Senior Drilling Engineer (Onshore Planning) – Nairobi, Kenya at WTS Energy

Job Description

• 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.