Advisor to Group Director (Oil Gas)

Job duties:

Independent Technical Review & Assurance

• Review all operator technical papers, design deliverables, cost estimates, schedule updates, concept selection documents, and Decision Support Packages (DSPs) across the portfolio. Produce a structured technical position — Key Finding / Technical Assessment / Risk-Gap / Recommendation — for the Director before any committee vote or formal position is issued.
• Assess whether operator proposals are presented at the appropriate level of technical maturity (concept screening vs. Pre-FEED vs. FEED vs. FID readiness). Flag premature commitments, single-source decisions, and fait accompli framing. Recommend conditions for approval where maturity is insufficient.
• Apply independent cost benchmarking (public domain, IOC analogues, AACE class equivalents) and schedule analysis (critical path, float assessment, offshore installation weather windows) to validate or challenge operator submissions at TSC and CSC levels. Identify hidden risks, scope gaps, and unsupported contingency levels.

Governance Preparation & Committee Support

• Draft, review, and finalise position papers, management briefing notes, formal technical queries, written challenge letters, and committee talking points. Ensure all governance deliverables meet IOC-equivalent quality and are decision-ready for Director review within agreed lead times.
• Prepare Director briefing packages before each committee meeting, including pre-read summaries, open-item trackers, and suggested fromal positions. After meetings, track action closure, operator commitments, and escalation triggers. Maintain a portfolio-level governance log.
• Maintain a consolidated view of all portfolio assets simultaneously. Track interdependencies (schedule conflicts, shared contractor resource competition, strategic priorities, and FID milestones). Surface cross-portfolio risks that are not visible at the individual asset level

Matrix Coordination

• Act as the primary coordination point between the Offshore Assets teams and matrix support functions (Subsurface, Engineering, Legal/Commercial, HSE, Finance). Define the scope and quality of deliverables required, task the relevant functions, consolidate outputs, and ensure timely delivery to meet hard committee deadlines.
• Identify and manage engagements with third-party technical advisors, benchmarking firms, and independent reviewers where the required assurance cannot be provided internally. Define terms of reference, manage delivery, and integrate findings into governance positions..

Strategic Advisory

• Identify patterns in operator behaviour across the portfolio — cost management strategies, local content avoidance, contractor preference biases, schedule management — and provide the with a strategic read on operator intent beyond the technical content of any individual submission.
• Frame company positions through the lens of national interest: local content and in-country value creation, PSA cost recovery and fiscal implications, gas supply commitments to TANAP/TAP, political timeline considerations, and SOCAR’s long-term operatorship capability development objectives.
• Support the development of asset management staff through structured review, coaching on technical challenge methods, and production of reusable analytical frameworks for recurring governance tasks. Contribute systematically to closing critical capability gaps in facilities engineering, cost estimation, and project controls.

Essential experience and job requirements: 

• Bachelor’s degree in Petroleum Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical or Process Engineering, or equivalent technical discipline. Master’s degree or MBA with engineering foundation is preferred.
• At least 15 years of work experience in the upstream oil and gas industry, with a demonstrable track record across at least two of the following disciplines: subsurface and reservoir engineering, drilling and wells, offshore engineering and facilities, or project management.
• Offshore project delivery experience from concept through FID — ideally including participation in one full pre-FID cycle on a complex offshore development (platform, SURF, CPF, or FPSO) in a technically responsible role.
• Direct non-operator or shareholder governance experience: participation in MC, TSC, CSC, or equivalent joint venture committees as a NOC, co-venturer, or technical advisor — not merely as a passive observer.
• Demonstrated ability to challenge IOC operator submissions in a structured, evidence-based manner through written technical queries, alternative scenario development, and independent cost benchmarking.
• Working familiarity with IOC operating and project management standards — sufficient to identify when those standards are applied incompletely or selectively.
• Experience on both sides of a joint venture — operator project delivery and non-operator shareholder governance — is strongly preferred.
• Caspian offshore basin familiarity (Shah Deniz, Absheron, ACG, or comparable environment) is an advantage.
• Working knowledge of PSA fiscal frameworks: cost recovery mechanics, profit oil split, ring-fencing, and their interface with project economics and scope trade-off decisions.
• Experience working with or commissioning independent cost benchmarking against public-domain data and IOC analogues, without access to proprietary databases.
• Demonstrated experience producing governance-quality written deliverables: NOC position papers, technical assurance reports, MC briefing notes, or formal challenge correspondence at investment-committee standard.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to construct and test technical arguments from first principles and identify gaps in operator logic without being given a template.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to synthesise complex multi-discipline issues into concise, decision-ready governance outputs without editorial support.
• SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) membership is strongly preferred.
• Fluency in English is required. 

Interested candidates can apply by filling out the form in the Apply for job button.