Senior Drilling Engineer

Quaise Energy · Denver

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Quaise Energy is unlocking Earth’s deep heat to deliver clean, reliable, baseload energy at scale – almost anywhere in the world. As both a technology innovator and project developer, Quaise builds and operates solutions that harness superhot geothermal energy far below the surface, enabling power generation that can rival the output of today’s most efficient fossil fuel and nuclear plants. Leveraging millimeter wave drilling, developed after more than a decade of research at MIT, Quaise’s mission is to make superhot geothermal a backbone of the modern energy system, offering affordable, zero-carbon power and true energy independence for communities and nations everywhere. 

The Senior Drilling Engineer will support the planning, design, engineering, and execution of complex geothermal well construction programs. This role translates subsurface, reservoir, completions, and development objectives into safe, practical, field-ready drilling plans, with responsibility for well design quality, operational readiness, risk mitigation, cost and schedule estimates, and continuous improvement across the drilling lifecycle. 

This position works closely with exploration geology, reservoir engineering, completions, mechanical engineering, HSE, supply chain, permitting, and field operations teams to prepare drilling programs that can be executed safely and efficiently in the field. Success requires strong drilling engineering fundamentals, hands-on operational judgment, disciplined technical assurance, and the ability to adapt conventional oil and gas drilling practices to high-temperature geothermal applications and first-of-a-kind well architectures. 

This role is expected to provide engineering support before, during, and after field operations, including periodic travel to drilling sites and vendor or partner locations. Field support may include participation in pre-job planning, contractor readiness reviews, rig-up or rig-over activities, daily operations calls, technical troubleshooting, after-action reviews, and end-of-well reporting. 

Essential functions (Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions.) 

Essential Duties & Responsibilities 

• Prepare and deliver properly engineered and practical drilling and well construction programs, procedures, and cost estimates. 

• Utilize continuous improvement practices in the well design process to reduce well cycle times & cost. 

• Lead the technical planning process for assigned wells, including well design, casing and cementing programs, and risk assessment. 

• Assist drill-site supervisors in the preparation of “Plan Forward” drilling procedures and guidelines to be reviewed with drilling crew and service crews in each phase of the operation. 

• Conduct offset data review of well histories and reconnaissance offset operations. 

• Evaluate, select, and procure well construction services and materials including tubulars, wellheads, cement, bits, directional, and drilling contractors. 

• Evaluate and select efficient, effective, and safe service contractors, and manage contractor performance. 

• Maintain close communications with drill-site supervisors and coordinate the preparation of quality daily drilling reports. 

• Maintain close communications with technical service representatives including cement, mud, and rental equipment. 

• Manage and maintain the RimBase or WellView drilling database. Quality check field data input including casing tally, cement data, and wellbore schematics. 

• Ensure EHS policies are adhered to across drilling operations. 

• Ensure that drill-site contractors are deploying safe work practices and that contractor safety programs are appropriate and in active practice. 

• Embrace a multi-disciplinary team approach to all aspects of the work. 

• Collaborate with staff geologists, reservoir, land, production, field supervision, and EHS in planning and alignment with company goals and expectations. 

• Support State and Federal regulatory and environmental compliance and deliver professional testimony as required. 

• Participate in daily drilling operations conference calls. 

• Ensure all vendors comply with MSA requirements and execution. 

• Review and process invoices for accuracy, cost efficiency, and account coding. 

• Serve as a technical mentor to less experienced drilling engineers as the team grows. 

Operations Support 

• Support all aspects of field execution, providing real-time technical guidance to engineering leadership, contractors, and cross-functional stakeholders. 

• Coordinate daily engineering support during active drilling operations, including morning calls, performance surveillance, parameter optimization, and timely response to deviations from plan. 

• Diagnose drilling dysfunctions using structured root-cause analysis and data-driven decision-making, including analysis of EDR, MWD/LWD, PWD, mud, solids control, vibration, torque and drag, hydraulics, and daily drilling report data. 

• Coordinate recovery plans during NPT events and contingencies, balancing safety, well objectives, technical risk, cost, and schedule impact. 

• Support post-well closeout, after-action reviews, end-of-well reports, and the capture of lessons learned and best practices for future wells. 

• Promote rigorous HSE standards in all design and operational decisions and serve as a visible safety leader during field visits, contractor engagements, and technical reviews. 

Competencies  

• Strong technical competence in drilling engineering, well planning, well construction, directional and horizontal drilling, casing and cementing design, tubular design, BHA selection, hydraulics, drilling fluids, well control, operational risk assessment, and contingency planning. 

• Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills, including proficiency with performance tracking, offset analysis, lessons-learned capture, and plan-versus-actual cost and time analysis. 

• Experience with drilling engineering software, data systems, and reporting tools such as WELLCAT, COMPASS, RIMBase, WellView or equivalent tools, Power BI, Spotfire, Excel, and Microsoft Office Suite. 

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to brief senior leadership and communicate technical recommendations to both technical and non-technical audiences. 

• Ability to operate independently while maintaining effective collaboration across multidisciplinary teams, contractors, and field personnel. 

• Comfortable operating within a startup or high-growth environment with evolving priorities, first-of-a-kind technical challenges, and a strong bias for safe execution. 

• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.  

• Ability to interact well with customers and co-workers, in the field and the office. 

Supervisory responsibilities  

• This role does not include formal people-management responsibilities. 

Education and Experience  

• Bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering or a related discipline required. 

• 8+ years of relevant drilling engineering, well construction, or drilling operations experience in geothermal, oil and gas, mining, or other subsurface resource industries required. 

• Operator experience across multiple basins, geothermal wells, hard-rock drilling, HPHT/high-temperature wells, or technically complex drilling programs preferred. 

• Demonstrated experience developing drilling programs, casing and cementing designs, drilling procedures, risk assessments, cost estimates, AFEs, and post-well technical reviews. 

• Well control certification preferred.  

• Professional Engineer registration preferred. 

 Physical requirements  

• Ability to travel periodically to field locations, lease areas, drilling sites, vendor facilities, and contractor or partner offices as needed to support planning, operations, and post-well reviews. 

• Ability to work outdoors in remote environments, including hiking over rough or uneven terrain while wearing required PPE. 

• Ability to safely work around drilling operations, field equipment, and industrial environments while adhering to established safety procedures. 

• Ability to operate or ride in 4WD vehicles in variable terrain and weather conditions. 

• The employee is regularly required to stand, sit, walk, stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl, as well as use hands to feel, reach, grasp, handle, or operate objects, tools and/or controls.  

• The employee may occasionally lift, move, push, pull, or carry items up to 20 pounds for operational or field support needs. 

• Ability to adjust work hours and travel schedules as needed to support field operations and project activities. 

• The vision requirement includes reviewing written and electronic materials in digital and physical format.   

• This role requires prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer. 

• The employee is regularly required to stand, sit, walk, stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl, as well as use hands to feel, reach, grasp, handle, or operate objects, tools and/or controls.  

• The employee must be able to lift, push, pull, transfer, or move items up 20 pounds at times for departmental needs. 

• Ability to move from one worksite to another or travel to various job sites and locations to complete tasks.  

• The vision requirement includes reviewing written and electronic materials in digital and physical format.   

• Ability to work safely around high voltage and high power systems, consistently prioritizing safe work environments and adhering to established safety protocols and procedures. 

• The employee must be able to adjust to changing work hours and locations as needed considering the strong focus on external communications and relationships.   

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