-enabled tools.

Key Accountabilities

ACTIVITIES:

Safety & Working Environment:

• Uphold and be a role model for NOC core values, Incident Free and leadership behaviours.
• Help maintain motivation, team spirit and  camaraderie.
• Continuously improve ways of working through an 'inspect and adapt' approach, fostering a growth-oriented and collaborative mindset among the different stakeholders.

Coordination and Collaboration

•  Build trusted working relationships with Subsurface users and focal points and provide clear advice
  based on business and technical understanding.
• Collaborate with architecture, infrastructure, cloud, data, cybersecurity, service management and other
  DBS teams to deliver integrated solutions.
• Work effectively in agile, multidisciplinary teams with  product owners, subject-matter experts, developers and external technology partners.
• Communicate delivery status, technical risks,  dependencies, obstacles, service performance and realised value to the direct manager and relevant  stakeholders.

Core Responsibilities

• Provide day-to-day functional and technical support for subsurface applications used by Reservoir and Development, Drilling and Wells departments.
• Manage the end-to-end lifecycle of Subsurface  applications across Windows and Linux environments, including configuration, packaging,  upgrades and retirement.
• Provide support to business users, the DBS  Business Partner and DBS colleagues based on  relevant technical expertise.
• Support the DBS Business Partner and business  focal points in creating and managing departmental technical roadmaps and future development plans  within the relevant area of technical expertise.
• Troubleshoot application, integration, database,  infrastructure and access issues in coordination with internal DBS teams and vendors.
• Resolve incidents and defects within agreed SLAs  and coordinate software updates with business, DBS and vendor teams.
• Support application upgrades, patches, testing,  deployment and transition to operations in line with NOC architecture, cybersecurity and change- management standards.
• Maintain architecture records, support procedures,  source-code documentation, and user guides; contribute to training and user adoption.Maintain disaster-recovery procedures and verify application recovery readiness for business-critical
  services.
• Monitor application availability, performance,  incidents, problems, changes, usage and licence consumption; identify and implement service  improvements.
• Plan and deliver digital initiatives and projects while  managing milestones, dependencies and risks.
• Evaluate and validate emerging Subsurface  technologies and AI-driven solutions for business  viability and full-scale adoption.
• Gather and analyse business requirements, map  current and target workflows, and translate needs into technical specifications and acceptance criteria.
• Support vendor, contract and licence management  and contribute to portfolio rationalisation, cost optimisation and value tracking.
• Provide technical input to procurement scopes,  tenders and evaluations and monitor vendor performance against agreed SLAs.
• Contribute to operational and project budget  planning, expenditure tracking, forecasting and  variance reporting.
• Design, prototype, develop, test, document and  maintain fit-for-purpose applications, integrations  and workflow automations.
• Develop software tools on approved NOC platforms  according to business needs, including solutions that use machine learning, generative AI, copilots or  intelligent workflow automation where they provide measurable value.
• Apply secure software-development practices,  version control, code review, automated testing,  CI/CD and appropriate monitoring throughout the  solution lifecycle.
• Ensure responsible use of company data, including  access control, and compliance with NOC governance requirements.
• Maintain automated data interfaces, synchronisation  jobs and system connectors across  enterprise repositories and platforms. 

CONTEXT AND WORK ENVIRONMENT:

The company relies more and more on advanced Digital and Business solutions to extend its operations beyond 2042, in the most cost-effective way.
Position located in Doha (Qatar) office. Standard office hours, 5 days a week.

Competencies

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, Data Science, Petroleum Engineering or a related discipline.

Certification

Relevant certifications in Subsurface application management, cloud, software development, data/AI, ITIL or project delivery is a plus.

Experience

Minimum Experience:

• Minimum 6 years of relevant IT experience,  including implementation, administration or support of business-critical applications.
• Demonstrated experience supporting subsurface- specific software in at least one domain such as reservoir engineering, geoscience, drilling, or  petroleum data management.
• Hands-on experience developing applications,  automations, integrations or data products using modern programming and delivery practices. 
• Experience in the Oil & Gas industry and in  delivering solutions within an enterprise environment  is strongly preferred 

Job-Specific Skills (Generic / Technical):

• Working knowledge of subsurface workflows and software solutions, including but not limited to vendor solutions from SLB, Halliburton, Peloton,  Weatherford, Kappa, etc.
• Knowledge of common technical application  architectures, including desktop, client-server, web  and cloud-hosted solutions.
• Understanding of databases, identity and access  management, networking, Windows/Linux environments, application security and integration  patterns.
• Proficiency in at least one programming language,  preferably Python; experience with Django framework; experience with APIs, SQL, scripting,  source control and automated testing.
• Familiarity with cloud platforms such as Microsoft  Azure and low-code/data-science platforms used in enterprise environments; experience with GitHub  and GitHub Codespaces; working knowledge of CI/CD pipelines with deployment to Azure  Kubernetes Service (AKS).
• Experience with AI-enabled development platforms,  machine-learning services, generative AI, prompt engineering, retrieval-augmented generation or  intelligent automation is highly desirable.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the  ability to learn unfamiliar technical and  subsurface domains quickly.
• Strong project-delivery skills, with the ability to plan  and coordinate initiatives, manage milestones, dependencies and risks, and deliver solutions  through testing, user acceptance and operational handover.
• Clear communication, stakeholder-management and  documentation skills; collaborative, pragmatic  and service-oriented approach.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities, work  independently and support changes in a business- critical environment.
• Fluent written and spoken English.