Location: The Woodlands, TX
Schedule: 9/80
Travel: Offshore and onshore travel required
Position Summary
We are seeking an experienced Operational Readiness Lead to serve as a key interface between Operations and Project teams. This position will help ensure new facilities, equipment, and systems are designed, commissioned, and transitioned into Operations with a strong focus on safety, operability, reliability, maintainability, and long-term asset performance.
Key Responsibilities
Operational Integration & Project Support
- Serve as a liaison between Field Operations, Maintenance, Engineering, Construction, and Project teams.
- Ensure Operations and Maintenance requirements are identified and addressed throughout each phase of the project.
- Participate in project and design reviews with a focus on safety, operability, maintainability, reliability, and long-term asset performance.
- Review equipment layouts, process designs, operating philosophies, and operating strategies.
- Identify potential operational challenges, startup risks, and maintainability concerns.
Risk & Safety Reviews
- Participate in HAZOPs, JHAs, PSSRs, and other project risk assessments.
- Provide an Operations perspective on project risks, safeguards, and risk-reduction opportunities.
- Support Management of Change (MOC) activities as required.
Construction & Work Execution Readiness
- Review work execution plans, construction strategies, and project execution activities.
- Review and provide operational input to work packs.
- Ensure Operations requirements are incorporated into project turnover and handover plans.
- Participate in readiness walkthroughs and track action items through completion.
Factory Acceptance Testing
- Participate in Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) for critical equipment and systems.
- Coordinate with Field Operations leadership to support appropriate Operations participation in FAT activities.
- Verify equipment functionality, operability, maintainability, and compliance with project and operational requirements prior to shipment.
Maintenance & Reliability Readiness
- Ensure Maintenance requirements are incorporated into equipment and maintenance strategies.
- Lead or participate in critical-spares reviews and ensure required spare parts are identified prior to startup.
- Verify preventive maintenance programs, equipment hierarchies, criticality information, and asset data are established in SAP/CMMS prior to operational handover.
- Support long-term reliability and asset-management planning.
Training & Procedures
- Support development of Operations and Maintenance training plans and competency requirements.
- Review training materials for alignment with actual field operating requirements.
- Review and provide input to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), operating instructions, and startup documentation.
Commissioning, Startup & Handover
- Review commissioning plans, procedures, and startup strategies from an Operations perspective.
- Support commissioning and startup activities.
- Track operational-readiness milestones and action items.
- Verify operational acceptance requirements are satisfied prior to final handover.
- Support mechanical/system completion and punch-list management as required.
Cost & Lifecycle Performance
- Participate in OPEX and Total Installed Cost (TIC) reviews.
- Identify opportunities to improve reliability, maintainability, and operating efficiency.
- Support project decisions that optimize long-term asset performance and lifecycle cost.
Qualifications
Education
- High School Diploma or GED required.
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Petroleum, Chemical, or Electrical Engineering preferred.
Experience
- Minimum 10 years of Oil & Gas industry experience.
- Significant offshore Operations and/or Maintenance experience.
- Deepwater Gulf of America platform experience strongly preferred.
- Experience supporting capital projects, commissioning, startup, operational readiness, turnover, or handover activities strongly preferred.
Technical Knowledge & Skills
- Ability to read and understand P&IDs, PFDs, equipment data sheets, and 3D models.
- Strong working knowledge of offshore production, utility, and safety systems.
- Working knowledge of MOC, HAZOP, and PSSR processes.
- Familiarity with SAP or similar CMMS platforms, including preventive maintenance strategies, equipment hierarchies, asset data, and criticality rankings.
- Understanding of critical-spares identification and provisioning.
- Knowledge of commissioning and startup sequences, mechanical/system completion, and punch-list management.
- General understanding of project scheduling, cost estimation, and project-management principles.
- General knowledge of reliability principles and root-cause analysis.
- Strong communication, organization, documentation, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
- Ability to work independently and manage readiness activities across multiple concurrent projects.
Certifications
- T-HUET required.
- T-2 Certificate preferred.
Travel Requirements
This position requires travel to offshore and onshore facilities for site visits, project activities, commissioning and startup support, Factory Acceptance Testing, and operational-readiness walkthroughs.